High Sierra Topix

Hi all, just wondering if this lake - just west of Mercur Peak - is also referred to as Mercur Lake. Has anyone been there? Good campsites and swimming?

Map link
http://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=38.09576 ... =r2&n=0.31

We've been there. It's a long hike along the top of Kibbie Ridge to get there. We kept going and camped down in Cherry Canyon (about a mile past Styx Pass)

There are a lot of nice lakes in this area: Boundary was our favorite, but Spotted Fawn and Little Bear are also nice--as is Many Island

Mercur Lake isn't deep--and none of these lakes have fish, as far as I know.

I've been up Kibbie Ridge many times in the past 15 years, and am familiar with all of the major lakes off-trail (Boundary, Spotted Fawn, etc). Funny enough, the two lakes I haven't visited are Kibbie Lake and Flora Lake. From looking at Google Earth, Mercur Lake appears promising. I don't fish much. But I like to take a dip in a cold lake at the end of the day!

Ya know, I was just in the West Fork Cherry last weekend, and we camped right near the swimming hole/pool in the second picture in your post from last year.



From there I hiked south to the pool where Bear Meadow feeds into W Fork. If I had gone about 1 mile further I would have completed the entire W Fork from Louse Canyon to confluence of main fork. Oh well. (I ran out of time. But I was scouting an easier route to get to an amazing swimming channel + camp I had previously found traveling north from the confluence.)

balzaccom wrote:We've been there. It's a long hike along the top of Kibbie Ridge to get there. We kept going and camped down in Cherry Canyon (about a mile past Styx Pass)

There are a lot of nice lakes in this area: Boundary was our favorite, but Spotted Fawn and Little Bear are also nice--as is Many Island

Mercur Lake isn't deep--and none of these lakes have fish, as far as I know.

I walked by there last week...it looked pretty swampy and uninviting from the trail, but I did not take a close look.

I haven't been there since 1995. As of 1995 it looked like the lake had a fair bit of use in spite of the fact there wasn't an official trail there. There was evidence of visitation by large stock-assisted parties and a fair amount of bear sign (gravitating to "extras" 'round those campsites?). In 1995 there were also good brookies in that lake, but it was being air dropped in those days. Those fish probably couldn't reproduce sufficiently to sustain the fishery after the cessation of air drops. If the lake has indeed become fishless, then I'd be willing to bet it sees fewer visitors than it did in 1995.