Backpacking The Lakes Trail

As the name suggests, the Lakes trail is all about hiking four beautiful alpine lakes while being surrounded by granite cliffs throughout – it feels like a granite wonderland! This is a backcountry trail located in Sequoia National Park. There is hardly any similarity between the views this trail has to offer and what meets the eye when one first enters the park. Sequoia National Park is essentially the land of giant, age-old Sequoia trees at lower and mid elevation but as the trail starts making its way above tree line, beautiful granite surrounded alpine views start opening up that make Sequoia grooves below seem like a different place altogether.

This hike can either be done as a day hike or as a multi-day backpacking trip by camping at the banks of alpine lakes.

Hike Details

• Type of trail: The trail can be done as as loop if you take the Watchtower trail up and the hump trail down (or vice versa) OR as an out and back hike by choosing either one of the trails for both directions
• Trailhead: Wolverton parking lot
• Trail length: 14.0 miles
• Elevation gain: 3759 ft
• Permit process:
  • No permits needed if you do this as a day hike
  • If you plan to camp/backpack in the permit quota season which is ideal weather for backpacking, read further for the permit process:
    • For overnight camping permits are required.
      • Permits in the quota season (late May through late September) are on a first-come-first-serve basis and can be collected either on the same day of hike or starting 1:00pm the day before at Giant Forest Museum (Lodgepole Visitor Center). A recreation fee is required.
      • Permits in the non quota season (Early October through May) are free, self issued and not limited to daily entry quota.
    • Camping is prohibited at Heather lake and Aster lake. Camping is allowed at Emerald lake and Pear lake.
  • Tips:
    • Check here for updates on the permit process
    • In the quota season permits are limited and since their earliest availability is only the day before the actual trip, we highly recommend being at the Lodgepole visitor center as early as possible to increase the chances of bagging an overnight camping permit.
    • Although campsites at Pear lake are the farthest of all and hence take more effort to get to, considering a fully loaded backpack, it is worth the toil. The reflections of granite peaks in the lake at Sunset and daybreak are surreal!
• Type of stay: Tent camping
• Bear Canisters: These are an essential when camping anywhere in Sequoia NP! You can either bring your own or rent one from the following visitor centers:
  • Foothills Visitor Center
  • Giant Forest Museum 
  • Kings Canyon Visitor Center 
  • Mineral King Ranger Station
    • We rented a Garcia bear canister from the Giant Forest Museum one day before the hike. More information on bear canisters here.

Our Experience

A couple of friends had dropped us off at the Wolverton parking lot around noon. There are quite a few parking spots so you could also consider parking your car here overnight (or multiple nights) when backpacking this trail.

The trail is mostly tree-covered for the first 2 miles and the initial elevation gain on this stretch is not so bad, giving the body a chance to warm up to what comes next. At the end of this stretch comes a junction. The right fork is the hump trail and the left one is the Watchtower trail, both eventually leading to Heather lake. We decided to take the left fork, although longer by 0.5 miles, it has beautiful views of the Watchtower. In fact we loved the views so much that we hiked it back on the way down instead of the shorter Hump trail.

From the junction it takes about 1.2 miles and quite a bit of elevation gain to reach the Watchtower lookout. Sweeping views of massive granite cliffs surrounding the Tokopah valley below are worth the additional effort in hiking the left fork. We took a little snack break here (and maybe even a quick nap?) before proceeding to the first of the four alpine lakes – Heather Lake.

The hike to Heather lake is quite literally through a granite wonderland. The distance from Watchtower to this lake is less than a mile and we were so much in awe of massive cliffs surrounding us that this stretch of the trail leading up to Heather lake did not feel challenging.

Upon reaching Heather lake we decided not to take the little detour to get to the lake shore as it was already close to 4p.m and we wanted to reach our campsite before dark. As tempting as it was to take our shoes off and dip those sore feet in the lake, we chose to proceed to our campsite at Pear lake instead in the interest of time and do the other three lakes on our way out the next day. Note that camping is not allowed in the area around Heather lake.

We picked up pace from here and after about 0.5 miles views of Aster lake with its deep blue color started showing. Unlike the other lakes there is no established trail down to Aster lake – at least that’s what it seemed like to us. The lake sits about 200ft below the trail with a backdrop of beautiful granite cliffs. Camping is not permitted here.

Aster to Emerald lake is approximately 0.3 miles and the gradient is not much overall which helped with keeping up pace. This lake is not readily visible from the trail and requires a little detour to get to it. The area around Emerald lake has numbered campsites for those that have permit to camp here. Those who have permit to camp at Pear lake are not allowed to camp at Emerald lake. Since we were intending to get to our campsite before sun down we decided to cover Emerald lake the next day. It also seemed like a reasonable way to space out our 2-day backpacking itinerary.

Finally, the push to Pear lake! This seemed to be the toughest part of the entire hike, physically and mentally. The hike up is 1 mile with an overall elevation gain of approximately 300ft. Although it does not seem much in comparison to what is already behind i.e the climb leading up to Watchtower, our backpacks had really started to make their presence felt by now. For what it’s worth, we probably had taken more water breaks on this stretch than in the entire hike. But the views upon reaching the shores of Pear lake were unlike any other! Every bit of effort paid off, more so because we had very little expectations of the views owing to the lack of hype.

We were at our campsite just in time to setup camp, locate bear boxes and pit toilets before it got dark. It would have been ideal to wrap up dinner before sun down although we did have our torch lights and head lamps to help. Storing anything scented in bear boxes is absolutely essential. In addition to stowing all edibles and toiletries into a bear canister that we carried with us, we also locked up the canister in a bear box close to our campsite. Also, as a general tip when backpacking, not specific to Sequoia NP, we highly recommend getting to the campsite well before sun down and allowing enough time to set up camp, cook meals and eat because remote locations like these get dark very quickly.

Soon after it got completely dark the night sky lit up with stars and treated us to views of the Milky way! It did get quite chilly in the night as the campsites are on the lake shore, so do pack warm layers even in summer.

We were up early the next morning chasing crystal clear reflections on the alpine lake. After spending some time around the lake taking in the views, we packed up and hiked out by 9 am.

Our next stop was Emerald lake on the way out which remained hidden until we actually got on the lake shore. There are signs on the trail leading to the lake. True to its name the color of the water on this lake is a deep shimmering emerald. For those looking to save the effort of hiking up to Pear lake with backpacks can always choose to setup camp here and hike a round trip to Pear lake. Keep in mind to carry a permit for Emerald lake if you choose this alternative.

The next stop for us was Heather lake. We reached Heather lake at a time when it was very early in the day for day hikers to have reached there and most of the campers were already on their way out so we had the entire lake to ourselves.

The hike back from here was mostly downhill. We chose to take the Watchtower trail back but you could always take the Hump trail instead and cut the distance short by half a mile. With lighter backpacks we were able to maintain a good pace and reached the Wolverton parking lot just after noon without many breaks.

Checkout our recommendations for backpacking gear and a complete checklist to help you get started.