On a recent hiking trip, we explored all the eastern approaches into the southern Sierra, and of…read morethese the Big Pine lakes region is the most beautiful (just google for photos), but also unfortunately the longest trail in. Plus for me and my wife (late 50's) it was coming after several long day hikes, so we hired Glacier Pack Train to make the day a little easier. For an extremely reasonable price they agreed to take us up to the third lake, allowing us to hike the rest of the way, exploring all the other lakes and then hiking down. We were so happy we did this, not only because it made the entire region accessible to us, but because the trail ride itself was so incredibly enjoyable on its own. Even though our experience on horses has been pretty limited, we felt like we were riding ourselves, not just being transported up. Truly a terrific day from start to finish.

Gosh, I wish I could give 1,000 stars! I have been going to the upper lakes with the Stewart…read morefamily since I was a little girl, (which was a looooong time ago!) this is the experience of a lifetime. It's like being transported back in time, before cell phones and cars. Living the life of a cowboy! How incredible to have the experience! You can take a day ride of all of the lakes, (and they know the secret trails that aren't on maps), or you can have your camping equipment put on mules and they will fit you with a well trained horse and drop you off in an incredible campsite. They furnish the bear container, and they pick you up at the end of your trip! This is a great way for families with varying hiking abilities to get into the back country together and establish a base camp surrounded by incredible hiking options from an easy stroll to peak bagging. I feel like you haven't lived unless you ride up to the lakes at least once with Mert and Lizzie. They feel like family!

This review is for Lake Sabrina To Blue Lake Trail which was a ~5.9 miles round trip that took ~4…read morehours to complete. This was a stunning hike from beginning to end. Trail was adjacent to Lake Sabrina for about half of the hike with various views of the lake from low to high elevations. There was excessive water at the first crossing; hiking sticks were extremely helpful for balance and getting across safely without getting shoes wet. Second water crossing was much easier with the rocks and logs. ~5% of the trail at higher elevation was still covered in snow. Trail was mostly a narrow and rocky incline towards Blue Lake. Furthermore, about half of the hikers brought their dogs. Beware of altitude sickness! Staying at the city of Bishop with an elevation of 4150ft and then driving the next morning to Lake Sabrina with an elevation of 9128ft resulted in altitude sickness for us throughout the hike. The worse symptom was shortness of breath with some minor headache and nausea. Very limited parking at the trailhead. There are more parking available further in at the boat landing area. Restroom also available at the upper parking lot of the boat landing. Short video of the hike for those interested! https://youtu.be/eMJO8pq-b6Y

Very beautiful lake!! I would definitely come here again! Good amount of fish and the waters are…read morevery relaxing. It's a small to medium sized lake but it's not too busy even on a weekend. Great time to hang out with your family or friends together on a boat or the lake side.

Marvelous experience! Truly deserving of its title Tallest Peak in the Contiguous US. We went the…read morelonger 45-mi route from Cottonwood Pass, which took us 3 days 2 nights. Camped 1st night in the forest by a creek, 2nd night by Guitar Lake. Lots of privacy throughout this ordeal. Each day we passed about 10 ppl each. Heard cows mooing. Saw pikas, marmots, chipmunks, and fighter jets. Mesmerizing night sky completely blanketed with stars. Tough altitude experience. Lightheadedness and windedness from AMS will kick your butt. Better train beforehand by hiking shorter mountains such as San Gorgonio (11.5k', tallest peak in SoCal). Many people camp at least one night somewhere along the trail to help acclimate/acclimatize to the lower air density overnight. Turns out the hut at the summit (14.5k') will protect you from lightning. You will definitely need a water filter. Don't wanna lug 5 L of water for 20+ miles. Refill your bottles at creeks and lakes.

We were very lucky to snag a couple of last minute permits. Drove 4 hours and started hiking at 1…read moream. Summit the mountain around 8 am and enjoyed our time at the top. The views are amazing and the 99 switchbacks seem like eternity. We got back to the parking lot at 6pm and drove home. Weather was great at about 40 degrees. An unforgettable adventure. Please come and create your own.

A 6.8-mile roundtrip hike to another fantastic chain of Sierra mountain lakes…read more The street to the trailhead is located between Aspendell and Lake Sabrina. The steep access road is a 2-miles long, mostly unpaved, and one-lane wide. Like with hiking, vehicles coming down the hillside must yield to cars coming up (which rudely did not occur). The road passes the boring North Lake. The trailhead technically is at the North Lake campground, but hikers are not allowed to park there. From the trailhead, Lamarck Lakes are southwest but a second trail goes westward to Piute Pass past Loch Leven and Piute Lake. A sign directs to either location. Starting at the North Lake day use parking lot at 9200' above sea level, the easy-to-follow trail goes to 1.8-miles one-way and up 650' to Grass Lake - so called due to its marshy green appearance (see pic) which is atypical of Sierra lakes. Grass Lake is on a short and fairly flat side spur from the main trail that is clearly marked. At 2.4 miles and 1400' up the trail from the parking lot is Lower Lamarck Lake at 10,600'. Resting below Mt. George Davis this is the best lake of the four and the best part of the hike (see pic) and bound to leave a lasting Lamarck on la mind. At 3.2 miles and 1600' from the parking lot is Upper Lamarck Lake which has little vegetation and mainly surrounded by rock piles. It's still worth trekking to the final lake because the alpine stream connecting Lower and Upper was the second best sight of the hike.

Near the bathrooms bordering a large parking lot, a trail will lead you to some cool sights. The…read moretrail has 200 feet of elevation gain and about 1.5 miles round trip. It is not well-marked, which sucks because it can be a bit of a maze, so if you don't want to miss anything, you could drive 2 miles up the road to the Kings Canyon visitor center for a map. Bring bug spray and be sure to get your ears because that is where the weird rectangle flying things will hover and buzz near you like police helicopters over Long Beach at night. Sights: Just past a meadow is OLD ADAM, a forty-foot hollow but imposing piece of fire and lightning-scarred, centuries old wood that is not a tree, but merely a piece of one of the largest trees likely to ever exist. A ranger climbed inside to shine a light and found the carved names of history's passersby, including "Sparrow 1758" but they recommend a selfie instead. It is one of the oldest written histories of a European in California. If you pass a sign designating a mill that was once there (which is silly, they could say, hey, look at this big hole, it used to have a giant carved blood-soaked eagle used in Native American sacrifices, but yeah, it's a hole), you will find MARK TWAIN STUMP. Once one of the largest sequoias, the tree was cut down in 1891 so that a cross-section could be displayed in natural history museums in New York and London. The rest became grape stakes and fence posts. They added stairs so that you can climb it. On the way to the Stump I followed a sign to Feather Bed. I didn't see anything of interest. Maybe it's called FEATHER BED because you will fall asleep it is so boring. However, at the end of the trail I found SAWED TREE. Sawed Tree is a giant sequoia stump, spiked like Bart Simpson's hair, bearing the scars of a crosscut saw. I don't know if you are allowed to climb it, but it's climbable. I guess anything is climbable, really. Except my sister. Big Stump Grove is one of many sites on the north half of the park including General Grant Tree and Panoramic Point (3.7 mi), Junction View (15 mi up), Hume Lake (16mi), the Scenic Byway and Boyden Cavern (24mi), Grizzly Falls (29mi), Roaring River Falls (36 mi), and Mist Falls near Road End (40mi).

Class 4 Kings River for the win! Went initially in 2011 then back again in 2013. Long time posting…read morebut absolutely recommend, worth the trip during rainy season. So much fun and respect for the river. Probably the best water activity that rivaled being on the Colorado river in the Grand Canyon.

We were lucky enough to get to go rafting during the 2019 high-water season which was unique…read morebecause many of the rapids were even better than normal. We took advantage of the whole experience Zephyr offers and camped the night before as well as doing the 2 day rafting experience. The King's River Base camp Zephyr has is an all inclusive experience depending on what options you choose to purchase from them. The staff cam provided everything including tents if needed so that you can focus on having fun rafting. Not only are the guides excellent at navigating the river and tailoring the experience to all levels they are amazing camp cooks too! If you have never been white water rafting before this is the perfect place to get your feet wet, and if you are experienced you will enjoy the ease of rafting with these folks! Thanks guys for such a fun relaxing trip!

Great little trail that we used the All Trails map which I highly suggest you have since the map is…read morelive even if there is no reception. You will easily get lost if you don't have it. So many trails run off from the main trail. No facilities so plan ahead and do your business beforehand. Parking: Got there at 7:30am on a Saturday. Only a few cars there. When we left at 11:00am, the parking lot was full with about 10 cars in there. Plus it's so hot. So start early on a mid September morning. Bugs: For sure bring a head net. I had one and my two friends were suffering. I'd say it was 80% if the time, the bugs were all on the trail. Our big spray seemed to attract then and not deter them. Saw a large tarantula near the one of two picnic tables. Clothes: Be sure to wear a hat. It is pretty hot with only a few trees for shade. Also wear long pants with tall socks to avoid ticks and dust. Water: Brought two 24oz water bottles and that was enough on a 80 degree morning. Food: We bought snacks like a breakfast burrito to enjoy at the picnic tables. The Trail: If you go counter clockwise, it's a slow accent. Challenging and dusty. On the way down, it's a bit slippery so I used my hiking poles. So glad I brought them!

A really lovely, rewarding trail that winds around a ridge far above the Kaweah River. To get to…read morePanther Creek/Falls the trail is mostly uphill. The hills aren't very steep and it shouldn't be an issue unless you've got about 50lbs of gear on your back, like myself. I definitely needed to take breaks often as this trail did not offer much shade and it must have been around 75F outside. The trail is narrow and shared with horses so you'll have to dodge horse poop from time to time. Lots of lovely flowers and amazing views of the river. Watch out for snakes and poison oak (there is a TON of poison oak...make sure you know what it looks like before going!) There are 3-4 streams to cross, mostly just rock hopping. The water is pretty shallow if you just want to walk through. Gorgeous waterfalls and lots of lizards! Once you arrive at Panther Creek, you'll hear the turbulent waters of the river below and will be offered spectacular scenery. There is a campsite right at the end of the trail if you plan on staying overnight, otherwise this is the turnaround point for this hike. If you continue on uphill past the campsite, you'll find the continuation of the trail that will take you to the lovely Redwood Meadow.

I actually am not sure if I should do this, because more people will find out how awesome it is,…read moreand will start going there. I just got back from a backpacking trip in Sequoia. Our original trip was canceled by closed road to the trail, so we randomly picked one that was available. All along the trail is gorgeous, and very soothing with the sound of massively flowing river. Pretty wild flowers and cute marmots, if you are fortunate, may be some black bears? you need to cross few creeks, which is not that hard at all. Beautiful massive granites everywhere, and tasty water. I really enjoyed this trip. Oh, plus very cute camping spot as well.. Only thing that bothered me was campers before us left some trash at the site, so we had to bring it out. Please take your own trash out and don't be such shitheads. Bad karma will follow you til you pay for your deed. I am feeling pretty awesome now after this trip :-) -moderate, short hike, no hardcore up or downhills.