Upper Hamilton Lake

Lakes of California #9

Hamilton lakes (Google map) is a popular location in Sequoia National Park. It is 16 miles from the trailhead from Crescent Meadows. I don’t know if anyone tries to do this as a day hike, I really hope not.

I did this as part of the High Sierra Trail and stayed here on night 2. It is quite a hard hike to get to the great western divide from Sequoia. When you see the great western divide from the trailhead, it seems so far away and as it so happens while backpacking, you will cross that ever so far distant object in the next few days.

This is a destination lake. Many folks do a 3 night trip with a night or two here, go up to Kaweah gap, return and head back the next day.

We would continue East towards Mt. Whitney.

This was the year where part of the trail had fallen off, so you had to get off trail into treacherous territory and climb back. It kept me up many a night. I asked a ranger where the trail falloff was and she showed me a point high along the ridge at about 11 o’clock. I did not sleep well that night. The next morning we would climb up the ridge and over the peak through a pass to Precipice lake.

The sun set, we had camped right here, I remember to this day, many years later, how I felt. The moon peaked above the mountains to the right.

Within a few minutes, the sun set and the mountains were lit by moonlight and this gorgeous pink hue surrounded us.

The next morning, we started early and went up the ridge turn back and see the beautiful Hamilton lakes from above.

This is perhaps the day I fell in love with through hiking. Day 3 is often when the body stops fighting you, understands you are up to no good and starts to go with the flow, and the real fun starts.