The trail takes you above and along the south side of Sabrina Lake. This is the flat portion of the hike, and a bit warm. After that it's all up hill. There a lots of engineered trails in the sierra but this trail was installed by brute force! It kinda reminded me of the High Tower trail to Heather Lake in Sequoia. As the trail is notched into the solid granite hillside which makes up the Sabrina Basin. An impressive example of trail building! I'd hate to have been on the trail crew building this one!
.Some flowers were just starting to show up, but still a bit early or maybe just not enough snow this year to really produce the flowers.
Just below the lake, the trail twists it's way through a steep and narrowly fractured granite gulley, which serves as the last climb before the lake. Once past this headwall, we were greated with glimpses of the snow capped peaks beyond the trees rising above the lake. Crossing the outlet stream of the lake, we finally made it to the solidly lined granite shoreline. The Thompson Ridge and Mt. Thompson stood in high relief above the lake providing some inspiring views.
We weren't able to stay too long as we had gotten a late start and had taken our time in getting there. Plus, the mesquitos were starting to swarm and our repellant had stopped working long ago. We decided to head back. We will be back soon!!
Some stats for trip planning:
roundtrip mileage:7.6
elev. gain:1400ft.
trail hd. elev.:9080ft
Blue Lake elev.: 10400ft.
Here's a link to some grab shots:
Blue Lake
Thanks for looking!
I didn't even bring the bug juice last weekend.