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I had a chance to finally get out for a walk last week. I left Sunday morning and grabbed a permit in Lone Pine and drove up the rest of the way to Mosquito Flat TH. I had to park below and count cars to get an upper spot as it was pretty crowded (to be expected on a beautiful Sunday morning).
I hit the trail about lunch time and enjoyed the walk in. I checked out Gem Lakes but headed over to Treasure Lakes. Not a soul in sight and I had the entire area to myself. It was quite windy so bugs weren't an issue in the evening.
I ended up waking up at 2am and took a few night shots and then up at 4:30 for some morning shots. I also brought my fly rod along and caught copious amounts of small brookies. After a lazy morning I packed up and wandered around up towards Dade Lake. It was still frozen over which surprised me. After boulder hopping for some time I made it back down to Gem Lakes and found a nice place to call home. I found a sliver of shade to set up my tent and get some rest and escape the skeeters. They weren't horrendous but bad enough to want to escape. That evening the brookies were relentless catching one on almost every cast. I wish my boys had been with me, they would have loved it. The next morning I headed out and home. The bugs seemed to be getting worse with each passing day. I posted a few photos below.
Thank you for taking the time to share your TR and delightful photos!
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer
I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.
Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member:http://reconn.org
