Lamarck Lakes
North Lake, Bishop Creek · near Bishop · Eastern Sierra
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 5.5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,500 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Mid-July–early October
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit for day use. Shares the North Lake trailhead (rough dirt spur). The standard approach to the serious Lamarck Col backcountry route.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Aspen-and-pine start · Grass Lake meadow · Lower & Upper Lamarck Lakes · Cirque beneath Mt Lamarck
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Don't be fooled by the short distance — 1,500 ft of gain starting at 9,300 ft is a genuine lung-burner if you're not acclimatized. Go early; the exposed switchbacks bake in afternoon sun.
The guide
A short, steep, high-value climb from North Lake into a tight granite cirque — the switchbacks are relentless but brief, and th…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lamarck Lakes — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.2298, -118.627