The catch is to get on the John Muir Trail as quickly as possible and without too much elevation gain/loss.

One can start from the North Lake trailhead or the Lake Sabrina trailhead. The route from North Lake might be easier to follow but it involves a massive elevation gain and loss. The route from Lake Sabrina involves a lot of bouldering and requires good scouting skills but it is shorter and a bit less demanding.

The trailhead for the Lake Sabrina routes is located before the Lake Sabrina dam on the left-hand side of the road. There are very few parking spots and overnight parking is not allowed. There is free parking on the road near the campground (about 1km before the dam).

Lake Sabrina is located at the end of 168, west of Bishop, about 1.5 hours driving time south of Mono Lake, i.e. 6/7 hours from the Bay Area. From Bishop, take 168 west, aka West Line St, all the way to the end. See the page for Mt Darwin's Western Face for how to get from Lake Sabrina to Haeckel Pass or see the Wallace Pass page for how to get from Lake Sabrina to Wallace Pass. (I don't recommend the route via Echo Pass to Wanda Lake because in my opinion Echo Pass is class 4).

Either way, descend whichever canyon you are into to the John Muir trail, and most likely you will hit it at Sapphire Lake.

If instead you started at North Lake, see this page for how to get from North Lake to Lamarck Pass to Darwin Canyon and to the JMT, then just go south through Evolution Lake and Sapphire Lake.

Follow the John Muir trail south to Wanda Lake. From the southeast side of Wanda Lake hike cross-country south to an obvious pass, Wanda Pass.

From the southwestern shore of Wanda Lake, a more direct route is to follow the ridge that comes down from the peak left of Goddard:

On the other side there's a lake. Head east from either Wanda Pass or from that lake to Mt Goddard, easy class 2.

• Lake Sabrina (2780m):
• Northern tip of Sabrina and beginning of the switchbacks: 30'
• Creek crossing and Blue Lake: 1h 30'
• Dingleberry lake and long creek crossing (3200m): 2h
• Fork to Midnight Lake and Hungry Packer lake: 2h 30'
• Hungry Packer lake (3370m): 3h
• Last lake (3762m): 5h 20'
• Haeckel-Darwin Pass (3962m): 6h
• Sapphire Lake: 8h
• Wanda Lake: 9h
• Wanda Pass: 10h
• Mt Goddard: 11.5h

• North Lake (2,800m):
• Lower Lamarck Lake: 1h
• Lamarck Col (3945m): 4h
• Last Darwin Canyon lake: 5.5h
• John Muir trail at Evolution Lake (3300m): 6.5h
• Sapphire Lake: 7.5h
• Wanda Lake: 8.5h
• Mt Goddard: 11h

It is also possible to reach Mt Goddard from the Courtright Reservoir via the LeConte Divide. See this page.

All the variations:

Video: View from Mt Goddard