Day 1 (6/2): Met in western El Dorado County to start the trek up highway 50. Made it to Van Vleck Trailhead by 8:45 am. Started the dirt road walk for the first mile until we branched off onto Highland Lake Trail. With a map and wood trail markers, easy to figure out which trail to take. Nice steady climb for the next 2 miles. The last mile into Forni Lake was steeper and filled with pockets of snow drifts. Nothing too annoying! Stopped for early lunch at Forni Lake about noon. Pretty little lake with lots of 8-12 inch brook trout. Very minimal mosquitoes mid-day. We started the off trail portion of the trip at this point. Much of the initial climb around the southside of Forni Lake was snowdrift walking. Finally on the more rocky slopes headed up towards the pass between Tells Peak and McConnell Peak, the snow was sparse and easy to avoid. Made it to the pass about 2 pm. The views east into Highland Lake´s granitic bowl was amazing! Lots of granite with accents of snow. We could even see the northern half of Lake Tahoe. The initial 200 foot down the eastside of the pass was sandy mixed with scree. Eventually, it turned into a zigzag down granitic shelves. Nothing exposed or dangerous, definitely class 2! By 3:30 PM, we made it to beautiful Highland Lake. We camped on a higher shelf 200 feet from the lake on the northwestern part of the lake to minimize potential mosquitoes. Nice sandy sites with room for 2-3 small tents (1-2 person tents). There was an awesome set of cascades and waterfalls near our campsite that made for a great hangout spot to relax and eat meals. This lake and general area was as beautiful as many parts of the Eastern Sierra, including parts of the JMT.
Day 2 (6/3): Left camp by 9 am to head cross country southeast to Lake Zitella and back on trail near Horseshoe Lakes. Passed by quite a few potential campsites near the outlet of the lake. The initial descent down the creek out of Highland Lake was stunning. Pretty little cascades and waterfalls abound! The wildflowers are just starting to bloom. Should be stunning in the next few weeks! We contoured around some cliffy areas to a notch that funnelled up to Lake Zitella. It is a pretty lake, but a step down from Highland Lake. We hiked up to the low pass south of Lake Zitella to overlook Rockbound Valley and the McConnell Loop region of lakes. The views were great with scenery like Dicks Peak, Mt. Tallac, and unnamed waterfalls falling into the creeks and lakes below us. We were pretty tired from being off trail, so we were ready for some easy trail miles to recover before going off trail again. I had read the trail through this area was hard to find. Couple this with lots of snow, we rarely found the trail from Horseshoe lakes to Leland Lakes. We meandered in the general direction we were supposed to go, but expended alot of energy weaving around and over snow drifts and willowy creeks areas. The highlight was a 500 foot cascading waterfall between Horseshoe Lakes and McConnell Lakes. As pretty as anything throughout the Sierra! Finally by 3 PM, we reached the saddle north of Leland Lakes, and our exit point from the supposed trail to the off trail/cross country trudge up to the pass due west of Leland Lakes, between Silver and Red Peaks. We were pretty beat, but slowly slogged up the steep slope, jumping back and forth between rocky slabs and talus and large patches of snow. The snow was soft, but not so bad that we postholed (if we stayed away from trees and the edges of boulders). Like the other pass to Highland Lake, this was class 2, with no exposure or anything dangerous. Made it to the pass about 4:30 PM and started down to Lake #3. Aim for the north shore of Lake #3, as you will get cliffed out on the southeast shore. Found some nice sandy campsites on the southside of the lake near the trail. Lake #3 was very buggy! Mosquito nets were a must!
Day 3 (6/4): We were ready for an easy 7 mile high downhill hike on trail by 8 am and to In-n-Out burger in Placerville. We jinxed ourselves. Within a mile of leaving Lake #3, we began encountering dozens of winter blow downs of pine trees for the next 4-5 miles. We went over, under, and around probably 40 trees ranging from 6 inches to 30 inches in diameter trees. I fell twice and face planted tripping over limbs and debris. Add mosquitoes from the snow melt, and the hike out was not fun. Lots of hiking in trees with minimal views. I would avoid this trail for the foreseeable future due to the blow downs. It will take years to clear this trail. Finally about 11 am, we made it to the car. Whew...that was a much tougher day than we planned!
Overall, a really great trip! Without snow, the blowdowns, etc., this would have been much easier! If I did it again, I would go later season, and avoid Lake #3 area. Maybe exit from Leland Lakes to Lake Schmidell to Rockbound Pass and Wrights Lake and do a shuttle. Or loop back down Rockbound Valley toward Loon Lake.
