The least visited lake.

[paul]

One way to tell if you are at a unvisited lake is to look for arrowheads or flakes. If you find them around the lake, odds are that it hasn't been visited by anyone, ever.

Not recently, you mean ;-)

[Ikan Mas]

I have found obsidion many places in the Sierras. Although the numbers of Native Americans in the mountains was probably never large, they were there for 10,000 to 20,000 years, depending on what theory you subscribe to. Of course for some of this time the mountains were under glaciers, but they were here for a long time. They knew all the major passes and probably roamed quite widely.

Two years ago as my brother and I hiked down Kerrick Meadows we noted that we found obsidion at every place we stopped. So we began to think about it more deeply. We liked to stop a places with a nice view and water nearby. We also liked to find a nice smooth rock to sit on. We realized that our needs were the same as theirs. Think about about this a you pull over for a break. The somewhat sparse grass cover in Kerrick made finding the obsidion very easy.

Last summer at Summit Lake above the San Joaquin River, one end of the lake was thoroughly covered with obsidion. I took this spot as a trading or rendevous point. There must of been lots of people here over the years.

[mokelumnekid]

I was just teasing of course, but my point was for the gang not to get too fixated on the notion of "least visited." I spotted this gem (below) a few years ago about ten feet off of a major use-trail along the N. Fk. Mokelumne, very close to Monty Wolfe's upper cabin site. Like everybody I've found obsidian flakes in the most seemingly remote places. If folks really hanker getting off the beaten track I recommend the North Cascades or the mountain of BC.

I was working in a very remote "lost" mountain range in northwest central Argentina a few years ago (still am in fact) and after a few days travel with backpacks and spike camps, out of NOWHERE glides this guy on a small horse, with heavy chaps, etc. He doesn't say a word, just passes us and disappears.Straight out of a Twilight Zone episode. My take home was that even the most seemingly hostile and remote environments may have people living in them...or at least passing through.

[Hobbes]

Funston?

I'm always going out of Horseshoe, either via Cottonwood or (New) Army passes, to hit Calipedder's planned destination. (And to paraphrase Terry Hatcher, "it's real and spectacular".) Funston just sits out there all by itself (I don't count the proximity to Rocky Basin lakes), around 6 miles x-country off the PCT.

I'm thinking of adding an extra day to loop the 12 miles in/out the next time I'm up there this summer. I searched HST, and all I came across was an old rumor that while it might not be on the gill net list (like the GT watershed to the south ie Chickenspring, Rocky) it may now be non-maintained.

Does anyone know if this is true? Or whether it matters? It's a nice size lake - about the same as Sky Blue - so it might be self-sustaining. OTOH, by the looks of things, there ain't much/any water the whole way there or back towards Rock Creek across Siberian. And given this dry year, it could be a slog.

[Cross Country]

The problem with this thread is that I worded it poorly. My choice of words invites one to nitpick. There has been plenty of that but none as bad as my poor wording. Only one response made me winch, but after all that person seems to lay in wait to criticize things I write. "makes no sense" is an opinion, not a fact. This however WAS my fault. I like the idea but it got taken apart too much. On the positive side, there were a lot of interesting (my opinion) responses. I enjoy reading about remote lakes since it was a driving force for my backpacking adventures.

I believe, that after reading all the responses there is only one lake that no one on HST has been to and it's the one by Grays pass. Their have been at least 2 pictures of it taken from above but NO ONE claims to have been there! --- It is the apparent champ (at least that's my opinion).

[cgundersen]

This thread was buried for a while, but as I was watching storm clouds collect over the Ragged Spur (roughly the western boundary of Ionian Basin/Enchanted Gorge) a couple weeks ago and peering at my topo maps, I realized that there is a little lake (tarn?) trapped high (well, above 11 k) on the Ragged Spur a bit north of the peak 12414 (see attachment). It looks to be nearly as remote as the lake Mav mentioned (which I agree is one that I am confident very few people have seen), and probably even harder to reach. If anyone has photos of that beastie, please share!!!
Thanks,'
cg

[East Side Hiker]

Great question, one that makes me think very hard with my maps at hand. Its hard to imagine any lakes below 11,000' in N.P.s or wilderness areas that haven't been visited. Seeing no sign of use doesn't mean no ones been there of course. I'm thinking somewhere in the Sequoia N.F, or north of I-80, off Hwy 88 or 108, between two deep forks of a major river, but I don't know. Anyone with a map and a desire to seek a remote place could find a lake far away from a trail. Many lakes below 11,000 in remote areas may be hard to access due to vegetation

Very interesting and thought provoking question. As someone before said, I rarely go low these days (if I can help it), but still, much of my use is 9,500' and above. When I worked in the Sequoia and Toiyabe, most of the land was far below 11,000', but all of the lakes were over-used.

[East Side Hiker]

I was going through all the posts in this thread (which I hadn't before), and I was struck by three posts - the one with the picture of the white arrowhead, and the photos by Rogue and SSSdave. Really excellent work.

[lambertiana]

A lake that may qualify, and that I hope to visit next summer (two, actually): The pair of lakes a little above 10,800' at the eastern end of the Sawtooth-Needham ridgeline east of Mineral King. The Tom Harrison maps show them as one odd-shaped lake, but the 7.5 topo shows them as two distinct lakes, one nearly round, one long and thin.

I bet the views are great there - a nice headwall to the west, and an unobstructed view down Soda Creek, across the lower end of Big Arroyo, across Chagoopa and Moraine Lake, with the Kern and the Whitney group on the background.

Anyone been there?

[RoguePhotonic]

I am still in the mountains so I cannot post an over head photo of the lake I mean but one that strikes me as really remote where only a couple might have ever been is beyond those larger lakes West of Observation Peak if you look further SW of that flank of the mountain there is a small lake that is shaped a bit odd with two small islands. I'd like to see anyone that has ever gone to that one for sure.