Big Pine Lakes
Big Pine (Hwy 395) · near Big Pine · Eastern Sierra
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 10 miles
- Elevation gain
- 2,500 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- July–October · The turquoise lakes are most vivid mid-summer
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit for day hikes (wilderness permit for overnight, Inyo NF quota via Recreation.gov). The first 2 miles are exposed — start early. Second Lake is the iconic turquoise view; the glacier is a longer off-trail push.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 2 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Glacial turquoise lakes · California's southernmost glacier · Temple Crag reflections · Iconic Second Lake view · High Sierra grandeur
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- The trailhead is above Big Pine on Hwy 395, between Bishop and Independence — Copper Top BBQ in Big Pine is the local legend. The same Palisades peaks above are California's premier ski-mountaineering (backcountry skiing guide) and hardest climbing (climbing guide). Start before dawn to beat the heat on the exposed lower switchbacks.
The guide
Big Pine Lakes holds some of the most jaw-dropping water in California — a chain of alpine lakes whose glacial silt turns them …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Big Pine Lakes — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.129, -118.434