It's About the (RV) Journey....: Hiking in the Sierra Nevadas.....................

After talking with the rangers, we had picked out a couple of hikes in this area that were fairly easy (for the mountains!), and very scenic. Sunday we were all jazzed up to hike the Little Lakes Valley, an "easy" 6-mile round trip hike, past numerous lakes and streams. Very scenic. And easy! A good hike to do when acclimating to the elevation.

To get there, we drove through gorgeous mountain views along 395 North. We stopped at a few pull-outs along the highway too, and we were glad we did. The views were just magical!

395

magical, isn't it?

a postcard

Pinch me....

the mountains are on both sides of the road

The Little Lakes Valley hike was top on our hiking wish list for this area, but we totally forgot about altitude! Though it is supposed to be an easy hike because of little elevation gain, the hike is at 10,000 ft.! Snow level is at 9200 ft., so we weren't able to get to the trailhead without a mile and a half hike in since the road was closed. We assumed the trail would be snow covered as well. Arg!

Live and learn. We drove as far as we could, and then walked around for a bit and watched the ice-fishing going on in the lake below. It was opening weekend for the fishing season, and we saw more fishermen everywhere we went! They are a hearty bunch...ahhahah. (Hey, so are we!)

this biker was inspiring....rode up the mountain, and don't forget, this is high elevation

getting near the trailhead

the frozen, snow-covered lake below

we won't be hiking here today

the trailhead is a mile and a half down this road

the lake was beautiful and had lots of fishermen ice-fishing on it

time to turn around....we aren't going to get to that trailhead this week

ice fishing

close up

Disappointed, we decided to try another hike on our list...a hike around Convict Lake. A simple, easy 3-mile hike around the lake. Perfect! We are trying to be careful with the altitude. The altitude at Convict Lake is about 8000 ft.

To get there, we traveled up 395 a little more north, and found it easily. Again, the scenery was great, and we pulled out for a photo op at Crowley Lake, a very popular fishing spot. It is also some of the water that goes to the Los Angeles Aqueduct. There's a lot of that going on around these parts. Los Angeles bought up a lot of land in the area for water rights, and built an aqueduct to get the water to the city. Anyway.....

Crowley Lake-lots of fishing boats

Crowley Lake and the White Mountains behind me

a lateral moraine

It wasn't long before we were at Convict Lake, along with a ton of fishermen! What a happening place! We ate an early lunch in the sun at one of the lakeside picnic tables. The view was awesome, and we had fun watching some of the anglers renting boats and piling on all their stuff for a fun afternoon. There were a lot of pontoon boats for rent. Some even had a big barbecue grill right on the boat! I guess if you catch a lot of fish, you can grill them right up and have dinner on the boat. Haha.

driving to the lake...almost there

another great "restaurant"....

its not as cold here

just beautiful!

clear mountain lake

We started our easy hike (and it really WAS easy!) around the lake when the sun was out and shining brightly, but it wasn't long before it started snowing and hailing. It was crazy weather there for a bit. Weird too, because it didn't feel that cold and yet it was snowing. No matter. There was no wind, so it was just fine and didn't seem to affect anyone's plans for the day.

finally getting to hike today :)

see the woodpecker?

fishermen seemed to line the shore!

oh no...is that snow???

actually it was hailing too...we tried to catch some for the camera....hahah

we continued walking even though it was snowing....we figured it was just a shower

can you see the snow falling in this picture?

heading on

just such a beautiful place

still snowing....see my right side? It was warm though

The hike was just perfect for us. Very easy. We still took it slow due to the high altitude (7800 ft), but we had no problem which was great. The sun came back out and really warmed things up again. The views were really nice and we enjoyed ourselves hiking and just taking it all in. It was not exactly peaceful because there were so many fishermen along the water's edge, and in boats, and sound carries over water....you get the picture....but it was still awesome!

snowmelt feeds the lake

a look back

almost at the far end of the lake

sun is out and its warmed up a bit

this hike was just plain fun! now we are heading through the marsh area

this area is gorgeous in the fall...but the leaves are just coming out now

beautiful with no leaves too!

cool

at the farthest end of the lake

close up

At the far end of the lake, the trail is on a boardwalk. Thankfully! The water raging down from the mountain snow melt was incredible. Our feet would have been soaked without the boardwalk! This part of the hike is especially beautiful in the Fall, with the vibrant color of the leaves. Since its still early in the Spring, we noticed the trees were only just starting to leaf out.

reminds us of the hike around Jordan Pond in Acadia Nat'l Park! (Great memories)

lots of water rushing down into the lake

we would have been soaked

guess it dries up in the summer

very cool

Heading out of the marsh area, the views again were awesome. What a lovely walk around the lake! We really enjoyed it.

heading out of the boardwalk area and back to a nice trail

big pine cones!

from big pine trees!!

this place is gorgeous

nature's art

such clear water

a close up of the mountain tops

the landscape is so different on this side of the lake

The views along the other side of the lake were just as impressive. I noticed as I was walking behind Tom that he kept looking up the hillside. He even said its perfect bear territory. We didn't want any incidents, so its good to be paying attention just in case.

always paying attention for bears (and cubs!)

the view is awesome

yup-this was a great hike for us

view of the mountainside

close up

the turquoise water is so beautiful too

just looking around (don't want to surprise a bear)

pop of color

I have no more words...this was really nice!

very popular lake

the marina...where we had our lunch

As we drove back down 395 South to Bishop, we saw some "weather", the likes of which we had never seen before. The clouds and precipitation were so white in most parts. Anyway, we pulled off at another scenic overlook and took pictures of the incoming weather. Very cool! A reminder of who is boss....Mother Nature!