Dinkey Lakes Backpacking Trip

This video is of my first backpacking experience. Having never done this I consider it a test of myself and my equipment. It was a great learning experience for me. And I MADE IT! Sure it was not the most difficult hike or even a very long hike. But for me it was challenging and tough at times. Starting from home with an elevation of 300 feet and then beginning a hike at an elevation of 8,600 feet was a tough start. My hike ended at 8,982 feet. About 1 hour of hiking and 2.28 miles with an elevation gain of 514 feet.
Then 3 days and 2 nights of total piece and quite. The moon the stars and a crackling fire. And a lake all to myself that at times looked as smooth as glass except for the occasional fish breaking the surface.

Dinkey Lakes Wilderness offers many trails. The" Willow Meadow" trail head leads to a six mile loop trail. On the loop there are 4 lakes. But there are as many as 6 or 8 lakes accessible from this trail.
View on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.157409,-119.0...

Leave a comment if I can give you any more information on this area. I have GPS info for my hike to Mystery Lake and GPS info for the roads to the trail head.
Some GPS info of my hike here:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=832229

Thanks to those of you that have commented on my first videos and left helpful information on backpacking and gear.

More pictures located here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dmacken1/DinkeyLakesBackpackingTrip?feat=directlink

A lot of this video was shot using The Stickpic camera holder! Get ya one!
http://www.thestickpic.com/

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Dinkey
• Lakes
• Backpacking
• Trip
• sequoia
• national
• forest
• Mystery lake
• Jetboil
• stickpic
• thestickpick
• the stickpic
• stickpick

[shippen2010]

Just getting up in the morning does that for me. Great vid THX

[dmacken11]

@shippen2010 This was my favorite trip for obvious reasons. Peace and quite and a wilderness all to myself. Had such a good time there and my first backpacking experience. can't wait to go there again hopefully this spring when the water is running in that creek bed. thanks for watching and commenting.

[rainbowhiker]

I still love this video. So nice to see the Sierras again. You should live up here every weekend, lol, ;-)

[dmacken11]

@rainbowhiker I keep looking at all these "tiny house" and "cabins" made from recycled shipping containers and what not. Saw a guy that bought the land a fire lookout was on and built a little cabin structure. Would love to have just the smallest of places somewhere like this to go to on weekends. This is one of the most memorable places and trips I have ever been too.

[handyscot1]

Nice video Dave. That is a beautiful area. Wish the video was longer. Take care, and great job.

[dmacken11]

@handyscot1 That was my very first backpacking trip. I carried to much weight as I was inexperienced at backpacking but not at camping. This was one of the best experiences of my life. Totally alone in this wilderness area for 3 days. It was really pretty spiritually nice. My first video backpacking too. I think it turned out pretty well. And you see The Stickpic at work too :-) Wanted to go back there this September but everything fell through and I still haven't been out anywhere :-(

[joeldanielmullins]

Loved your video! Where did you purchase your hand held tripod?

[dmacken11]

@JoeNeanderthal Thanks for coming by and checking out my video of Mystery Lake. Really was the most peaceful place I have ever been. And the most remote for me. Looking forward to checking out your videos.

[JoeNeanderthal]

What a nice spot. Thanks for sharing.

[dmacken11]

@funsocaldude I haven't been up there for a year now. But when I was there there were cars in the parking lot. I used a jeep to get there. I am planing to go up soon and will be taking my 2 wheel drive truck. Most of the road was fine when I went up. It is dirt and broken road the last few miles or so. Because it is steep on the way back I had to use a low gear and crawl down the beginning because it was washboard like. The majority is paved up there. The last "Fire roads" are interesting.