[Nancyann]

It appears that the weather gods decided that I had been having too much fun, so our good weather earlier in the week deteriorated. Tuesday had been perfect for our 11+ mile visit to Deer Lakes, (see my Mammoth Lakes TR 6/21), but each day after that, the thunderstorms rolled in at various times in the afternoon. Thursday my son and I attempted to get to Duck Pass and Duck Lake from the Coldwater Creek trailhead south of Mammoth Lakes, but all hell broke loose as we approached the pass, so we high-tailed it out of there. At Barney Lake, elevation close to 10,000 feet, we were pounded by hail as we descended and it didn’t help that I only packed my FrogTogs rain pants and not my rain jacket. What’s wrong with this picture, I came to California for some sun! Barney Lake, below Duck Pass

Thankfully the hail turned to “just” rain as we improvised a loop to Emerald Lake, where we stopped for a snack. Miraculously, the rain stopped and the sun came out, so I hung my down Arcterix jacket which valiantly tried to keep me dry, out on a boulder. It was fun watching the thunderclouds rumbling around up on the ridge where we had just been and comforting to know that they were beginning to dissipate, instead of settling in for an extended period of misery. This week’s thunderstorms were the result of oppressive heat in the lowlands rising up every afternoon as it hit the mountains and creating thunderclouds, rather than a storm front. Once the thunderclouds were done throwing their tantrum, they just seemed to disappear for the rest of the evening.

As soon as my jacket felt somewhat dry, we continued on back to the trailhead and discovered another trail, only a mile long, to Heart Lake. It was late in the afternoon, and probably Happy Hour for most of the tourists camped at a big campground nearby, so we had the lovely little lake to ourselves.

From the trail, we had a nice view of the mountains we had hiked in earlier in the day, and off in the distance, remnant thunderclouds.

The Mammoth Lakes weather forecast for the next day, Friday (and our last day) appeared to be a carbon copy of Thursday, so we decided to get up “early” and drive south down to Bishop and check out the Bishop Pass Trail to the Chocolate Lakes Loop. Looking at the Strava Heat Map, which shows how heavily traveled trails are according to GPS tracks, we saw that most people traveled to the many lakes just below Bishop Pass. The seven and a half mile Chocolate Lakes Loop was lightly traveled. Additionally, we read a trip report from late May that said the loop was impassable due to snow. We decided to gamble that it would be melted out enough by now to complete the loop and the gamble really paid off. This in fact, turned out to be the highlight of our week! The Bishop Pass trailhead had large parking lots for both day use and overnight vehicles and not surprisingly, on a Friday the overnight lot was fairly full. This trail is a popular access route to the John Muir Trail and the PCT, and there are many beautiful lakes along the way for less ambitious campers as well. It starts off pretty high at around 9,000 feet and continues to stay airy as it climbs towards the pass. It appears to be well maintained as did most of the other Sierra trails I hiked on over the past two weeks, a pleasant contrast to what I am used to. We took the signed Chocolate Lakes Loop turnoff after seeing a few hikers on the main Bishop Pass trail, and soon arrived at lovely Bull Lake. The only person there was a fly fisherman peacefully casting his line out into the lake.

We continued around the lake and then followed a faint boot path up past Chocolate Mountain and into a little basin where the Chocolate Lakes were nestled. This was a quiet and magical little piece of heaven and no one else was there.

We rested for a little while, entranced by peaceful beauty and enjoying the warm sunshine. From here, the map showed only a dotted line where the trail was, so we spent some time routefinding to continue on with the loop. We had to climb over a pass before dropping down to the next lake on the loop, Ruwau Lake. Snow had recently receded and for a while the going was slow. Some steep scrambling was necessary, and at 11,350 feet, I had to stop and catch my breath every now and then.

When we got to the top of the pass, my son scrambled up another few hundred feet to the top of the peak, and I rested and snacked in the warm sun. So far, not a bug in sight. One solohiker passed by, the only other person on the loop we had seen so far. When my son returned, he showed me some superb pictures of what lay ahead. Looking towards Ruwau Lake and the many lakes further up the Bishop Pass trail.

Ruwau Lake, our next objective.

The trail dropping down to Ruwau Lake was better defined than the rough bootpath climbing up from the Chocolate Lakes basin, suggesting that most hikers accessed Ruwau from the main Bishop Pass trail. A gentle breeze blew ripples across the exquisitely beautiful blue lake, and we were tempted to linger. Increasingly dark clouds began to form over the surrounding high peaks, so instead we continued on to Long Lake, where we connected back to the Bishop Pass trail. Ruwau Lake

At Long Lake, which had several very nice campsites and was only a few miles from the trailhead, we stopped to chat with a dad and his teenage son who were headed up to Bishop Pass with heavy packs. The dad had two baseball mitts tied on to his pack, and his sleeping bag was hanging sideways off the back, but they were both smiling and happy and we took their picture for them. Long Lake

Soon after that it began to rain, so we stopped to put our rain gear on, and three college age kids ran by with nothing but running shorts on. Not surprisingly, they seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry. Other than that, we only saw one more group of three backpackers and they wondered if we noticed any mosquitoes (which were just beginning to make their presence known), because they forgot to bring bug repellent. As we reached the trailhead, the rain stopped, and we removed our rain gear, happy that we didn’t have to suffer through another hailstorm, bringing to a close to a perfect day in the mountains and the highlight of our week exploring this little corner of the Sierras.

[rubywrangler]

We just missed each other on this one! I hiked it in early June. For anyone else that might head that way, chocolate peak is a walk up from the saddle between Choc lakes and Ruwau and has nice views. Treasure lakes up the north fork (same TH) are also pretty but the lower lakes are overused and the trail has an annoying climb on the way out.

[Nancyann]

It would have been fun to run into you up there Megan! Thanks for the tip about Treasure Lakes because we were thinking about checking them out next year.

[Kellbell]

Your pictures are SO beautiful! I'm glad the weather Gods were somewhat merciful.

[hikermike]

I hiked there in 1972 and the description was about the same. The parking lot was full back then and had to walk 1 1/2 miles to trailhead. As soon as you moved off the main trail...no people. Nice to see it's the same. Were reservations required/hard to get?

[Nancyann]

No reservations needed for day hiking, but I would imagine they would be required for any backpacking trips in the area due to its popularity.

[Sculpin]

If you want to spend the night you need a permit. I know it is problematical for folks who worry a lot, but if you get to the Wilderness Information Center in Lone Pine when they open on a weekday, numerous good options will be available (but not the Whitney Zone). 40% of the permits are held back for walk-up. You are likely to find long lines in other places.

[rubywrangler]

Inyo walk-up permits are now released on rec.gov 2 weeks in advance of the entry date at 7am. Permits that haven't been claimed by 10:30am on the entry date go back into the "pool" so it is still possible that day-of walk-up permits could be available for trailheads that seem fully booked, but it is less likely than in pre-COVID times.