Little Lakes Valley

Day 2: Here is the collective memory of where we camped 40 years ago: Uncle Jim - "I remember walking past Long Lake, and then your dad pulled out his map and said 'I think we should turn here'" No trail, no names, just a scramble up, then down, to an unnamed lake. We all remembered what the lake looked like more or less, but, being that we were hiking through a valley of little lakes, it became clear pretty quickly that the likelihood of finding that 40 year-old campsite was pretty slim.

That, plus the fact that there were seven of us, led us to Chicken Foot Lake, where we were the only over-nighters, and far enough in, and over, that we encountered very few people in spite of the heavy (justifiably) traffic at the trail head.

This time out, Jimmy and I (and Zach, Alex, Nick and anyone else who attempted) did precious little catching even though there was plenty of fishing. In fact, I think we had a total of maybe about three or four nibbles at best and zero fish.






The scenery was amazing. The valley is lined with crumbling granite cliffs, rising steeply off the valley floor. The valley itself is a series of steppes, with a set of lakes every 200-300 feet in elevation climb, with the Little Gems at the top.