Ionian Evolution

August 22–28, 2021
7 days | 73.3 miles | 14,987 vertical feet

I once thought I could do a tighter version of this loop as a two or three night loop. I was wrong

We’d booked a permit online six months in advance, then watched as the summer played out and the fires burned bigger and bigger. The drive down from Oregon carried us through the smoke of the Dixie Fire. A hundred miles away from where we’d laid out our route, the French Fire was threatening to add its particulate matter to the High Sierra air we’d been counting on inhaling. At Mono Lake, the ranger who gave us our permit told us going over Bishop Pass would be like smoking two packs of cigarettes. He was wrong.