What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

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maverick
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What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by maverick »

Name 4 lakes in SEKI, 2 in Yosemite, and 4 in section between SEKI and
Yosemite based purely on beauty, and nothing else.
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by SSSdave »

Image

Actually my favorites are mostly no name lakes and ponds. Some other favorites I like that do have names I won't name haha. Here are a few well known lakes many already know about that are beautiful and also make nice places to camp.

Kibbie Lake
Lower Cathedral Lake
Thousand Island Lake
Minaret Lake
Marie Lake
Royce Lake #4
Big Five Lake #2
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by hwy395lvrz »

Lower McCabe
Benson
Upper Buck Lake
Washburn
Ediza
Peter Pande
Lost Keys Lake
Treasure Lakes 3 & 4
Convict Lake ( a sentimental favorite as this was my first trip to the Sierras in 1971)
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by markskor »

Washburn
Smedberg
Harriet #2
Sky Blue
Lower Crabtree
1000 Island
Marie
Bernice
Edna
Lower Ottoway
at one time...Mattie (but have not been back since the gill netting) :crybaby:
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by STRETCHMAN »

Gaylor Lakes-A short hike with great views. :rock:
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by giantbrookie »

On basis of visual impression (to me). This is just what comes to mind at the moment.
Seki.
1. Precipice Lake
2. Amphitheater Lake (Cataract Creek)
3. "Window Lake" (biggest lake in Window Creek drainage below Window Peak)
4. Dusy 11393
5. (multiple) Lakes in basin downstream of Tunemah Lake

Yosemite:
1. Edna Lake
2. Edyth Lake
3. (multiple) unnamed lakes, headwaters of Lyell Fork Merced


Other:
1. Lake above Hourglass, S. of Mt. Dade
2. Upper Ritter Lake (Catherine is pretty close, but I like Upper Ritter is even more)
3. Hungry Packer Lake
4. Big Blue Lake (Russian Wilderness, Klamath Mtns.)
Last edited by giantbrookie on Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by maverick »

I knew you were going to write that SSSdave, when/if you posted, hehe.
Do you not agree that 99% of people do not spend hours/days scouting out a perfect
spot at a lake because they do not care to invest that much time into it, so for someone to
get the exact same shot is unlikely, not to mention for the other 1% the variables like
the weather, time of day, season, quality of light, experience, and equipment make
it highly unlikely also?
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by markskor »

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
While the pure aesthetics of some lakes may inspire you the photographer...for me, finding large rising rings on a lake inspires too. What I am looking for and what you seek to photograph, and thus label beautiful are often a different kettle of fish...(pardon the pun).
In addition, while many lakes are not, as a whole, totally beautiful, there may be that special, isolated spot, maybe close by, perhaps depending on the time of day, that catches the light, bounces off the alpenglow, or intrigues just by being "extra" special in itself, while the rest of the lake is actually fairly mundane.

Great question but, ambiguous as to what each perceives as beauty.
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by rlown »

Virginia Lk (Yose: now void of fish but great views down the return creek canyon)
Upper Mattie (Yose: now void of fish but the weather and bears create a great place to play in)
Hanging Basket Lk (Yose: don't try and camp there, let alone find a flat spot.. Great views over Townsley and up over Fletcher Pk)
Summit City Creek in Mokulumne: its a creek, but that place was great (we can say creeks?)

Evelyn Lake (Yose: great fish, great views)
Next year Puppet Lake out of Bishop; I'm just adding that because i think it'll be magnificent.

For me a lake can be pretty, but if there's no fish, it really makes a boring day for me.
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Re: What are your favorite lakes in the Sierra?

Post by giantbrookie »

markskor wrote:"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
While the pure aesthetics of some lakes may inspire you the photographer...for me, finding large rising rings on a lake inspires too. What I am looking for and what you seek to photograph, and thus label beautiful are often a different kettle of fish...(pardon the pun).
Great question but, ambiguous as to what each perceives as beauty.
Indeed. Certainly everyone's taste in visual beauty varies considerably. Given that the thread was opened under the guise of "beauty" I did in fact exclude the fish factor my list, for more than four (Lyell Fork counts for multiple lakes, Upper Ritter, lake above Hourglass, Precipice Lake) of the lakes on my list are fishless. Also, my tastes tend to run toward very deep lakes (with the exception of the lake below Dade) and very rugged alpine backdrops, which isn't everyone's cup of tea. Actually I didn't think of one of the Crabtrees until I saw it on your list (I also like Sky Blue but not quite as much on appearance alone); my favorite (in appearance as well as fish) is no. 3.

Now if some one simply posted "what are your favorite lakes" w/o the beauty criteria, my own "favorite" criteria include, beauty, fishing, inaccessibility, and sentimentality--two of my top 15 are on the beauty list.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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