Inyo National Forest, California

September 22, 2025

We visited the Inyo National Forest and surrounding areas of California in late May of 2023 after the record-breaking snowfall of the previous winter. The loitering snow had put the kibosh on several of our planned hikes, and even a day trip to Yosemite had to be cancelled due to the Tioga pass still being closed. This year was the year to try again, and we are happy to report that all the snow from the previous winter had indeed melted.

Leaving Nevada

Back in California

That's some serious sticker shock!

The smoke/haze kind of put a damper on the vista point

Our campground was located in the Inyo National Forest, within the June Lake Complex.

Our campsite at Silver Lake Campground

The day after arrival was forecast to be gorgeous, sunny, high in the 70s, and with minimal haze, so we found us a good hike in the John Muir Wilderness called Little Lakes Valley Trail. You can't go wrong with a hike with that name!

Sunrise view from our deck--such nice clear, blue skies!

In high summer, the Little Lakes Valley Trail is quite popular, and people online said to get there by 7:30 am to get a parking spot. We didn't want to get up that early, so we got to the trailhead around 9:30, and there were still ample parking left this time of year.

The road to the trailhead

It was chilly when we started the hike in the morning, but it warmed up nicely by about 10 am.

There was no false advertising with this trail. It was a valley filled with little lakes (about eight in all) such that every half mile or so (sometimes more frequently), we were treated to yet another lake. It was beautiful! Be forewarned...if you don't like pictures of lakes and mountains, you will find this part of the post quite boring. Even if you do like lakes and mountains, you may still be bored. As is often the case, Julie had a hard time culling the herd of photos. 😉

Our legs weren't feeling enthusiastic about climbing a pass, so we opted for more lakes instead!

We found us a lunch spot!

Some early fall color on the way back

Since we didn't make it to Yosemite during the spring after snowmageddon, Julie had planned a mini two-day, one-night trip this time around. Since we didn't want to bog this post down with too many pictures, we created a separate post for our Yosemite excursion here.

It rained most of the day on Friday after we got back from Yosemite. We were grateful for this for two reasons: 1) we were glad that it hadn't rain the previous day when we were in Yosemite; and 2) we were tired and welcomed an excuse to stay inside all day. Saturday's main event was laundry in the attractive town of Mammoth Lakes, another destination that we had planned to go to in 2023, but ended up scrambling for new accommodations due to the snow. We also went to Mass, drove around a little, picked up a few items at the grocery store, and got gas because it was such at deal at only $5.43 per gallon.

One of the Twin Lakes in Mammoth Lakes

Overlooking Twin Lakes

On Sunday, we took a short trip to see Mono Lake, a saltwater lake with unique mineral structures called "tufas".

We were amused by the graphics on this sign.

These tufas used to be underwater.

We stayed pretty close to home on Sunday and decided that we should at least go take a walk to our campground's namesake--Silver Lake.

Silver Lake Campground

Silver Lake

As we were sitting by the lake, a lone duck walked up to us, clearly expecting handouts.

"Whatcha got for me, human?"

Mr. Duck was soon joined by his lady friend.

Mr. Bully followed soon after and chased the more polite ducks away.

Meanwhile, a group of common mergansers swam by (most of them were underwater at any given time), but they didn't stop for a visit.

Our last day was such a pretty day, that we decided to go back to Mammoth Lakes and ride their bike trail that weaved through the lakes.

Because we hadn't seen enough lakes yet.

They closed these old pit toilets due to CO2 emissions

We might be able to say that we have finally had our fill of mountain lakes (for now). And that's convenient because the rest of the year's landscapes should look quite different from here on out.

Next stop--back to Nevada!

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