Today is again a BAS meet up hike. We have a five people total and will be hiking from Bayview trailhead originating across the street from the shore of Lake Tahoe. The trail rises quickly before taking us past the Shores of Dick’s Lake, Fontanillis Lake, and Velma lakes on a lollipop route before dropping back down to our vehicles.
Once again I am in the desolation of wilderness. Such a blessing to have such an in incredible area so close to home.
1.1 miles in we come to Granite lake the trail passes just above it treating us to a beautiful view
Midway up Section between granite Lake and the saddle, we will crest we have a great view of Cascade Lake to the right Grant Lake and The Center and Lake Tahoe on the left.
As we crest the saddle, we have an amazing view in both directions down into a desolate valley on one side and Lake Tahoe on the other
Although late in the season, we still come across some wildflowers incredibly able to root and grow amongst the rocks
We continue to climb through more wide open granite spaces occasionally sprinkled with more wildflowers and some small stands of trees
We crest the final saddle for this portion of trail and come to a junction with my happy place, the PCT. Another side trail leads us down to the shore of Dick’s Lake. A great spot for lunch.
After a delicious lunch of chicken Alfredo pasta, we are back on the trail heading towards Fontanillis Lake. We passed an interesting section with a lot of standing dead tree, and some large trees that have twisted and fallen more testament to the power of nature.
Soon Fontanillis Lake comes into view. We drop down and walk along its shore at its northern end. The lake has some really cool rock Islands in the middle.
We cross the creek leading out of Fontana lake and into another wooded area for the next section.
Our final Lake is actually a clump of three lights two of which will be visible to us. Middle Velma Lake to the left with upper the lake much smaller on the right. I only have a picture of upper Velma Lake today.
From Velma Lake, we climb back up hill to the junction that started the round portion of our lollipop hike, and now begin back down the stem. Just before our steep downhill section we go through a plateau where erosion has made a rich soil.
We get our last amazing views of Lake Tahoe as we continue down back to the cars after a day with amazing weather, incredible views, and good company.
For today’s hike, we traveled 12 miles with 2648 feet of elevation gain most of which was in the 1st 2 miles
