A Lake a Day
We spent last week in the Eastern Sierras, based in Mammoth Lakes, hiking to at least one alpine lake each day. Dog Lake On the drive to Mammoth we stopped in Yosemite, just past Tuolumne and did a short hike to Dog Lake to stretch our legs. Even though it was less than 4 miles round trip, at 9200' elevation we were huffing and puffing up the slight incline to get there. Dog Lake (August 17) Gem Lake For our first full day in the eastern Sierras, we decided to hike from Mosquito Flat at the end of Redwood Creek Road, to Gem lake at the end of Little Lakes Valley to reprise of a hike did during the early stages of the pandemic. The trailhead is above 10,000' so you spend the entire time in a lovely Sierra Alpine ecosystem, walking (and breathing heavily) past a series of snowmelt filled alpine lakes: Heart Lake, Mack Lake, Long Lake, Chickenfoot Lake, and finally Gem Lake. Gem Lake (August 18) Four years ago, we walked around Gem lake, hopping over the rock scree to play in the...