Easy, beautiful hike to Gem Lakes. Walk close to the creek at the beginning, then ascend up some rock steps (~150 feet) and once you get to the top of the incline, go to your left (east) and look down on Mack Lake. Continue down the trail and you can close to the shoreline of Mack Lake. Continue on gently going slight up and slight down-hill... pass the turnoff to Marsh Lake to your left and continue on to beautiful Heart Lake. During the summer it’s usually somewhat crowded here. Continue along the lakeshore and then head uphill until you are overlooking Box Lake. As you continue on towards Long Lake you will have to do a stream crossing... early in the season you will probably get wet... the deeper you get into summer and the snow melt has weakened, you can cross on the rocks rather easily. (There is a possibility that you can take a somewhat defined trail off to your right and get to Long Lake - and hope that the logs someone has placed to cross the creek at Long Lake are still there). After you arrive at Long Lake you will walk near the lake for ~ 0.5 miles then begin another ascent... this is probably the steepest part of the trail... near the top you will see a sign to the left (east) that points you to Chickenfoot Lake. Chickenfoot Lake usually has campers there, it’s a fairly decent size lake so there is plenty of room to still enjoy the peace and quiet. Continuing on... after another 0.5 miles or so, you can see Chickenfoot Lake on your left... as you go along you will see the remains of an old truck frame to your right... Remember, this trail use to be an old mining road back in the day... you will cross one more stream by walking over some specially placed rocks (much easier than the Ling Lake crossing)... you as you start ascending towards Morgan Pass, be on the lookout for a trail to your right... it is right after about 5-10 stair steps... there use to be a sign that pointed you to Gem Lakes, but the last 3-4 times I’ve been to Gem Lakes the sign is nowhere to be found. Go down this path looking to your north (right) and see several small lakes or ponds... then arrive at Gem Lakes and enjoy the magnificent turquoise blue color of the lake. Return the way you came.
One additional note, this trail is so popular that if you don’t make it to the trailhead by 0800-ish on summer weekends you will have to park about 0.3 miles down the road. And if you don’t make it there by 0900-ish you might find yourself parking 0.5-0.75 miles (or further) from the trailhead! (I speak from experience!) Weekdays are not quite as bad... you can add an hour to the above times and probably be ok...
Have a great hike!
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I wrote the description above. It gets 4 stars because it's just a great trip that I've done twice. It loses 1 star only because you have to use the shuttle system at Mammoth and because of the distance. I don't know why the track shows what it does. Here's mine: https://www.gaiagps.com/public/6UaTRoudg7dkPL7mOkkOYSZF . Do note that I recorded this route leaving, so it goes from Iva Bell to the trailhead. Distance is 12ish miles with about 2,000 ft gain/loss on the round trip.
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This was a road drive from pavement to gravel to dirt to 4WD Low in the National Frost and Nat Park. Beautiful day from <500ft elevation to >8000ft with large snow patches and lots of redwoods.
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Nice shaded hike with well maintained switchbacks up to Sherwin Lakes. Lower elevation, good for early season hiking. Some views of Lincoln and white mountains.
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Jeep camping some by streams two nights in hotels to watch warriors basketball finals. Beautiful mountain views.
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Lockwood Grove is now a remote sequoia grove. At one time you could drive to this grove. The Rough fire of 2015 changed this. The road has been closed going on 4 years now. I don’t see any progress going towards reopening this road. The forest service has a way of condemning roads after a fire. This is now a hike climbing over fallen trees. Ducking under trees. Climbing along fallen trees. Though this Grove is still worth seeing a portion was destroyed by the Rough fire. Enjoy but remember you’ll need to be agile to get here.
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4 Months ago, 66, 43 lbs pack. Started in Onion Valley and spent the night at Flower Lake. Over the top to Bullfrog lake, out Whitney. The first day is always difficult, altitude is the culprit. That is why I spend the first night at Flower. The trail is not technically difficult, it it the altitude that will get to you. Once acclimated, then it is not hard, but that takes some time to get there. The lower lakes are wonderful.
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For a short hike, this packed a lot of punch and provided a surprising amount of insight into the lifecycle of the giant sequoias
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Dog friendly and easy class 1 trail. It seems that at each switchback the views to the north got better.
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We made this as a first leg of a backpacking trip to the Iva Bell hotsprings. From the Rainbow Falls trailhead all the way down to the valley floor. As soon as the final descent brings down to the Fish Creek, there is a lot of flat relatively open space that works great for making camp. From that location, another 4 miles along the Fish Creek Trail will bring to the hot springs area. The pools take some time to find them, there are use trails that run in the general direction of the pools. Moving up the slope one gets from one pool to the next but not necessarily in a straight line. The pools are warm; some are cleaner than others; they also vary by the quality of the bottom material. It is heavenly to soak in the warm relaxing water and gaze into the vast valley under the deep blue sky. The official trails are well marked and cross many streams. On a sunny dry day in late September, the trail was quite dusty to trod.The Iva Bell hotsprings area seems to be popular - there were at least 3 camping parties and more passing through.
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