High Sierra Topix

Many people here mention this lake. Therefor I think this would make a good topic (kind of like Tunemah). I've been there 9 times. I believe the best way to get there is from Laurel Lake. The worst way is from Flora Lake (lots of brush at the end and one would want to cross the creek and early in the season that's not easy). Getting there from Bearup is fairly easy. Coming down the creek isn't too bad either. From Laurel one needs to hike up to the ridge on the South of the lake. After getting definitely up on the ridge one needs to look (after Maybe 1/2 hour) on the left to find two dead tree trunks about 4-6 feet apart, sort of like a doorway. From there head down going more to the right than down. If you go too much down and not far enough right you will get into some really steep and brushy terrain. In the 70s and 80s there was a ducted route which was easily the best way down. Each of the top rocks actually pointed to the next cairn. The alternative is you hike farther up the ridge and then way down.
The best campsite is near the Southeast corner of the lake by some large trees. My pic is taken just above that campsite. The view of the lake is great. There are several good campsites on the lake.
The best fishing is near the inlet, early season (normally mid to late June). The view on this side is not nearly as scenic.
Here is something incredible. Once, near the best camp-sight, I found a rubber raft and paddles. Because of this I came back that same year. Those 2 trips were my best ones there. I obviously loved my trips and spent more time there than hiking to and from the lake.
I nearly always had better than good fishing. The weather was always super.
The time I hiked in from Flora we hiked out down Kindricks Creek. When I came from Bearup we had hot fishing at Bearup. The times I came from Laurel I (we) had good fishing there too; nearly every time.
Once we hiked to the waterfall above Edith. The creek had an interesting fishing pattern. Once or twice I saw a rattlesnake. I've been there with my wife, several friends, the sons (11&13) of my sons day care lady, my son Mike (11-yo) and his best friend, and alone 2-3 times. The largest fish I caught was maybe 17 inches. The last time I went (1994) was the only time the fishing wasn't good. The fish were small and hard to catch. By now it may be good again. One time I was there a helicopter landed close to me. I went to the copter and ask him what was up. He was taking water samples on the creek and at Edyth. They hovered over the lake to get that sample. I saw someone else at the lake 3-4 times. I talked to someone (George Benson) once. I never saw anyone between Edyth and Laurel. On the ridge I once saw a dragged and partially eaten dear. I hiked all the way out to Hetch Hetchy once. I preferred to stop and stay at and fish Laurel. I walked to the lake close to Laurel once. It's shallow and has no fish.
Edyth was my favorite destination for several reasons, not the least of which was the great weather.

Hmm. 5 days and no replies? I am not sure we are talking about the same lake. The lake I went to is named "Edith" Lake on my map. It was years ago, but did a 3-day weekend. We actually went all the way to the lake on the first day. Took the Laurel Lake trail and dropped off about half mile north of Laurel Lake into Elenore Creek (?? it looks like the same creek is called Kendrick Creek too) quite low because there was a ton of snow. It was a bit of a bushwhack up the creek. I had my tennis shoes tied to the outside of my pack and lost one along the way. So if you find a stray tennis shoe - its mine! We decided to return by climbing up to the ridge to the south. I recall the climb up was not bad but a bit of rock scrambling and some steep snow. On top it was all snow. then we walked down the ridge - lots of snow - some post-holing, but not as difficult as going up the drainage. We camped at Laurel Lake and then went out the next AM. Never saw anyone. We actually went in there to check out the rock face north of the lake (south face of Nance Peak). It was scenic, but quite broken up and did not look like it would be worth hauling in ropes and gear for a climb. We did not consider fishing - now I wished we had!

Hi Npallister

"Hmm. 5 days and no replies?" Probably because several of us have visited this
area quite a few times, and posted TR's, and discussed it quite throughly in the past years.
Thanks for the post JTC.

So is "Edith" Lake the same lake? If so what's the scoop on the name difference?

The correct spelling is Edith, for some reason some maps like the National Geographic
Yosemite maps have Edyth on them.
I have read it was named after Edith Nance who was the daughter of a friend to Major
Forsyth superintendent of Yosemite(1914).
The thing is that there is another Nance Lake in the eastern Sierra also named after
this person.
Also there was a man named Francois Matthes who was a geologist and did a lot
of surveying in Yosemite, and he had Matthes crest, and Matthes Lake named after
him, and his wife was also Edith.
Maybe George Durkee can clarify for us which Edith it was named after.

The entry in Browning's 2nd edition 1991 "Place Names of the Sierra Nevada" says that it was named for Edith Nance, daughter of Col. Nance. The source cited is the original 1926 Place Names of the Sierra Nevada by Francis Farquhar. The entry in Browning says that it was spelled correctly on the old (1912-1947) maps as "Edith" but then there was an official name change to "Edyth" in 1932, but then another change of the name back to "Edith" in 1990. Right or wrong, it is always easier for fishing folks to refer to it as "Edyth" (without specifying where) because the "y" distinguishes this lake from stunted brookie factory "Edith" Lake located in Convict Canyon.

Thanks GB
I had also read a source quoting FF, but the change in names was not mentioned.
Do you have a web site that I could refer too.
I would like to get the Colonel whole name, and see what kind of contributions/work
her daughter did to have not one, but two lakes named after her in the Sierra.

I don't know of a website that has this info, but I got it off of a printed book, which is Peter Browning's book published by the Wilderness Press. The colonel's full name is John T. Nance.

Edyth (Edith) Lake. Each of these pics hang on one of my walls.

Shhhhh! Stop talking about Edyth Lake. That place is a gem. Lets keep it a secrect.