High Sierra Topix

As to ones not already mentioned...I have to repeat myself from the thread about the Mono Divide, but Grinell and Vee Lakes are two of the best. Chasm Lake in the Ionian Basin. As Rlown suspects, Puppet Lake is a great spot. Ediza would be if it weren't so popular.

I'm not a Yosemite person, although I will be on a trip that goes by Benson and Smedberg next weekend, so maybe I'll be persuaded.

Are you planning to do the Northern Loop? If yes then check out the lakes
at the end of Slide Canyon (Doe, Surprise,Tallulah, Rock Island Lakes)
also the lakes south of Seavey Pass are nice.

Emigrant,Wood,Royce,Brown Bear all great fishing lakes.I need to add some others but I always end up going to the same areas each trip.

maverick wrote:Are you planning to do the Northern Loop? If yes then check out the lakes
at the end of Slide Canyon (Doe, Surprise,Tallulah, Rock Island Lakes)
also the lakes south of Seavey Pass are nice.

Yes. Unlike me, though, I'll be with a group, and one that's rather autocratic to boot, so I'm not sure how much of a chance I'll get to go off-trail (except to climb the Matterhorn). Looking at the map, Surprise looks pretty close to the trail.

Just went through all the lakes listed by others and will toss in my two cents on aesthetics for the ones I didn't initially mention but have visited. We all have different reasons to see beauty in landscapes including lakes. Time of day, weather, season, etc can make a huge difference from day to day, so don't take offense from my photographer oriented general assessments.

Upper Buck Lake ...long ago just passed by quickly, topo shows very interesting intricate glaciated shoreline I'd like to explore

Convict Lake ...Sevehah Cliff backdrop world class ancient weird geology, Mount Morrisson above lake very spectacular but difficult to frame from lakeside, too many boats and fish taking bugs on surface for really calm summer morning water, though I intend to get a winner there some April or early May morning after a good dusting of late winter snows

Precipice Lake ...passed through, rested a couple hours, some interesting cliff face framing possible, but didn't excite me as much as others make it out for, some much better stuff in unnamed lakes across the pass in de arroyo

Dusy 11393 Lake ...too close to Palisades for anything but towering craggy walls next to lake type of views, sun is blocked till late morning so cabbit get reflections during calm mornings, in afternoon is usually breezy but at sunset can reflect excellent strong sunset oranges in wavy waters because much of summer is unblocked to west

Edyth Lake ...been a long time, next major slab cliff and canyon all around is towering on all sides so sort of a down in canyon view of juniper/jeffrey forest in joint cracks, very glaciated landforms, not one for a camera

Upper Ritter Lake ...down in vegetation-less dark, metavolcanic talus pile, too close to Ritter to get in view with camera, reminds me of sterile Ionian Basin lakes some really like but not this person

Hungry Packer Lake ...spectacular Picture Peak behind, good views from outlet but cannot really frame along shores, I prefer to get further back like at Sailor Lake

Upper Mattie Lake ...been there a couple times years ago and have vague memory as it did not seem to interest my aesthetic sense at that time, Mattie Lake itself is nicely photographic from many areas of the shore both in the morning and in afternoon, though maybe not exceptionally

Puppet Lake ...out in the open on a flatish glaciated bench, nearly treeless, nicely unblocked in a few directions so possible to frame clouds in sky above in some directions if calm, probably some good dawn/dusk possibilities, caught a big golden thar

Lake 10,554 ...we camped there after climbing up from west end of Evolution Valley, worked about its shores one morning and got some moderately nice reflection pics though not exceptional as graphic shape of skyline peaks not optimal

Lake 10,232 ...just passed by late morning and it is pretty wide open reminding me of Pearl Lake in Blackcap Basin, likely some great sky cloud pics from some shore areas

Grassy Lake ...very nice views of Piute Crags and ridge end north of Lamarck, and nice foregrounds of shooting stars and lemmon's paintbrush in mushy meadow lakeside early summer

Grinell Lake ...BINGO, yep that be a very nice lake for photographers with Red & White making for a particularly nice graphic profile behind lake, I really didn't succeed when there as it was a tad breezy

Vee Lake ...gee just look on my website gallery

Emigrant Lake ...a very very long lake and deep to for good blues if one gets up above on ridge, I hiked beside one morning

Wood Lake ...visited long ago for fishing reasons during an epic El Nino mosquito hatch, not much a visual except if one likes seeing rainbows jump way out of water for hatching mayflies

Great comments, Dave. Thanks for taking the time to post(and help the rest of us fledgling photographers).

Just browsing through this thread makes me think I've got a lot more exploring to do Its hard to put a tag on a particular location, because each has a beauty unto its own. But if I had to, here's a few choices of mine, solely based upon this beholder's eyes:
Seki:
-Lowest lake along Picket Creek (not necessarily photogenic, but incredibly beautiful and peacefull)
-Any lake along the east side of Red Spur
-Sapphire Lake
-Dusy (any of them)
Yosemite:
-Kuna Lake
-Upper Cathedral Lake
MiddleGround:
-Vee Lake
-Fourth Recess Lake
-Hungry Packer Lake
-Minaret Lake

Several favorite spots have already been mentioned ,but has anyone else looked out at the 360 degree panorama from Orchid lake and thought it was one of the most beautiful spots? Fishing was mediocre, but the view is worth the trek. jls

AldeFarte wrote:Several favorite spots have already been mentioned ,but has anyone else looked out at the 360 degree panorama from Orchid lake and thought it was one of the most beautiful spots? Fishing was mediocre, but the view is worth the trek. jls

Oops, thar floats about a secret. A photographer that is a student of topo maps would quickly note its promising position. A nice place to base camp a few days in peace without seeing any others. The morning frontlit view west against the ridge is rather ordinary timberline. Smallish fish be true.

...a wee pond on that same ridge, August 7, 1995 from a Kodachrome KR135 slide Kodak Pro Photo CD scan a decade plus ago:

At my age my mind is kind of shot so most scenic lake is the last one I visited. Mike