Camp Lake
9/11/2022: This was our first hike of our High Sierra/Yosemite National Park trip. It is a great hike to acclimatize with. You can go on to Bear Lake, but you should start earlier in the day. We started at 2:15 pm and figured it was enough to go the six miles roundtrip to Camp Lake. Go to the ridge overlooking the lake for some nice scenery. Definitely kid friendly and probably a great place for a first backpack trip for little ones. The lake is beautiful and the white granite surrounding the lake is all High Sierra.
Key: Kid Friendly | High Sierra | Ponderosa Pine | Old Growth Forest | Mountain Lakes | White Granite | California | US Forest Service | Emigrant Wilderness | Backpacking
Marg’s Notes: To Strawberry, CA Left @ 8:15 (from Chico). We arrived at the campground, Pinecrest, around noon. Too early to check in so we went down to the lake & had lunch. A very nice lake & lots of picnic tables. Quite a few people on the beach & in the water. Still a bit smokey. We got into our campsite (D-17) at 1:00…an hour before official check in! set up tent & bed then got ready for a hike. We retraced a trail that Rod & the boys had been on ~12 years ago. Wire Lake. However, our destination was Camp Lake. A very nice hike through the forest. Not too hard. Elevation gain ~ 900 ft. also, not too crowded. When we got to the lake, we climbed up on the rocks above for some nice views. Had a few sprinkles on the way up & heard thunder while at the lake…& a bit of rain. We hiked out pretty quickly! 2.5 hours, 5.6 miles (Rod got 6.0). Started hiking at 2:15. Back to camp for Happy Hour!
Teriyaki noodles w/ tuna & celery, carrots, peas, zuc. for dinner. Very quiet camp @ night.
Rod’s Ramblings from the Trail: We are starting to hike at 2:15 p.m. which is rare for us, but we decided to take a hike when we got to our campground in Pinecrest. It is about 65° and very comfortable. We're cutting this short and only doing the camp Lake trail. About 0.8 mi in we have seen maybe six people, most of them coming out from their hike or backpack trip. It is very quiet and very peaceful. The trail is very well maintained and pretty easy hiking. There are some huge ponderosa pines and some fir trees that I'm not sure what they are. And I must say that it's very nice to be back in the high Sierra, even though this is just a little starter hike. Nice to see the big, white granite boulders. 2.5 mi to the lake. 7,582 ft elevation it took us 1 hour and 15 minutes. We climbed to the top of the ridge to the right of camp Lake as you approach. The easy ridge, not the big mountain to the left. And we wound up about just over 7,700 feet. It's a very nice view from up here. We are leaving the lake at 4:07, heading back. It has started to thunder. A little bit of sprinkling. We will be happy to get back to our campsite or at least the car. The hike to camp Lake is easy. At least that's what I thought. I guess if you go on up to Bear Lake and a little bit more elevation then maybe it's moderate? But this was just not that hard. This hike turned out to be 5.8 mi. Maybe 5.9. It took 3 hours. We're getting back just before 5:15. It was a good hike. And the lake was very pleasant.
People: We saw a couple with a 4-year old daughter. The little girl was doing a good job, but their goal was to make it to Bear Lake. At Camp Lake we talked to the mom and the little girl was getting tired. The little girl’s name was Avery. The dad had gone up ahead to see if maybe they should camp at Camp Lake. The mom asked me my opinion about staying at the Lake. I told her they had about 2.5 miles to go to Bear Lake, and since she was asking, I suggested they stay here at Camp Lake. When the dad got back, they conferred and agreed to stay at Camp Lake for the night. Wise choice, since the little girl (a real trooper, I might add) was just starting to whine a bit, it was thundering and there was a pattering of rain. Make it comfortable for the little girl and the parents too.