Conness Lakes

The Hike: From the dirt parking area, you can follow the road back to the Saddlebag Lake Road or you can find a little use-trail behind the toilets near campground to the road. At the road, walk southwest for a short distance before following one of the use-trails downhill to cross the creek below the dam and then climb back up to the western end of the dam. There's a decent view of White Mountain here. You can also walk over the dam (we didn't see any signs to discourage this) if you don't want to go downhill then up. West of the dam, follow the trail as it undulates to the north-northwest over the rocky terrain. During the summer, there are a few flowers lining the trail. Look back for a view of Mt Dana. Pretty soon the trail rounds a corner and Shepherd Crest and Excelsior Mountain are visible over the lake in the distance. The trail then heads to the northwest before turning to the north-northwest again to reach a trail junction southeast of Greenstone Lake (~1.35 miles). This is the beginning of the loop section of this hike description. We headed left first and checked out the southern shore of Greenstone Lake with great views of North Peak to the west and Shepherd Crest and Excelsior Mountain to the north-northwest. Follow the trail as it heads west and southwest just to the south of Greenstone Lake. Just above the southwestern tip of the lake, cross the inlet on a row of rocks (~1.75 miles) into the Hoover Wilderness. During the snowmelt this will be more difficult. There is a really nice view of North Peak over the creek here. From here, the trail loops around to the northeast and then west, but we didn't notice this and headed to the northwest to find the trail. Follow the trail as it parallels the creek and begins a steep climbing section of the route to the west-northwest and passes back out of the wilderness. The trail then turns to the north and north-northwest to offer great views of North Peak and Conness Lakes Falls from the side of the creek. The trail levels out here before steepening to the west-northwest again. Here you can find lots of alpine gentian in late-summer.

The trail approaches the base of the waterfall from the northeast and then heads steeply uphill to the north (away from the waterfall; ~2.25 miles) and switchbacks to the west-southwest. Now about even with the waterfall, the route heads to the southwest up a steep little crack in the granite. You could also go near the creek above the top of the waterfall and head uphill to the southwest and west. After passing by a few stunted trees, the view dramatically opens up below the Conness Lakes with a great view of Mt. Conness (~2.5 miles). From here, follow the level trail to the west over the exposed granite to a pool below the first Conness Lake with great views of Mt. Conness and North Peak. The trail then turns to the southwest and approaches the north side of the first lake (~2.6 miles). The first lake is only slightly lower in elevation than the second lake which is reached at ~2.65 miles. You'll notice more of the 'glacial flour' in the second lake which produces the beautiful color. The trail continues to the west from here but quickly runs into a slab of granite protruding into the lake. Many people choose to climb up and around this protrusion to the north but a better and more scenic route takes you over the outlet of the second lake to the south side. Our favorite spot along this hike was found on the east side of the second lake looking over the turquoise water toward Mt. Conness and its glacier. Crossing to the southern side of the second lake, pick up a use-trail and head to the southwest over mostly level ground. The views of North Peak over the lake are fantastic here. At the southwest tip of the second lake cross the inlet (~2.9 miles) and begin boulder-hopping uphill to the west toward the third Conness Lake. We startled three white-tailed ptarmigan here--and they startled us. They camouflage very well with the granite and we wouldn't have noticed them if they hadn't moved once we were right on top of them. Alternately, you could follow the outlet from what we call the fifth Conness Lake on the east side here up to the south and south-southeast to that lake.

Our route steepens even more over the large boulders to the northwest before we turned to the south-southwest to walk up the couloir below the third lake which we reached at ~3.15 miles. We started to see more people around the Conness Lakes now. The glacial flour is rich in this lake too and its effect on the eye in contrast to the white granite is extraordinary. Climb up to the south on the east shore of the lake to get better views of Upper Conness Lakes Falls across the lake. There is another smaller lake ~500' above the third lake but we didn't check it out. Keep heading south to the southeast tip of the third lake and climb up to the south-southeast to leave its drainage for that of the fourth and fifth lakes. There are some very interesting designs in the granite above these lakes. Next, traverse the bare granite to the east-northeast to the reach the outlet of the fifth Conness Lake. Along the way you'll have to climb down into a couple of cracks in the granite than run perpendicular to the route. Just before climbing down the last section to the outlet is a great view looking over the second lake and toward North Peak. Shortly after crossing the outlet (~3.5 miles) look back toward Mt. Conness for a nice view. We continued east along the northern end of the fifth lake to its northeast tip for another nice view of Mt. Conness before heading steeply uphill to the northeast. We were looking for a view of the sixth Conness Lake and found it on the ridge line (~3.7 miles). Mt. Warren, Saddlebag Lake, and Greenstone Lake were also visible to the east-northeast. From you could continue to the north-northeast and find a suitable path back down to cross the creek well above the waterfall, but we decided to head to the north-northwest to find a nice spot above the second lake to stop and have lunch. From here we headed steeply downhill to the northeast to cross the creek immediately below the first lake (~4.0 miles) and rejoin the trail. However, we only stayed on the trail to the pool below the first lake before leaving it once again to climb the ridge to the northeast. We reached the ridge line and found great views looking over Cascade, Mill, and Steelhead Lakes to the north (~4.15 miles). Shepherd Crest, Excelsior Mountain, Dunderberg Peak, Black Mountain, and Mt. Olsen loomed above them. The view of the North Peak was also interesting from here.

We followed a little couloir downhill to the north-northwest and headed toward Cascade Lake and back into the Hoover Wilderness. Along the way we passed through some spots that would be much wetter earlier in the summer. We reached the lake at the inlet on the southeastern tip (~4.65 miles) with nice views. Benthic algae are prevalent here in the shallow water. We next followed the shoreline to the northeast, passed the lake's namesake, and then east to the southern end of Mill Lake before continuing to the northeast. Just above the southwestern tip of Steelhead Lake, we had to climb steeply down to the southeast, just south of Steelhead Lake Falls, before finding the trail on the south side of the lake (~4.95 miles). The view toward Shepherd Crest is also nice here. We next paralleled the main trail on a side-trail to the south-southeast before climbing up to the main trail just to leave it to the east. We climbed the steep hillside to the southeast and came across a dry pond (~5.2 miles) that suddenly began to hop around in many places as we stepped on it. Many juvenile Sierran treefrogs were calling this dry pond home and were a little distressed at our presence. Apparently it is common for adults to wander away from water after the breeding season, but these were tiny juveniles (<0.5 in), likely hanging out in their now dry birth pond. Along the edge of the dry pond were more alpine gentians.

We exited the dry pond and turned east just to the south of a larger (and wetter) pond. We continued through a few more drainages before reaching the southwestern end of Z Lake (~5.5 miles). This lake looks more like an 'S' than a 'Z' but maybe whoever named it was looking at it in a mirror. From Z Lake we headed uphill for a short distance to the south-southeast before descending to the south. We intersected with the main trail at ~5.9 miles and were on a trail the rest of the way. Just past the northeastern end of Greenstone Lake we left the main trail for a side-trail to the south (~6.2 miles) immediately after crossing the wilderness boundary. We could have continued on the main trail to the east and turned south at the four-way intersection near the boat ramp. Instead, we intersected with this trail a little bit further to the southwest after heading southeast on the side-trail (~6.3 miles). Here was another four-way intersection. The trail to the southeast follows the outlet from Greenstone Lake to the northwest shore of Saddlebag Lake. We took the trail to the southwest and quickly crossed the Greenstone Lake outlet on a primitive footbridge and continued to the south-southeast to the loop junction (~6.5 miles). From here we followed our footsteps back to the trailhead, but this time crossed over the dam instead of heading downhill and then uphill below it. There are plenty of people visiting the Twenty Lakes Basin but unfortunately most take the boat across Saddlebag Lake. However, there are lots of places to find solitude, especially when you venture off-trail. Always bring a map and compass with you, though, and scout out your route beforehand.