Big Pine Lakes is a moderately challenging hike located in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The hike features several majestic turquoise colored lakes with a view of Temple Crag in the background.
Brea and I don’t do that much hiking but we can never say no to a nice view! Coincidentally, both my sister and her sister brought up the idea of hiking to the Big Pine Lakes and when I looked at the photos, I was blown away by the majestic beauty of it all.
We want to add a quick note that we visited Big Pine Lakes in July 2020 when COVID-19 is still a real and major issue. If you do decide to go on this hike, make sure that you follow the public health guidelines (i.e. wearing a mask if you can’t maintain at least 6 feet between other people, washing your hands – in this case bring hand sanitizer, etc). If you are feeling sick, then it would be best to postpone this trip until a later time. As always, you can get more information on the CDC website regarding COVID-19 and travel.
Contents
Hike Overview
Time: 10 – 12 hours
Length: ~ 12 miles round trip to the second lake (there are 7 lakes total)
Difficulty: Medium/Hard depending on your level of hiking experience
Dog Friendly: Yes
Elevation Gain: Approximately 2,000 ft
Permit Required: Only for camping. No permit required for day hiking
Parking: There is a small lot at the entrance of the trailhead. You can also park nearby in other lots as well as on the street
Restrooms: There are restroom facilities only at the beginning of the trailhead
What to Bring
For the Big Pine Lakes hike, we highly recommend bringing a small backpack with these items:
- A lot of water (you’ll need it especially if it’s hot)
- Sunscreen
- Bug repellant
- Hiking poles
- Snacks
- Camera/phone for photos
We had an Osprey backpack that was small enough for this hike, so we brought that along as well as a backpack for our dog! This was the first hard/long hike we did with our dog so the backpack really came in handy haha.
Directions
The start of the trail is located at Big Pine Creek Campground. It was about a 4 hour drive from Los Angeles.
We decided against staying in a hotel or an Airbnb the night before and decided to just do a day trip instead. If you are looking for places nearby – you can stay at Bishop or Big Pine. We left in the middle of the night (around 3AM) and arrived to the trail by 7:30AM.
Parking
We suggest arriving early not only so that you can start the hike early and not have the sun glaring down on you the whole time but also so that you can get a good parking spot. We were lucky to get a spot right by the trailhead. Brea’s sister and her family got street parking not too far away.
Restrooms
The only toilets you can use will be at the trailhead. Use them before you start your hike!
Big Pines Lake via the North Fork Trail
The start of the hike will be at this metal swing gate that says “Road Closed”.
The North Fork Trail
There are several signs that tell you where to go and which trail to take. As a good rule – go towards the North Fork.
You’ll cross a few bridges. Make sure to stop and enjoy the scenery and take photos! You might not have energy or time on the way down …
After crossing the bridge, you’ll have an option to go to the South Fork or North Fork. Take the North Fork.
Once you hit the switchbacks, you’ll probably already be sweating. The rest of the hike is mostly uphill so take breaks as needed! We made sure to take a lot of rest breaks so that we can recover and so we can take photos.
Eventually you will reach a vast open area. There is no shade at all here so it’s important to have sunscreen on. We even brought a red umbrella!
At about mile 3, we reached Lon Chaney’s cabin where we stopped and had lunch. You can’t enter the cabin but it was still a nice area to relax a little.
After another mile, you will reach a sign splitting into Lakes 1 – 3 or Black Lake. We went towards Lakes 1 – 3.
From here, you’re about 20 to 30 minutes from the first lake!
Big Pine Lakes 1
The glimpse of the turquoise color water through the trees was exciting! We made it after about 4 hours of uphill trekking.
We spent about 20 minutes here taking pictures and taking another break.
Once you’re done at Lake 1, you’re less than a quarter mile from Lake 2!
Big Pine Lakes 2 and Temple Crag
Finally we arrived at our destination! And it was truly a sight to see – well worth the 4 to 5 hour hike.
Take your time here! We sure did.
After we were satisfied with all of our pictures (about 45 minutes to 1 hour), we packed up and got ready to hike back down. There are other lakes you can continue hiking to but we were at our limit already.
The hike back down went faster since it was mostly downhill. We only stopped at a few spots to rest and take pictures.
Brea’s sister had a rinse kit they used at the end of the hike to wash up before driving back home (4 hour drive).
And after 10 hours, we were done! The Big Pines Lake hike is definitely not easy but at least it does offer a very rewarding view at the end. Would we do it again? Probably not haha.
