High Sierra Topix

In Bear Creek at about 9400 feet maybe early August 2007 after coming down from East Fork. Water was cool but not so much that I didn't enjoy staying in for a few minutes. And yeah have always liked playing in the whitewater river areas.

Jumping into ice cold water is pretty awesome. Yeah it is uncomfortable when you are in there, but when you get out it feels really damn good to your mind and body. It helps to find a cliff or rock to jump off of so you just jump without thinking about it and then there is no goin' back....you're in!

Hmm I thought Devils Bathtub was in Tenaya Creek? I need to check that out! Have you ever swam in the pools off of sunnyside bench? Both times I have been there was during peak flows.

Has anyone ever been in hotsprings in an ice cold creek? One step forward is ice cold, and one step back is hot hot hot!! Pretty cool.

I've been to many of the hot springs in the sierras, and am usually not much of a fan of the mucky, dirty springs. The Kern is nice but very small and had a few folks there when I was there. The best swimming hole was the Iva Bell Hot springs. Since there are many granite tubs, we had our own granite tub close to our campsite. No mud on the bottom, no mosquitoes due to the hot water. We sat in the tub under the stars next to our campsite with a glass of scotch we had brought along just for that occasion.Woke up the next day had a cup of coffee in the hot tub before heading out.

Here's my selection. Some obvious, but my choice of best lake for a lazy day's swimming is probably not. I actually like swimming in moderately cold lakes (I've done the Alcatraz swim for fun too), but my best lake is warm, great for both diving and sunbathing on the island and hardly visited despite being in a very popular wilderness.

There are a couple of small lakes below Moose Lake (access via Wolverton/Crescent Meadow) that I've "dragged" novices to visit with the bonus being a refreshing "swim" at the end of the day. They are almost balmy by late August, and seldom frequented in spite of their accessibility. But, for a memorable plunge: Blue Lakes (the ones with the Minarets in the background) are magnificent, especially if there is a mild breeze carrying sweet lupine fragrance up from Bench canyon........
cameron

Swimming in Lake Marion was "Refreshing" but cold as hell and my hiking buddy probably heard my yelping a 100yds away when I jumped in.

Glacier Lakes are amazing and have beachfront property and I swore if i ever come back I'm bringing a raft with drink holder and parking it right on this lake all day

I like Long Lake in Emigrant - Long and shallow. Southeast edge of Hyatt Lake is also memorable for excellent cliff dive but be sure to secure any external appendages...

The Middle Fork of the Kaweah has a fun, warm, popular spot just upstream of the confluence with the Marble Fork. The turnout/parking area is south of the intersection for the Potwisha campground. A well-marked trail leads to a footbridge across the river. In July/Aug you'll have lots of company.

But it's a cool squirt-ride where you jump into a pothole and the river shoots you out over a slide into the bigger pool. Great reward after your high-country hike!

overheadx2 wrote:I've been to many of the hot springs in the sierras, and am usually not much of a fan of the mucky, dirty springs. The Kern is nice but very small and had a few folks there when I was there. The best swimming hole was the Iva Bell Hot springs. Since there are many granite tubs, we had our own granite tub close to our campsite. No mud on the bottom, no mosquitoes due to the hot water. We sat in the tub under the stars next to our campsite with a glass of scotch we had brought along just for that occasion.Woke up the next day had a cup of coffee in the hot tub before heading out.

So where the h*ll exactly IS Iva Bell? When we did the JMT a number of years ago, we took the detour through Fish Valley from Reds Meadows expressly to visit the hotsprings, and I found some warm-ish streams but despite trekking all over the place one afternoon and the morning on the way out, we never did find anything definitive. Lots of elaborate camps (horse campers, presumably), but no nice granite tubs. How could we have missed it?