October 4-5, 2025
I like to go visit around the first weekend in October to see a dusting of snow and the Aspen trees changing from green to yellow to orange and red. This year I drove up through way too much traffic on a Friday night, camping in the Alabama Hills. Saturday I got up pretty early and headed north to Bishop, intending to visit Lake Sabrina. I saw a guy hitch-hiking near the DMV so I stopped to give him a ride - he was headed to South Lake so I said I could get him there. That created a change of plans, so after saying farewell to him at the parking lot, I had breakfast and then also wandered out along the Bishop Pass trail. There were quite a few people there already so when I saw the Treasure Lakes trail sign I went for the less-traveled route. I had never been very far on this trail, I remember looking at it once and not wanting to tackle the steep part in snow and ice. Fortunately this day it was dry so I went down and then back up for a couple miles, wandering through the upper basin before stopping for a very long lunch break at the largest of the Treasure Lakes. After heading back down to South Lake I drove down through a couple of the campgrounds along the highway, and then decided to go up to North Lake. I think this is one of the great views at this time of year, and based on the traffic I wasn't alone in that opinion. I parked on a wide spot in the road, avoiding the crush of people trying to get in and out of the tiny auxiliary parking lot. From there I walked down to the creek, which was flowing a bit more than I expected although I finally managed to cross it. Avoiding all the people was great, although I did manage to get my feet wet while walking through a very muddy grass section. After wandering that side of the lake for a while I hopped the creek at a different spot and walked back to where I parked. By this time of the afternoon even more people were clogging the road so I was happy to get out of there and down to the Buttermilk area where I camped for the night.
Sunday morning I got up in time to see the sunrise alpenglow on Mounts Humphreys and Tom, quickly packing up and driving to Lake Sabrina. I walked across the dam and clambered down to the outflow area, where I found a use trail connecting to the main path along the lake. I walked up here for a mile or so, nearly reaching the end of the lake before turning back. It was much colder here and I was glad to return to the relative warmth of the car for my long drive home. I stopped at McDonalds in Lone Pine where I cashed in some of my credits for a McFlurry treat which certainly helped to cover lots of desert driving. I managed to get home in the late afternoon, still enough light to unpack my stuff and wash clothes.
South Lake
First sight of Treasure Lakes
My lunch view while sitting out on a large rock
South Lake trail going back to the parking lot
North Lake
Morning view from the Buttermilks
Steam rising from the creek near Sabrina - it was cold out!
Below the Sabrina dam
Lake Sabrina morning
Sabrina trail with all the colors
Outflow below the dam
2025 Fall colors
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JeffH
- Posts: 1347
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"Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours".
Donald Shimoda
Donald Shimoda
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tekewin
- Posts: 1384
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 5:07 pm
You sure timed that right. Those aspens were on fire! Thanks for posting.