High Sierra Topix

Has anyone by chance been to this lake/tarn? I am looking at my 7.5 Mt. Brewer map....it shows a trail coming off of the trail that goes to East Lake and Lake Reflection...there are three lakes up there...the one I am asking about is below Harrison Pass on it's North side and West of Mt. Stanford..it shows the trail going up to these three lakes and on up to Harrison Pass and down the South side into the Upper Kern Basin.
Thanks!

Do you mean the one that's just northwest of the bottom of Harrison Pass? If so, yes, it's on the route to East/Reflection Lake from Harrison. There's a fair bit of talus around it.

HI MT,

Yes, have been past those lakes. One picture came to mind immediately when you
asked that question was http://www.panoramio.com/photo/45479021" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which gives
you a great view of the 2 lower lakes, but you get an idea of the conditions of the
lake in question which is just to the right, and not in the photo.

Quentinc....Yes..below Harrison...the lake looks like the shape of an egg on the map.

Mavrerick...Thank you for posting that picture....Do you two remember the condition of that trail from the East Lake Trail up to those lakes?
I am intersted in that last lake because the late Philip Hyde was a black and white picture of that lake in an old 1954 Sierra Club Bulletin book...that reads "Under Harrison Pass, One of the Sierra's Most Exquisite Lakes".....I do not know if those are his words though...The photo is beautiful...so I have been interested in seeing it!...
Thank you both!

Hi MT,

Go about a mile up the trail leading from East Lake to Lake Reflection. There will be
spur trail leading up towards Harrison. The trail will get less discernible as you get
closer to Harrison, but no trail is needed because you will see where you are headed.
This is the lake you are referring to :
http://www.philiphyde.com/index.php#mi= ... 7&a=0&at=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.philiphyde.com/index.php#mi= ... 7&a=0&at=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That lake is located west and under the Ericsson Craigs from almost due east and
above the lake.

I visited this lake in the seventies, as shown on Hyde's picture. A friend and I were experimenting with going cross country and wandered over to it from Reflection. It was so memorable to me that it has been on my list to re visit ever since. We camped on the timbered side of the lake and caught Goldens on spoons every afternoon for two days. We would amuse ourselves by trolling empty bait hooks at the outlet and watch the fry attack in force. We explored all the tarns in the area but never got up to the pass. Mav, thanks for posting the images from philliphyde.com, although the picture from Panoramio does not look like the same lake as seen in Hyde's. Truly a magical Sierra spot.

MT, as Mav says, the trail fades in and out quite a bit. And as usual, in a lot of places there are multiple different paths that are ducked, which ought to be a federal offense. But it's mankind's obsessive need to impose order on the world, I suppose. Anyway, you're pretty much heading up the drainage and it's easy to keep on the right general track. It's a really nice area, particularly if you do it after mosquitoes are gone.

Freestone wrote:
Mav, thanks for posting the images from philliphyde.com, although the picture from
Panoramio does not look like the same lake as seen in Hyde's.

The one in the Hyde's photo, and the one MT is inquiring about, is the lake west of
Ericsson Craigs, not the lake under Harrison Pass.

In 2003 I dayhiked up near to the base of Harrison Pass from our camp at Lake Reflection. We got to the 2nd of the 3 lakes and looked up in the direction of the pass and saw approximately where it was. Sadly, I think we missed the 3rd lake that you refer to. To see it we would have had to pick our way across talus to pass the second lake and then head up, and frankly that did not seem interesting to us at the time. It was early afternoon, hot, and it was getting to be a pretty barren and grey world at that point.

You may see some remnants of a sketchy trail in the more woodsy and grassy areas closer to the bottom, but we fairly rapidly lost it. As others have said, it does not matter--it is easy to pick your route. If you are coming up from Reflection, there is one point below the lakes where it is easier to cut wide left and climb the bench than to stay too close to the stream, but this will probably be obvious to you.

Following are some pictures.

ps Freestone I just read your Buber quotation. It is wonderful, and I had not seen it before!

maverick wrote:

Freestone wrote:
Mav, thanks for posting the images from philliphyde.com, although the picture from
Panoramio does not look like the same lake as seen in Hyde's.

The one in the Hyde's photo, and the one MT is inquiring about, is the lake west of
Ericsson Craigs, not the lake under Harrison Pass.

I caught on a little slowly! I think we walked right by that lake without exploring it. Are you referring to the unnamed lake between Ericsson Crags and Lake Reflection, with a morraine and Lucy Foot Pass to the SSE?