lamark col

My next chapter describes our backtracking trip in the California high sierras. The trip was in the middle of summer, yet we were glad we packed an ice axe otherwise we'd never make it over Lamarck Glacier into Evolution Valley, a prehistoric place one expected to see dinosaurs. I'd never hiked to a higher attitude than I did when Martha and I took our brothers and sisters on an eight-day backpacking trip over Lamarck Col into Darwin Canyon and Evolution Valley. Gigantic boulders were strewn haphazardly along the desolate side of the glaciered col. The canyon we hiked into was called Darwin Canyon. Darwin Canyon flowed into Evolution Valley. The canyon and valley were aptly named. I fully expected to see dinosaurs grazing on the meager grasses of this treeless place.