Leo
and I went on this backpacking trip to Scotts Lake. You can travel to
it from either the Big Meadow Trailhead or the trailhead on Highway
88. See snow trip for a trailhead description from that side. Big Meadow trailhead is
located on Highway 89 between South Lake Tahoe and Highway 88. We choose
to travel in from the Big Meadow side since it was a little longer and
has a better parking area. Here is a shot of the trailhead. The trail
crosses Highway 89 so be careful when crossing. This trailhead has many
options for lakes to go to. See map below. You can also travel to Showers
lake (past Round Lake) or all the way to Highway 88 at Carson pass if
you want to make it a through trip.
This is the trail through the rocky uphill first part.
Here
is the trail junction you want to look for. Hang a left at this post
to get to Scotts Lake. If you took a right you would go onto Meiss Meadow
(Big Meadow). If you looked at the map below you would see no Scotts
Lake Listed well it is off of this map a little ways. But not too far
off of it.
There
were many flowers along the way. Here is one that still had a friend
attached to it.
The
trail is not too far to Scotts Lake so take your time and enjoy some
of the scenery. There are quite a few views to be had on the trail in.
Here is one of them.
This
trail switches from covered to open in a couple spots and with the nice
breeze it was quite a pleasant hike in.
This is a shot of the Ridge to your left (Northeast) as you are heading in.
Make sure to keep the cows in (or out). You never know what side of the fence these cows could be on.
Here is Scotts Lake. It is not much of a swimming lake from what I saw and I saw most of it. There are many tree limbs and the like submerged in there. We decided to hike around to the far side to camp. One side of these lake is damned.
The wind was starting to pick up and these clouds were really moving fast. Didn't appear to be any threat of rain though. You are up on a ridge on this lake so be prepared for some wind. We tried to choose a campsite out of the elements but it was still pretty windy through camp that night.
We
set up camp and heard a rumbling sound (at least I did) and it was getting
louder. Well before we knew it this guy shows up across from the lake.
I couldn't believe someone would tow a trailer up here. There is a road
from highway 88 but it is rough. Apparently not rough enough to stop
this guy with the big trailer. When he was choosing his parking spot
he almost backed this thing into the lake. That would be one heck of
a bill to get him out.
Here is camp. We later found a spot that would have been more sheltered from the wind. Oh well, maybe next time.
This is that other site the next day. There are not too many spots to camp around this lake but it was just the RV guy and us that night. This site is on the low side of the Damn on the East side of the Lake.
Here is the trail on the way out. This is a quick and easy hike with some good views. We did it because we had never made it all the way to the lake in the snow and wanted to see what it was like. I think Round Lake is still my favorite for this trailhead (as you can tell by how many times I have been there).
