Round Lake and Bears Lakes (Sierra County, California)

 

The meetup group scheduled another hike into the Lakes Basin area near Graeagle, CA for today. This trip was to visit a few of the regions many lakes, specifically Round Lake, Big Bear Lake, Little Bear Lake and Cub Lake. Everyone was pretty sure there would be little to no snow on the trail and so most of us left our gaiters and snowshoes behind for the hike.

As normal we met at one of our normal spots and carpooled the hour or so up to the trail head. Sixteen of us in all, spread into five cars made the trip. When we arrived at the trailhead, we were greeted with a few inches of slushy snow in the parking lot - not a good sign. We quickly organize and get moving. 

As we enter the forest, we find a fair amount of snow on the trail. The air temperature is fairly mild and makes the snow pretty slushy in most places, though it has some crunch to it in the shade. Still it's not very deep during this first part of the trail. 

Soon, we pass the first of many frozen ponds as we begin the ascent up to Round Lake. Here the snow begins to get deeper, approaching depths of two to three feet in sections. For the next couple of miles, I should probably change the name of the hike to "Adventures in Post-holing", as one step after the next sees myself and many others sinking deep into the snow. It makes the going incredibly slow and laborious, but we persevere. 

Arriving at Round Lake, the bowl surrounding the lake is covered with more snow, but the contrast of the clear bluish-green water against the white backdrop makes for a beautiful view. As we make our way around the nearside of the lake, I'm wishing I had a pair of hiking poles to use, as the snowbank is slick and the slightest slip of the foot would see one of us sliding twenty feet down into the icy lake waters. Luckily, we traverse the distance without anyone taking a dip.

The going doesn't get much better as we continue around to Silver Lake. Post-holing continues to be the theme of the adventure. We're all enjoying ourselves just hanging out in our beloved outdoors, but the constant sinking into the snow is somewhat frustrating for everyone.

As we make the turn back around to drop down to the Bear Lakes, we note a lone tree on the ridge line. It's growing out of the granite and an angle and we all agree what a great picture it would make.

Arriving at Big Bear Lake, we don't find much relief in the post-holing. Like the other alpine lakes in this area that we have visited, the snow makes for a pristine view. We pass the other two smaller lakes and eventually arrive back a the fork that leads us back to the trail head. This last section is mostly snow-free and it provides some much appreciated relief from the earlier part of the trail. 

In total, we only put in about 4.3 miles today, but the constant post-holing certainly made it a challenging adventure. As usual when doing hikes in this area, the group heads up the road to the Brewers Lair and pulls out a cornucopia of snack food to enjoy with each other while we dip on some good brews and cringe at a barrage of mostly cheesy jokes. I do love this group and I'm glad to be part of it.