Gibbs Lake

A wiser person would have been more suspicious of how easy it was to get an overnight permit for Gibbs Lake over the Labour Day long-weekend. But I thought we had just gotten lucky!

Sigh.

Don't get me wrong, Nick and I enjoyed our 2-night backpacking trip very much. The scenery was amazing and we had the entire lake to ourselves for most of it...but it wasn't *all* fun and games. Getting to the trailhead wasn't straight-forward, the first part of the trail was definitely designed by a sadist and the winds were so ferocious that we hid in our tent in the evenings!

Gibbs Lake with Mount Gibbs and Mount Dana in the distance

Our ascent was also more difficult than it had to be as we got off the main trail and ended up in a giant boulder field that was not easy to navigate with a heavy pack! Hopefully you won't make the same mistakes we did!

	Gibbs Lake	Kidney Lake
Distance	4.8km one way from the trailhead	~2km one way from Gibbs Lake
Difficulty	Strenuous for 1km Moderate afterwards (if you stay on the main trail)	Strenuous
Scenery	Awesome, 9/10	Equally Awesome, 9/10
Elevation	2879m	3176m
Elevation Gain	534m	297m

Before You Go

Permits	Day hikers do not need a permit, but backpackers do, and can get them here
Bear Boxes	Considering how close this is to Yosemite, I was surprised that there were no bear boxes at the trailhead! But we left our extra food and toiletries in the car and they were fine
Directions	The trailhead is at the very end of a forest service road that isn't properly signposted. It's called Horse Meadows Rd, or Forest Road 1N16, but neither of these signs are visible until you drive some distance in. It is the first intersection on US 395 south of US 120. If you see a sign for the cross-street, "Carrie Bethel Rd", then you've found the right turnoff. Our guidebook says that a vehicle with high clearance is required, and I concur. I was grateful that we had 4 wheel drive as some sections were pretty steep and uneven.

Gibbs Lake

The first 200m of elevation gain happens over the first kilometer. The trail is along an old dirt road that is steep, devoid of switchbacks and has these mid-sized rocks that make it a pain to walk on. Our trusty Foghorn Outdoors Guidebook did warn us about this, but it was worse than I was expecting!

Fortunately, it evens out after that. In fact, the rest of the trail to the lake would have been quite pleasant if we had managed to stay on the main trail! But of course...we didn't! Sigh.

The trail follows a dried up stream bed for a few stretches, and in one particular place it diverges from the water course and turns sharply to the right. As (bad) luck would have it, this is exactly where a large tree with lots of branches had fallen onto the trail. The branches totally covered up the fact that the trail turns and the trail markings on the trees to the right were on the opposite side! So they were clearly visible when returning from the lake, but hidden when heading out.

If you see something like this, you've followed the bad cairns! Which, incidentally, is a great band name, eh?

But what really led us astray were the cairns that some ever-so-helpful hikers had made in the wrong direction! Never has the expression "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" been more apt. Their route to the lake took us through a giant boulder field that I definitely struggled with.

The next day, we set out to try and find out where we had gone wrong. When we got to the problem spot, we did a little trail maintenance by clearing some branches from the proper trail, blocking the wrong path, and moving the cairns. Hopefully it's clear enough that other hikers will not make the same mistake! At least until the next snowfall!

Kidney Lake

Kidney Lake

There is a faint trail that follows a stream on the north side of the Gibbs Lake all the way up to Kidney Lake. It's steep going, but well worth it for the views of Mono Lake alone!

When you break the tree line, the wind is strong enough to knock you over. But there is a small, sheltered meadow that makes the perfect lunch spot.

I was a little tired and sleep-deprived from our misadventures the previous day and being woken up by the strong winds all night, but this hike totally picked me up! Fresh air and great views never fail to work their magic, eh?