Hiking California’s Most Beautiful Valley | Eastern Sierra Nevada

It was time to set back out into the mountains for another solo adventure, and what better place to explore than the eastern Sierra. This time, I ventured off trail in search of a series of high alpine lakes with brilliant turquoise blue to deep emerald green colors, all framed by the stark granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada. To top it off, I had a perfect lakeside campsite along a Sierra gem with picture perfect weather. This is why I hike and continue to explore these majestic mountains. Join me for this amazing adventure into the eastern Sierra, beginning right now. Little Lakes Valley, so I am starting here, and I've got this whole valley of lakes to hike through. But I think what I really want to do is get to these little secret lakes up here, the treasure lakes. It's not really a trail as you can see on the map, but I'm going to try and find my way to those lakes I think today. Back in the Sierra Nevada, and I can't tell you how happy I am. Smell that fresh mountain air. All the flowers are out. I am the luckiest man alive, and look at the scenery behind me, unbelievable. So good to be back, just to be outside is just wonderful this time of year. But the plan today is to hike along the Little Lakes Valley Trail, and kind of meander off trail a little bit to go see if I can find these treasure lakes, which are high above the rest of the series of lakes here. So it'll be interesting to see what the trail is like, and what I find up here. Back into the John Muir Wilderness. Looking like I might have a little thunderstorm today, but so far so good. See if it holds off. The views back here are just incredible. As soon as you come over that first rise, epic, epic views of the range, unbelievable. Since I'm at this juncture, I'm going to cross over to a pretty epic view spot that I know of. Pushed back behind these trees, you can't even see it from the trail. It's kind of one of these lesser known spots for epic views along the Little Lakes Valley Trail. Oh yeah, and no one's there, even better. Starting to get kind of threatening. Here we go again, going to get dumped on. Have I mentioned yet that this is the best place? I got to pinch myself sometimes. This is just absolutely gorgeous. Coming in now to what I believe is called Heart Lake. This is the second or third lake along this trail. My word, it is gorgeous. Beautiful day to be out here. So just left Box Lake, and now hiking through some trees back into the forest, and I'm going to pop out again at Long Lake, and Long Lake, out of all of these lakes, is probably the most scenic, the most beautiful, in my opinion. Just a fantastic display of Mother Nature right when you kind of cross the little like rock pathway across the river, and it's just gorgeous. Coming into the most beautiful lake, Long Lake. Gosh, that is just gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Got the outlet here. Stunning. All right, so I'm at the tail end of Long Lake. This is the trail that continues on to Gem Lakes, and I found this little kind of side trail, so I'm going to go down this, see if this takes me up the ravine behind these trees to the Treasure Lakes. That would be amazing. As soon as I dropped down behind the lake, oh my gosh, I got hit with all kinds of bugs. Just had to stop and spray myself. It was too intense, I knew if I kept going I'd just be trying to outrun them the whole way up this rock scramble. So I don't know, the trail, there's a trail that goes that way, I think that goes around, but I'm looking to go shoot up this canyon. No idea if there's even a trail. So whatever I find, I'll be happy with, because if I get to see these lakes, I'll be so pumped. Oh yeah, I think I might be in luck up here. Here we go. Let's go. There is nobody back here. Got these awesome pinkish magenta flowers. So amazing. They weren't on the main trail, but they're on the back trail. Go figure. Made it to the outlet, or the end of the flow from the outlet. It looks like it's going to be a pretty good scramble. We'll see what it's like. There's not too much rockfall from it, but here's looking back. Gorgeous. I'm going to take my time, see what the trail is like, really. Oh yeah, it's going to get pretty wild. Made it up to the snow level. Still making my way. Views are getting better. And making my way up the ravine. So it's starting to turn into just pretty much tileless, really. So I've got to watch my footing as I hike up, because some of these gaps within the boulders are pretty big. So I've always got to be careful in these sections. There is nobody back here. And just making my way kind of right up that, I believe. And over the top, I believe, is Treasure Lakes. I'm literally on top of the creek coming down. Just going over all this tileless, this loose rock. Although it's pretty, it's pretty stable. Just watching my footing. Wow. This is amazing. Woo! Look at all these flowers. Unbelievable. Wow. This place is just gorgeous. It's like the higher you go up in the Sierra, the better the views. And somehow, the thunder and lightning has held off. Coming into the Treasure Lakes. Ah, yeah. Look at this. If only the sun was out. But still, you can see the turquoise water. Surprisingly quiet up here, too. It was worth it. Found a pretty good spot to kick it. Look at these alpine columbines. Beautiful flowers. Not a bad spot in front of the lake. See if I can get some water bomb here. Gonna hike down with my filtration kit. And I've been struggling lately with my hydration in the Sierra. So I got some of these LMNT's electrolytes. 1000mg of sodium, 200mg of potassium, 60mg of magnesium. It's supposed to be really, really good. So I'm gonna pour this bad boy right into my bottle. Gonna start making my way from Treasure Lakes. I don't think the sun's gonna come out and hit them, but it still is very, very pretty. And funny enough, the way I came was back over this way, which I'll show you over here. So I came up all of this, and funny enough, it looks like if I kind of scramble over here, Gem Lakes is just on the other side. At least that's how it appears on the map. So I'm gonna go over there, go take a look, see if I find a little side trail or something over to the lake. Starting to get some pretty good views of the Treasure Lakes up here. Still no direct sun, but very, very pretty. So I think I'm on the pass of some sorts, and if this leads me down to Gem Lakes, I've saved so much time from having to backtrack. Just the question is, what's the trail down like? There's Gem Lake. Hello. So the question is, what is the trail like? We are gonna find out. Oh, yes. Gosh, look at that water color. It's almost better than the, whoa, better than the Treasure Lakes. In fact, it might be. So I just have to make my way, scramble down this somehow, and see if there's a route I can find. I gotta show you how steep this is. Just coming straight down. Look at that. I have no idea what the trail is like beyond that. So if it's just a drop off, I have to turn back, because this is probably as steep as you want to get. I just came down that, and I'm pretty sure if I had to go back up right now, I would not make it. Oh, man. The lake's behind this tree. Just finding my way very, very carefully down this cliffside. The lake is just right there. Not much further to go. But yeah, that last part, sketch. I can't believe my luck to have hiked up to the Treasure Lakes and then found this little shortcut up and over the pass. Getting down this by the skin of my teeth, pretty amazing. Saved a ton of time. Now I can actually relax at the lake like I wanted. So this is working out perfectly. Now I just gotta find a campsite somewhere along this pristine lake. Those sites back at the inlet were a little marshy. A little, little marshy. All the sites are pretty close to the water, too. So I think wherever I camp, it's going to be right at the water's edge. It's not really any room elsewhere, but I just gotta find a good spot. Ooh, this one looks good. Just got these new MSR mini groundhog stakes, and to be honest, I wish I got the longer ones. But they're doing the trick so far. These are like a six inch. I cannot believe my luck. Just got the tent all set up. Absolutely love this new tent. From Bonfus, it is the, I think it's called the Duos 2, two person. And I just realized, you can sleep with the doors wide open because it's a complete bug mesh. Perfect. I had no idea. I was a bit leery about the trekking pole tent, but I love this thing. Super lightweight, durable, fits. It actually disappears into my pack. And I had no idea both sides open like that so I can get a good, good breeze. Look at that. Unbelievable. And I've been loving my new pack, also at Bonfus. This is the Bonfus Framus, and it's amazing gear. Love the gear. This is going to last me, God, five, ten years. So durable, so light. But I just can't get over this spot I got. How was this spot free? Incredible. First things first, get my sleeping bag, my sleeping pad, get this thing all blown up. This is the best. This is the absolute best. The pass I came down is over there, and apparently if you hike up, scramble this, up there there's Lake Dade in the back, haven't been there so I'll have to come back, and then of course over there, that's Morgan Pass, and I just can't get over how clear and turquoise this water is. I'm still waiting for the sun to hit it, but might have to wait until tomorrow for it to come back out. But just a gorgeous, gorgeous lake, and my tent is literally set up right on the shore, everything all set up, nice and cozy. Just enjoying the evening. The sun has come out, and it is glorious. Look at this water. My word. You can see why this lake is called Gem, truly is a gem. What a spot. So my mileage for today, just under 7 miles, 62 flights of stairs, and just under 11,000 feet. Not a bad way to spend the day. All right, I think it's time to put on some dinner. So tonight I have lasagna. Looking forward to that. Backpacker's Pantry lasagna, that's going to hit the spot. Can't wait, can't wait for that, and let's get the water going here. Even brought some delicious tea with me, some immune stress tea, ashwagandha, so I'm going to have some of this with my lasagna. Looks pretty interesting. There were some mushrooms in there, which, a bit questionable, but there's a lot of food and it's cheesy. Oh man, oh man, that's amazing, mmm, that hits the spot. I let these sit for 30 minutes up here, because I'm at 11,000 feet, and that's like the perfect time, mmm. This might be my new go-to. Got the bear canister all put away, and I think that's going to do it. It's only 7.20, but I don't mind getting tucked in and starting to read my book. That sounds like a pretty good night to me. Well, that's going to do it. Great, great day in the Sierra. Beautiful day of hiking. Feel so lucky to be out here, doing these trips, and now I'm looking forward to a nice quiet night out here. Right outside is the lake, literally the lake. Sun's going down, just touching the tips of the mountain. I've read my book, I think I'm ready for bed. It's only like 8 o'clock, but it's nice to get a nice long sleep, especially when you're out here hiking all day. So looking forward to that, and yeah, plan tomorrow is to get up early. It's probably going to get light really, really early up here, so I'll get up fairly early and have a nice cup of coffee and just enjoy the morning. Right here, next to the lake, gosh it's just feet away. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to camp this close, but everyone is and these are where all the sites are, so why make a new site if you have these pre-made sites? Anyway, see you guys in the morning. Good night. Good morning. It is 5 o'clock right now, and the birds are up chirping. I was actually up a little bit before, at about 4.30, and it was already starting to get light. It's so crazy how early it gets light up here. But I had a pretty decent sleep. Love hearing the birds in the morning. And I just have to go grab my coffee, so I can make it right here in the doorway. That'll be absolutely perfect, although it's a bit early, I mean it's literally 5, so I might try to sleep a little bit, but I can't believe it's already light. That is the spot. I tell you what, I didn't think I would enjoy this tent as much as I am, but the fact that I can have these doors opened up, drinking my coffee, and admiring the lake, what is better than that? Just listening to the birds. That is beautiful. The campsite is all cleaned up, left no trace, and it is so beautiful out here. Got some folks just starting to get up, just trying to be quiet, just in case anyone's sleeping. Gosh, this water, it's just so clear. But yeah, here's where I slept, didn't leave anything behind. That's where I came down yesterday, which is kind of crazy. All right, it is 6.50, let's rock and roll. Currently trying to find a back way out of this lake, because there are people sleeping along the trail that leads around the lake, which is the normal route, but as I hike down, these dogs started barking, and I'm thinking, if those dogs are not leashed, who knows what could happen. So, I know the trail is that way, so again, here I am bushwhacking, kind of making my own trail, not bushwhacking, but kind of finding my own route over to where I think the trail is. I think I may be onto something here, oh yeah, a trail, this might be one of the side trails. Ah, it's gorgeous. Nobody camped out over here though. Oh, perfect, goes right along the shore here, perfect. This is so neat, I believe this is one of the old carriages that they used for their mining operations back here, just a skinny carriage to make it along this road, which is now a trail, and if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, nothing better than hiking through the Sierra in the morning, the crisp light coming through the trees, peace and quiet, nobody on the trail, really is a special place. Well, that's gonna do it, the end of another fantastic adventure, this was a really, really good one. Who knew you could connect from the Treasure Lakes to Gem Lake? So now I know, and now you know, so if you do this trek, just be careful coming down from Gem Lakes, and if you're going up, be sure to have a lot of upper body strength and a really, really light pack, but overall, what a fantastic trek and overnight backpacking experience. Until next time, happy hiking.