R03 TR: Sabrina Lake to Hungry Packer and Moonlight Lake July 2013

[nightowl]

First TR here, thought I should share!

Day 1: We started at the Sabrina Lake TH (9080') and skirted around Sabrina Lake before climbing up some rocky switchbacks. The high elevation definitely got to us, and the 3 miles to Blue lake (10390') took us a lot longer than expected.

Looking back down at Sabrina Lake

Crossing the outlet of Blue Lake

Since Blue lake was pretty crowded, we continued on past Emerald Lakes to get to Dingleberry Lake. There was only one other group there, so we decided to set up camp there and relax by the lake.

Taking a dip in Dingleberry lake. It was a lot colder than it looked!

Our campspot with the amazing view of the mountains

Day 2:
We woke up at sunrise, and after packing our daypacks we reached Topsy Turvy lake (10800') in less than an hour.

The clear waters and surrounding boulders of Topsy Turvy Lake

We decided to head up to Hungry Packer lake first, and passed some beautiful meadows near Middle and Sailor lake with lots of flowers and streams.

The road leading up to Hungry Packer Lake

Me at Hungry Packer Lake

After hanging out at Hungry Packer lake for a while, we headed back down the trail and crossed the meadows to Moonlight falls in the distance.

Moonlight falls (the pool at the bottom of the falls had the largest fish we've seen all weekend!)

Then we followed the waterfall upstream, boulder hopping until we emerged at Moonlight Lake (11,600). This was all of our favorite lake, the water was just SO blue.

The teal blue of Moonlight lake compared to the sky

After spending the day there and swimming in the lake, we decided to head back following the river downstream rather than the trail, and it took us through some gorgeous meadows and scenery.

Hiking back through the flower-filled meadows

We followed the river back to Topsy Turvy /Pee Wee lake, and eventually found some cairns near the outlet of the lake that eventually led us back to the main trail. We saw marmots and even a deer on the way back. The sunset was beautiful that night, the sky and clouds were bright pink and purple.

Day 3:
We woke up early and hiked back to the car. It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the hike back was mostly downhill. Overall it was a great trip, and I couldn't get over how beautiful the views were.

Mosquitoes weren't too bad considering how much water and marshlands there were in the Sabrina basin. Even with DEET, we did get a lot of bites at the more marshy areas that the trail trekked through.

[schmalz]

Wonderful TR of a great area.

Welcome to HST!

[nightowl]

Thanks Calitrails! I love your dog and your blog, your trip report was actually the one that inspired me to do this trip.

[maverick]

Thank you so much Nightowl for getting back to us and posting this wonderful TR, great
pictures, and sharing your adventure with us.
Good to see that the flowers are still out in force.

[kpeter]

One of my favorite spots. I often camp above Dingleberry, and love hanging out around the falls and Moonlight. Your TR brings back some wonderful memories playing at those falls with my children.

[Herm]

Yes, thanks for posting on a great area. Very nice to see the relative abundance of flowers in the Sierra after the dry winter. I think Moonlight Lake is magical.
Herm