Inyo National Forest

5 days from Walker Lake Trailhead to Agnew Meadows

Quick Stats: 35.5 miles (photo above drawn with All Trails App)

Day 1: Walker Lake Trailhead to Sardine Lakes (4 miles, 2,244 ft. elevation)
Day 2: Sardine Lakes to Parker Pass to Alger Lake (9 miles, 2,887 ft. elevation)
Day 3: Alger Lake to Clark Lakes (6.5 miles, 1,500 ft. elevation)
Day 4: Clark Lakes to Ediza Lake (9 miles, 1,870 ft. elevation)
Day 5: Ediza Lake to Agnew Meadows Campground (7 miles, 650 ft. elevation)
Day 6: Party not over… super fun night in Mammoth Lakes at charming breweries and delicious restaurants, live music and margaritas, late night espresso shots around bonfire, and real bed and showers!

Check out our video from the trip:

Into the mountains…

Matt’s Favorite Highlight

“It was the first day on the trail with the wind at our backs, and the sun in our faces. We hit the trail with elevated spirits. Hours in we were met with thunderclaps and rainy clouds. Not faltered in the least, we found a little patch of coniferous trees to bed down in for the night. Amongst the symphony of nature, we enjoyed a hot cup of tea while embracing the contrast that makes nature so beautiful.”

Matt’s Secret Treat

South African Style beef Jerky – aka “Biltong”
Delishfish – A healthier alternative to Swedish Fish

Jenna’s Favorite Highlight

“Day after day of breathtaking views. I enjoyed being disconnected from the outside world for a few days, and being connected and grounded in nature and relying on one another to make it through the wilderness. I also loved our hammock cuddle sesh while we made dinners!”

Ian’s Favorite Highlight

“Hanging out on the beautiful shores of Alger Lake. Swimming, reading, fishing, chilling, and taking in the scenery!”

Ian’s Secret Treat

Dried Mango slices

Linnea’s Favorite Highlight

“On the last night, when Jenna and I were delirious from pain and intense hikes, we snuggled into the hammock together, drank wine and made dinner with our feet dangling like kids on a swing set, and rolled around laughing at the crazy and hilarious moments from the trip.”

Linnea’s Secret Treat

Sweet & salty banana chips

Meditations & Memories from the Trail

Every time we get out into the wilderness, we revert to untamable kids: a group of lost boys and girls roaring through miles and miles of deserted, quiet landscape with our laughs and songs, our splashes into lakes and wolf-howl imitations, our high and drunk stories around the campfire and shouts at shooting stars. (Ok, we are usually like this in the cities too.)

Quarantine restrained everyone, but I think nature helped most of us rise above the lockdowns. Like many people, we 4 set out at the end of the summer before another anticipated season of closures and shelter-in-place measures, to play and explore in a large colorful space, and to enjoy the intimate company of good friends with no one else around. I suggest getting into backpacking if you want to start looking for an awesome, therapeutic way to heal during pandemics. Leave the car behind, leave the conveniences behind. Just you, your boots, and your backpack (and your best friends).

Fun times with fantastic friends: lil’ snippets

Fishing for the first time while backpacking. Having raw fish on triscuits and cooking fish for dinner with mountain sage
Surprise rain storm within the first few hours of the hike. Linnea forgot her rain jacket this one time!! Everything cold and wet while trying to set up camp and make a fire. Enjoyed a beautiful warm cup of tea and took a long nap till the rain stopped.
Incredibly hard hike up a strange volcanic looking mountain made up of small individuals rocks, so slippery and slidy!
Descending into a shire-like place, green meadows in between a valley of massive red rock mountains
Jenna surfing down rock hills with Costco sandals. All of us sliding down rock hills racing toward Alger Lake!

It got to the point where even finding a place to hike or camp at our normal spots was impossible. So many people were eager to get outside and fly away from town that parks were filled to the brim. We weren’t able to find secluded spaces except at the crack of dawn on sunrise hikes. Yosemite wasn’t even an option for us this time: no available permits, registration tickets just to enter the park, and the thought of tons of cars stacked in line to get in set us searching for new areas to roam. Sparks newly crackling from an already raging fire of passion for exploration.

That’s when we discovered places like Inyo National Forest, Ansel Adams Wilderness, and Emigrant Wilderness. The areas surrounding Yosemite are known but not as obvious tourist destinations. Getting permits was easy, and we were extremely excited to open up a world of new trails, new mountain formations, new lakes and rivers whose names and lines we hadn’t seen or traced on maps before.

I love this group because we are all trying to create something big. Jenna and Matt inspire us because they are already successful entrepreneurs who want to make a difference in their fields and have stopped at nothing to realize those dreams. Jenna has started her own private therapy company called Head First Health Coaching & Counseling. Matt has started his own Kombucha company called Kombuchade as well as other successful business endeavors.

I want to start my own school one day and change young people’s relationship to literature, writing, and education in general. Ian wants to create products and systems that help people be more aligned with nature and environmental conservation. Going out on backpacking trips with people who are always coming up with ideas -continuously pushing the envelope and exploring how our talents, skills, and passions can translate into fulfilling careers and personal lives- makes us hungrier to push ourselves when we get back home and back to work. These 5 days romping around the woods and meadows with Jenna & Matt inspired us to be more imaginative and daring in our careers and to appreciate all the things we have. I’ll never forget my favorite lesson I’ve learned while trailing it with friends:

Play makes us more productive people.

Thinking of planning a trip like this at Inyo?

If you want more exact trail details, message us at trailswithfriends@gmail.com & we’ll hook you up with the info about how to get permits, where to park your cars for trailheads, etc.! Happy hiking!

Here’s a closer look at this trail (mapped through All Trails)