#alpine-lakes
42 trips tagged “alpine-lakes”
alpine-lakes backpacking at a glance
CaliPeaks documents 42 California backpacking routes tagged alpine-lakes, ranging from 6 to 48.2 miles with 600–9,320 feet of total climbing. Difficulty spans 0/100 (Easy) on Polly Dome Lakes up to 73/100 (Very strenuous) on North Lake–South Lake Loop, which also carries the tag's biggest climb at 9,320 feet. 1 of the 42 need no wilderness permit.
These routes cross Desolation Wilderness, Trinity Alps Wilderness, Emigrant Wilderness, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, Yosemite National Park, Inyo National Forest and Marble Mountain Wilderness, and the months most of them share are July, August, September. Every stat below is cited on its trip page, so you can compare them like-for-like and follow any number back to the managing agency.
Bayview to Dicks Lake
The Bayview Trail is the steep, direct line from Emerald Bay to Dicks Lake: 5.3 miles of switchbacks past Granite Lake to the Velma basin, w…
Loon Lake to Buck Island Lake
Buck Island Lake is the Rubicon country's classic lake camp: a 6.1-mile walk from Loon Lake past the reservoir's granite shore into the Deso…
Canyon Creek Lakes
Canyon Creek Lakes are the Trinity Alps' most popular prize: two granite-bound lakes at the head of a waterfall staircase, reached by a mode…
Gianelli Trailhead to Chewing Gum Lake
Chewing Gum Lake is the Emigrant's classic first overnight: a 5.3-mile climb from the Gianelli trailhead into a granite basin of lakes benea…
Meeks Bay to Crag Lake
Crag Lake is the first true lake of the Meeks Bay corridor: a 4.9-mile climb from Tahoe's west shore to a forested granite lake that most pa…
Eagle Falls to Dicks Lake
Dicks Lake is the deep-blue centerpiece of the Desolation high country: 4.3 steep miles from Eagle Falls, beneath the 9,974-foot peak of the…
Eagle Lake
Eagle Lake is Mineral King's quick alpine swim spot: a 3.4-mile climb from the valley floor to a lake beneath the cirque of the western Grea…
Eagle Falls to Fontanillis Lake
Fontanillis Lake is the alpine reward at the top of the Eagle Falls corridor: a 4.9-mile, mostly uphill walk from Emerald Bay to a granite b…
Van Vleck Trail to Forni Lake
Forni Lake is Desolation's northwestern outpost: 4.9 miles from the Van Vleck trailhead through granite and forest to a quiet lake most Taho…
Glen Alpine to Gilmore Lake
Gilmore Lake is the climber's camp below Mount Tallac: a 3.9-mile climb from Glen Alpine to a 9,000-foot lake with the peak's massif towerin…
Twin Lakes to Island Lake
Island Lake is Desolation's answer to a quick overnight: a 3.5-mile walk from the Twin Lakes trailhead to a lake with a genuine island, sitt…
Lakes Trail to Emerald Lake
The Lakes Trail climbs from Wolverton past the Watchtower's cliff-edge views to Emerald Lake, the first of the granite lake chain below Alta…
Mosquito Lakes
The Mosquito Lakes are Mineral King's most literal destination: a chain of high tarns so buggy in July they named the trail after them. Four…
Loon Lake to Rockbound Lake
Rockbound Lake is Desolation's western granite gem: a 6.7-mile walk from Loon Lake past the Rubicon's pools to a deep-blue lake under Rockbo…
Meeks Bay to Stony Ridge Lake
Stony Ridge Lake is the Meeks Bay chain's deepest lake: 6.3 miles up the creek corridor past Genevieve and Crag Lakes to a granite-ringed ba…
Glen Alpine to Susie Lake
Susie Lake is the quick, beautiful Desolation overnight: 3.8 miles from Glen Alpine past Grass Lake to a clear tarn on the edge of the Lake …
Lyons Trail to Sylvia Lake
Sylvia Lake is the quiet western Desolation classic: 4.6 miles from the Lyons trailhead past Bloodsucker Lake's meadows to a granite lake ne…
Twin Lakes Trail (Lodgepole)
The Twin Lakes Trail climbs from Lodgepole into the Silliman country: a moderately steep 3-mile push to Cahoon Meadow, then on to the Twin L…
White Chief Lake
White Chief is Mineral King's mining-country overnight: a 4.1-mile trail through old claim workings to a lake beneath White Chief Peak, with…
Polly Dome Lakes
Polly Dome Lakes is Yosemite's quietest easy overnight: a 3-mile walk from the Murphy Creek trailhead past Tenaya Lake to a pair of small la…
Cathedral Lakes
Cathedral Lakes are two granite-ringed tarns at the foot of Cathedral Peak's iconic spire, 3.5 miles up the John Muir Trail from Tioga Road.…
Sunrise High Sierra Camp
Sunrise High Sierra Camp sits on a mountainside above the Cathedral Range, 5.2 miles from Tenaya Lake past the Sunrise Lakes. It is the most…
Young Lakes
Young Lakes is a chain of three lakes north of Tuolumne Meadows, tucked beneath Ragged Peak with the Cathedral Range in view — reached by a …
Ireland and Evelyn Lake Loop
Ireland and Evelyn Lakes form one of Yosemite's finest moderate loops: 22 miles up Lyell Canyon, over Ireland Creek's forested shoulder, and…
Little Lakes Valley
Little Lakes Valley is a chain of emerald lakes threaded beneath the 13,000-foot granite spires of Bear Creek Spire and Mount Morgan, reache…
McCabe Lakes
McCabe Lakes is northern Yosemite at its most remote: 14.8 miles up the Pacific Crest Trail past Glen Aulin's waterfalls to a high alpine ba…
Bishop Pass to Dusy Basin
Bishop Pass is the shortest route to Dusy Basin, a lake-dotted granite plateau at 11,000 feet beneath Mount Agassiz — 3 miles to Long Lake a…
Vogelsang High Sierra Camp
Vogelsang is Yosemite's highest corner of the high country: a 7.2-mile climb up Rafferty Creek to a camp at 10,154 feet beneath Vogelsang Pe…
Kearsarge Pass to Kearsarge Lakes
Kearsarge Pass is the eastern Sierra's most beautiful crossing: 3.5 miles from Onion Valley to Flower Lake's camp, then over the 11,700-foot…
Lake Aloha via Glen Alpine
Lake Aloha is Desolation Wilderness's crown jewel: a shallow, island-dotted lake spread across granite slabs at 8,116 feet beneath Pyramid P…
Rush Creek to Thousand Island Lake
This out-and-back climbs the Rush Creek drainage from the June Lake Loop to Thousand Island Lake, a granite-bound alpine basin at the foot o…
Duck Pass to Duck Lake
Duck Lake is the easiest true backpacking destination in the Mammoth Lakes area: a 4.75-mile climb past Arrowhead and Barney Lakes and over …
Ten Lakes Basin
Ten Lakes Basin is a pocket of granite-ringed alpine lakes northwest of Tuolumne Meadows, reached by an 11.8-mile round trip from Tioga Road…
Pacific Crest Trail through the Marble Mountains
The Marble Mountains' PCT stretch is one of the trail's most overlooked gems: 32 miles over the wilderness's marble-and-granite crest, past …
Monarch Lakes
Monarch Lakes is the quickest route to Mineral King's high country: 3.5 miles and 2,000 feet of climbing from the Sawtooth trailhead to a pa…
Sabrina Basin
Sabrina Basin is Bishop's classic two-day trip: a 4.25-mile climb from Lake Sabrina past a chain of blue lakes to a high granite bench benea…
New Army Pass via Cottonwood Lakes
New Army Pass is the classic high route out of Horseshoe Meadow: 4.8 miles past the Cottonwood Lakes to a 12,300-foot saddle beneath Cirque …
Vogelsang to Cathedral Lakes Loop
This loop strings together Yosemite's high country greatest hits: Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang, down the Merced to Merced Lake, up past Washb…
High Sierra Camp Loop
The High Sierra Camp Loop is Yosemite's grand tour by foot: 48 miles linking all five High Sierra Camps — Vogelsang, Merced Lake, Sunrise, M…
Big Pine Lakes
Big Pine Lakes is the classic Palisades backpack: a steady 6.75-mile climb from Glacier Lodge past turquoise lakes to Sam Mack Meadow, in th…
Rae Lakes Loop
The Rae Lakes Loop is a 41-mile circuit through the heart of Kings Canyon National Park that climbs from the Kings River canyon over 11,978-…
North Lake–South Lake Loop
This five-to-seven-day traverse links two classic Bishop trailheads — North Lake and South Lake — into one of the finest big loops in the Si…