The hard days were over and we took our time packing up in the morning. As soon as the sun rose enough to hit out campsite, however, we started moving quickly. It was going to be a hot day and we had 3000 ft of sunny climbing in front of us.

Junction Meadow also marked the closure of our loop. We had a small celebration when we saw the sign pointing us to East Lake, a turn we had taken a week before.

Trip Report

After Junction Meadow we climbed out of the trees and into the hot exposed trail back towards the John Muir Trail. Fortunately, there is a gorgeous foot-soaking location to break up the trudge!

Back at the John Muir Trail junction in Lower Vidette Meadow we encountered the most people we had seen in over a week. It was a freeway! People were settling into campsites, snacking, chatting, and passing through. We rested a few steps away from the sign and ended up missing a message left there by our friend Pavla.

As we climbed out of Vidette Meadow and back to Kearsarge Lakes I felt like a greeting line. Heading South to North on the JMT means you’ll be crossing paths with all of the N to S hikers. The climb was broken up by lots of questions, conversations, and condition reports. After the solitude we found during the trip this was a bit unnerving!

Fortunately, this stretch includes some of my favorite views.

Finally we arrived back at our first night’s campsite on Kearsarge Lakes. We found a perfect place to get in the water for a swim, and then took the rest of the afternoon easy. Around 5, Pavla wandered into camp, guessing that we’d go back to our first night’s campsite, which she knew about from a SPOT checkin I had sent. It was fun hanging out the last night with friends in such a beautiful spot!

On the final morning I was up at 5 am to pack up and hike out. With a 7 hour drive home I wanted to get out early, but I wasn’t too committed to the 5 am alarm, expecting it would be really cold. Instead, I barely needed a jacket! A heat wave was rolling through California so 5 am at 11000 ft wasn’t as cold as usual. And it was good I got up so early since it was pretty hot by the time I rolled into the parking lot before 10 am.

Thanks for joining me on this trip around the Circle of Solitude Variation! Due to its difficulty I expect it to remain pretty empty despite all of the information available on the internet. But no matter what, any day in the mountains is a good day!

Map and GPS Track