Mid Sierra Musings: Hike To Gem Lakes Along The Rock Creek Trail

Dale Matson

Click Photographs To Enlarge

Hike Route

OK, this time of year is hot…July hot. Hikes can be problematic for example, the hike to the Ashram off Whitney Portal Road. It was 105 degrees at my truck when we finished. My truck was parked at about 6,800’! Give me a break. Where in the world can you go to get a good hike where there is plenty of water, a good trail, beautiful views, minimal smoke from wildfires and cool hiking? Start early, there are plenty of folks that know about this trail.

There is a turnoff from highway 365 at what is called Tom’s Place. It is north of Bishop and South of Mammoth Lakes. Take this road West to the very end and that is the trailhead. The hike to Gem Lakes is about 8 miles round trip with a starting elevation of over 10,000’. It travels through “Little Lakes Valley”. There are toilets and paved parking at the trailhead. There are also mosquitoes that greet you at the trailhead too.

We stayed the night in Bishop, had an early breakfast and hit the trailhead by 7:30 am. It was refreshingly cool at the start. There is a bit of climb at the start but a gradual ascent after that. The hike tops out about 11,000’ at Gem Lakes.

The trail travels south parallel to Wheeler Ridge on the east with Mt. Morgan at the end of the ridge. After about a half mile, the view opens up to a wonderful frontal view of mountains in the distance. Triangle Peak, Bear Creek Spire, Mt. Dade and Mt. Abbot. We passed climbers coming back from a successful summit of Bear Creek Spire (13,726’), a popular climbing destination.

Then, there are several lakes as you continue along the trail. Marsh, Heart, Box and Long Lakes. There is also Chickenfoot Lake a bit off the main trail. Not far past Chickenfoot Lake, there is a junction with Morgan Pass to the left and Gem Lakes to the right. The sign post was there but the sign was missing. Someone had carved “Gem Lake” into the post where the sign should have been.

Now, the ladies were the tough ones on this hike and both jumped into the icy cold water of Gem Lake. There are still snow patches down to the lake. There was no danger of overheating with a dip in the lake and ample cool water along the way to resupply, if you had a filter or purification tablets. Following the dip, we all scrambled up on a big boulder and admired the green color of the lake while eating our lunches.

We headed back and arrived in the early afternoon. In the meantime, the clouds had begun to roll in and provided yet another view of the mountains that required even more photos.

Since this is an out and back route, the hiker can go all the way to Gem Lakes or turn around sooner. Additionally, there is a junction early on with the other route leading to Mono Pass. This is a more strenuous climb but you could take the side trail off the Mono Pass Trail to Ruby Lake. This is also an amazingly beautiful lake with a shorter distance Than Gem Lakes but ending at about the same elevation as Gem Lakes. You can see the other lakes below as you climb alongside them. Here is my report on the trail over Mono Pass so you can see Ruby Lake. http://midsierramusing.blogspot.com/2016/08/over-mono-pass-from-mosquito-flat.html

Here is a YouTube Video I created from the photos and additional video clips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFqhYYQNOE0&t=11s

This may just be the hike with the best bang for your buck in the eastern Sierra Nevada.