What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

[c9h13no3]

So I took the liberty of tabulating the results in this thread. I gotta say, I was really surprised at the results. Especially given the "Based on pure beauty, nothing else" comment. I think a lot of this is hipsterism: you like a lake more because you found it, worked hard to get there, it has big fish, you want to show off that you've been to obscure lakes, ect. ect. Or maybe they're just all that similar.

Here's the lakes that got more than one vote:

Cathedral Lake (any) 4
Thousand Island Lake 4
Edyth Lake 3
Marie Lake 3
Ediza 3
Precipice Lake 3
Royce Lake (any) 2
Washburn 2
Peter Pande 2
Sky Blue 2
Edna 2
Dusy Basin (any) 2
Lyell Fork Merced (any) 2
Hungry Packer Lake 2
Bench Lake 2
Vee Lake 2
Lake Reflection 2
Sphinx 2
Kearsarge Lakes 2

[maverick]

Keep thread on topic please, thanks!

[deenad]

Hey Maverick! Happy new hiking year! I had a list compiled, but alas! They were all in Golden Trout Wilderness, John Muir Wilderness and Hoover Wilderness.
Wanted to say hi anyway!

[Wandering Daisy]

Listing "favorite" lakes is like someone asking you which are your favorite children. I still find it fun to see what are other's favorites. I suspect if I had a absolute favorite I simply would keep that to myself so it does not become overrun. Most of the lakes in the "survey" you complied are neither remote, hard to get to, or obscure. Not sure what your gripe is. By the way, have you been to each of those lakes? I have.

PS, for we old folks what is "hipsterism"?

[LMBSGV]

hipsterism noun
hip·​ster·​ism | \ ˈhip-stə-ˌri-zəm
\
Definition of hipsterism

1 : hipness
2 : the way of life characteristic of hipsters

Synonyms & Antonyms for hipsterism

Synonyms

cool, coolness, fashionableness, hip, hipness, modishness, stylishness, trendiness, voguishness

Antonyms

unfashionableness

Examples of hipsterism in a Sentence
college hipsterism that year meant ragged flannel shirts and faded jeans

https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... hipsterism

[Wandering Daisy]

Now that I have the definition, I would not call the list of lakes "hipsterism". Rather most are considered classics. Almost the opposite - sorry if they are not unique enough for you. I would never be so high and mighty that I would question other peoples choices of their favorite lakes. There are hundreds of beautiful lakes in the Sierra; does not surprise me that a few are more than one person's favorite.

[Jimr]

The lowest lake in the picture is one of my favorite. I'll let you all guess where it is.

1-img006.jpg

[c9h13no3]

sorry if they are not unique enough for you

It's the opposite. They're more unique than I expected.

This forum formed to share knowledge of the Sierra. Naturally, the more knowledgeable you are, the higher your status in the community. So people want to express this knowledge for ego, status, and to gain acceptance within the group. Even better, is to claim that you know a secret lake that no one's heard of. Hipsters be like: "I know of this cool thing (band, DJ, designer, artist, back country lake), it's the best, but you probably haven't heard of it." It happens in every social circle. Sorry for the anthropology lesson.

Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there's a reason people show up to the Sierra in far greater numbers than the Ozarks. I expected a bit more uniformity in the responses. Also it's a little funny that people think posting on a message board will get their favorite spot overrun.

[SSSdave]

Members here on HST post on threads to share, inform, request information, and participate within a useful and pleasant gregarious respectful community. Most of the experienced members are not here for ego, status, or strokes, nor to show off, though such is the game in some other web forums especially those with juvenile vibes.

[Jimr]

I agree with SSSdave, but I'll omit the words after "forums" because I choose to.