A beautiful scenic lake about 2.75 miles from Whitney Portal. We took the opportunity to rest, refill water bottles (filter the water) and eat lunch on our way up to climb Whitney.

Camping is allowed in the area and it’s outside the permit zone so anyone can make the trek up there. The elevation gain is about 1,600 feet from the Portal. This is nothing to sneeze at, but for perspective, on our way up we saw a family with kids between 7-10 years old at the lake enjoying themselves.

The trek is long enough so that if you do decide to go to the lake you’ll likely it to yourselves for long periods of time. It’s too far away for casual campers and people with permits will only stop for a short while before continuing along the trail.