The hike to Mist Falls was the most spectacular hike we did when we were in Kings Canyon National Park. We loved it. We initially wanted to backpack the Rae Lakes Loop, but we could not get backcountry permits, so we day hiked it to the falls.
Milk Lake sits below Grouse Ridge where the hike to Crystal Lake begins. The Sierra Buttes can be seen in the far distance.
Backpacking to Glacier Lake from Grouse Ridge in the Tahoe National Forest can be both challenging and rewarding. Backpacking it is hard.
The campground area at Crystal Lake is primitive but spacious. We arrived earlier than most of the backpackers the day we arrived and were lucky enough to be able to camp away from the main camping area and be down closer to Crystal Lake. We were able to do this because we spent the night before at the Grouse Ridge Campground and then headed over to the backpacking parking area and started early before the backpackers arrived.
The view from Ohh Ahh Point looking out to the vast horizon of part of the Grand Canyon.
The hike to Ooh Ahh Point, a short one-mile hike, is pretty easy on the way down. The way back up is another story and on an average of 11.2 percent grade for about a mile. Once you get to Ooh Ahh Point, it’s easy to see why it’s named what it is.
Looking out at the Grand Canyon is breathtaking from here. The colors and the vastness of the canyon are awe-inspiring as you look across to the horizon and down into the canyon where you can see the trails far below you go.
Relief Reservoir sits in the Eastern Sierra Mountains just south of Kennedy Meadows.
We wanted to get out of our normal Northern California area and explore an area we haven’t been to, and we headed to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Tuolumne County off of Highway 108 to hike to Relief Reservoir.
The hike starts out behind a locked gate on a mountain road at about 6,400 feet and eventually climbs to a little more than 7,300 feet. But don’t be fooled; the elevation doesn’t offer much summer heat relief.