Little Lakes Valley 9/2-9/4

[happycamper0313]

I just wanted to thank this community for all the great information posted here. I check every few days and last week I came upon a conversation regarding LLV being a great first backpacking trip, so I took my 8 year old daughter on her first overnight trip on the holiday weekend.

I don't think I would have known a better place to introduce her to the Sierras if it wasn't for a conversation on this forum that I randomly came across. We camped at Chickenfoot Lake, tried our hand at fishing for the first time, chilled in a hammock...it was gorgeous! There was some snow still, the mosquitoes were biting, but so were the fish - we saw a lot of people catching fish which my daughter enjoyed. As an avid backpacker, it was amazing to share this experience with her.

A couple things about backpacking with a child I learned:

My daughter isn't as scared or fragile as I thought.

I packed so much food (almost triple of what I would pack for myself because I was so worried that she would have a ravenous hunger), and she only ate fruit rollups throughout the day, trail mix, and a little dinner.

Altitude plus weight on her back, plus slight incline was a little too much to ask - I ended up taking the few items I packed in her pack and just let her hike with snacks in her empty pack.

Kids point out things that you'd never see. No quirky branch, foreign sound, chipmunk, or colorful wildflower went unnoticed. Inkblots made in reflections of still lakes kept us busy in the quiet morning.

The only thing I would complain about is that that trail is like Disneyland in the beginning. There was a lot of trash, a lot of young people in neon colors and yapping lap dogs, people going off trail, bad trail etiquette, and a complete disregard for 'leave no trace' principles.

I don't know if I'd ever go back there on a weekend or holiday, the last bit to the car on Sunday morning spoiled some of the trip because of the HORDES we had to wade through, but the trail and lakes are extremely gorgeous and perfect to for my kiddo!

[kpeter]

Happy, I came out of my trip with my college-age daughter early (due to mosquitoes) and we substituted a day hike into Little Lakes Valley on 9/3--so we overlapped. It was Disney Land--so many people that we could not walk at our own pace on the trail. The heat wave plus Labor Day weekend just overwhelmed this wonderfully high trailhead. It was my experience on a prior trip that there were quite a number of easy cross country destinations that can get you our of most of the crowds. I bet back at Chicken foot you found places that were a little more reasonable.

[happycamper0313]

The mosquitoes were bad but thankfully we were fully covered plus headnets so it wasn't so bad.