We came down off of Nelson Mountain and into Upper Nelson Lake. This little lake is a real gem.
There are a few remnants of campsites around this lake but I think it’s been quite some time since anyone has camped here.
Nelson Mountain
My dad and I decided to hike up to the top of Nelson Mountain from Nelson Lake. It’s only 10,220 feet tall but it is a prominent mountain in the front range of the Sierras and has an amazing view of the central valley.
Little footprints in the snow.
We found a horseshoe at the pass between the Nelson Lake basin and the Sportsman Lake basin.
Up on the ridgeline above Nelson Lake.
We found this cairn monument up on the ridgeline above Nelson Lake. I wonder who built these.
Looking out past Eagle Mountain toward the big 14k peaks in the spine of the Sierras.
Up on the ridge toward the summit of Nelson Mountain. It got icy and snowy as we went higher.
Climbing on up.
More snow.
Almost to the summit.
Here’s the view from the summit. A storm started popping up toward the north so we didn’t spend too much time on the summit.
On the summit!
Looking down toward Dinkey Creek and Forked Meadow. Pretty hard to believe that this is the huge mountain that looks out over our little meadow.
The storm shrouded the summit in snow right as we got down off of the top. We descended back to the lake along the same way that we came up.
Morning at Nelson Lake
Early morning on Nelson Lake. It got very cold overnight (maybe 12F). There was a huge cloud of steam rising off of the center of the lake, drawing air in from the surrounding area. It was a beautiful sight.
Looking up toward the ridge in front of Nelson Mountain.
Sun reaches the meadow by our campsite. Everything was covered in heavy frost.
In the winter, the surface of this lake freezes but the fish in the water survive in deep pools.