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lambertiana:
I'm guessing that for the relative dearth of activity at Amphitheater Lake (the one out of Mineral King) that those upper lakes see little action. I was close a few years back, but did not get to them.
Rogue,
Yep, it's those lakes (see attached map) that Mav thought were very seldom visited, esp., the one in the lower left of the attachment, but I'm guessing you could camp most of the summer at any of those lakes and have very few visitors.
cg
While looking for more remote lakes to visit the one on Ragged Spur came up and I had wondered if anyone mentioned it here. I'm not sure if that lake could be reached from the Enchanted Gorge or if you would need to climb up near Scylla as I was told the Ragged Spur itself is easy to hike across and then drop down to it. If I get out next year I may try to reach that spot.
As for these other lakes I have of course been out to some of those lakes West of Observation Peak. For the interest of the thread here are the 3:
Lowest:
Middle:
Upper:
You have to walk about 100 yards up the hill from the middle lake (Island Bird) to see this view:
This is the lake up from Cartridge Creek that may have never been visited:
If I do get back out next year going back to this area and doing some more peaks and visiting that lake will certainly be on the list.
It can also be noted that I ran into a man who is a doctor in Mammoth (Jonathan - penny for your thoughts?) Who traversed from near Reinstein Pass staying on the Eastern side of the ridge line above Goddard Creek. He visited all the lakes along there before crossing Blue Canyon Pass and making his was to Tunemah. He then dropped down from Tunemah lake to the lakes East of it and was planning to drop into Goddard Creek from there. I do not know what became of him but the idea sounded crazy to me when you look at the strange cliff bands that line that descent. Despite the fact that we know people visit these lakes the one directly North of Tunemah Peak however as noted in this thread probably has seen much less visitation.
I made it to the lakes at the east end of the Needham ridgeline that I mentioned last year, and found absolutely no evidence of human presence. No footprints, no sign. I doubt they get visited often.
this one is is 1 mile N. of Southfork Pass on S. Fork Big Pine Ck. drainage at 11,000 ft. It has a stunted forest of foxtail pines and no footprints or fish. The snowfield in the photo is "permanent" ice (or glacial remnant).
I believe that a "TARN" is more rightly defined as a glacier scooped pond (and the important distinction) with no inlet and no outlet stream. Many mapped lakes actually have inlets and outlets that do not show up on maps (in my experience). Back in places like Michigan in relatively flat terrain there are ice-age remnant ponds that are true tarns.
In the last 10-20,000 years of human exploration and last 30 years of helicopter assisted scientific study, I doubt there is a lake in the Sierra that hasn't been visited.
These three popped into my head as far as "little visited". Of these three, I would guess the one on the middle fork of Goodale Creek to be the "closest to road" but least visited.
Ooh I like this game! I'd love to visit all these lakes someday - except maybe that one at 10,500 above cartridge creek...that looks like a pain!
How about lake 10,960+ SE of Marion Peak. Anyone been there? Looks like it may have a stellar view of the Muro Blanco and Arrow Peak. Not sure the best route to get there...
I don't think the one above Cartridge Creek should be too hard to get to. I plan to go there this summer.
I've thought about those lakes around Marion & State Peaks looking down on them from both Marion and Arrow Peaks. They do look like a pain to reach. Never been there and not so sure I would ever try.
JD: Which picture is of middle fork goodale creek? The last one?
Visited the lake on the north fork goodale creek, it was nice. The tarn shown on the topo above it was dry in Oct 2012. It is also probably very seldom visited as Taboose or Armstrong is a much better route for peaks in the area.
