Treasure Lakes
2.6 mi
Distance
1 hrs 18 min
Time
terrain
863 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a easy one way trail in Inyo National Forest.
Sights to See
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
Solo day hiked 6/26/25 – Early start on the Bishop Pass/Treasure Lakes trails for the first 2.5 miles on trail before going up through the boulder fields to the west of Bishop Creek’s south fork. The first real snow field started after a tarn at 11.3k, with 2-3 foot sun cups making it an outright slog. I decided to try circumventing it, taking a dryer southwest line up the boulders/talus closer to Mt Johnson and using Treasure Col as a way point. Once half way up this gully, I could see that the snow went to the top of the NW chute and that I needed to be on the opposite, climber’s right side so I traversed back across the snowy chute to the southeast base of Moonwalk Peak. I had planned on taking the NW chute up to the west side of Moonwalk and then up dry rock to the summit block. Instead, I promptly decided to go up the class 3-4 south east side of Moonwalk (aka Pk 12640) which ended up being great fun. I didn’t have to worry about down climbing this section later since I would be descending the SW side, providing more options on the route up. Ending up on the significantly exposed east side of the final summit block with 10 feet to go, I couldn’t bring myself to traverse around to the standard west side. And so I made it work without overthinking it, knowing it was most likely the “crux of the day.” The ascents of Moonshot and Mt Gilbert went as planned with awesome views that make coming to the Sierra “priceless.” The SE views from Cloudripper to North Palisade were favorites. The ridge climb from Moonshot to Gilbert was a highlight. The Mt Gilbert register is still in its original SC canister with entries going back to 1989. After traversing the Gilbert snowfield from the summit down the SE side, occasionally postholing through 3-4 foot snow bridges, I was back on dry rock down to Moonwalk’s NW chute. With too many rocks exposed to glissade it, I put on the La Sportiva G2’s and auto crampons for an incredibly long slog back to the bottom of the last snowfield, having to repeat the crampon/crampoff routine for the intermittent boulder stretches. Occasionally, the sound of fast moving water coming from under the boulder piles reminded me to stay off the easier center drainage lines of the lower snow fields. So nice to get back to the Treasure Lakes trail, have a bite, change boots and be able to spend some time at the two bigger lakes in daylight – absolutely beautiful place but mosquitos out in force. Great day with awesome weather/views. Full body workout, endless boulder hopping, great rock going up, AWESOME views the entire way, BRUTAL snow. Camped in the Aspens at Willow Campground for a nice end to this one. Logged 10.8 mi /17.4 km & 3853 ft / 1174.4 m with Gaia
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Public Tracks
Treasure Lakes
Beautiful hike out of South Lake to Treasure Lakes. The trout appear to be a hybrid golden trout. Great fishing! I'll follow up with photos.
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