Hiking the Lakes Trail to Pear Lake
Updated: Dec 12, 2022
Hiking Stats:
Location: Sequoia National Park
Distance: 11.6 miles RT
Elevation Gain: 3200 feet
Date Hiked: June 2021
Getting Here
The Lakes Trailhead is located in the Wolverton parking lot, which is a huge lot with bathrooms. From the General Sherman Highway, turn on to Wolverton Road, which is the same road that you'd turn onto to get to the parking area for the General Sherman Tree and the Congress Trail. Instead of turning right towards the General Sherman parking, continue strait until the road dead ends into the parking lot.
The Hike
While Sequoia National Park is famous for its massive sequoia trees, its location in the Sierras makes it a premier but underrated hiking destination in California. The popular Lakes Trail in Sequoia is known for its four stunning alpine lakes: Heather, Emerald, Aster, and Pear Lakes. The first time I had ever visited Sequoia was in the winter so I didn’t have the opportunity to hike much so I was determined to return to explore more of the park by foot. After a later-than-anticipated morning start due to me getting distracted by the views along the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, I finally made it to the Lakes Trailhead. The trail quickly began as a gentle but persistent climb up through a pine forest.
Shortly after turning onto the Lakes Trail about two miles in (the other trail heads towards Alta Peak), I arrived at another intersection that split off into two trails: The Watchman and The Hump Trail. Both take you to the lakes, but I would recommend taking The Watchman Trail as it is more scenic. This section of trail was super fun with part of the trail running alongside a large rock face with sheer drop offs on the other side. After about maybe a mile past the start of this section I came to the Watchman himself, a huge granite face that looks over the valley. From here I could see a very long cascade of water flowing down the granite rocks from the lakes down into the valley. Definitely a worthy snack spot! One note here: The Watchman Trail is closed during the winter due to the rather dangerous combination of ice and sheer drop offs.
Continuing past the Watchman for about ¾ of a mile, my legs were given a nice break from the climbing as I descended down to Heather Lake. Heather Lake is small but pretty with its green-blue waters surrounded by grayish-white granite hills and pines and is another excellent place to rest and have a snack.
A half mile later, I came upon a gorgeous overlook of Aster Lake nestled into a bowl created by the surrounding granite. The trail does not technically take you down to the shores of the lake, but I decided to tramp down the cliffs to get to the edge of the lake anyway. Aster Lake I think was my favorite out of all of them. The contrast between the deep blues of the white and the whites of the granite made it hard to not stop in my tracks and just ogle.
After hauling my butt back up to the actual trail, I shortly came upon Emerald Lake which is worth coming to in its own right. This lake was more of a bluish gray color when I was there and had several large boulders to hang out on.
The remaining mile-ish to Pear Lake is a calf burner but probably my favorite section! The trail is all on exposed granite that goes up and around a mountain with more excellent views of Aster Lake and the surrounding wilderness.
Pear Lake itself is the largest of the four lakes and an absolute stunner with Alta Peak looming in the background. There was plenty of room to spread out, and after chilling my feet in the frigid waters I found a nice spot for a quick nap in the sun.
I hiked back the way I came, coming across some marmots and a cute little pika along the way. I decided to continue back on The Watchman Trail because I liked it so much, although you could certainly take The Hump Trail back for some variety.
I very much enjoyed this hike and I think if I were to do it again I would consider backpacking it! There were several campsites at both Emerald and Pear Lakes that would be absolutely perfect and I’m sure watching the sunset and sunrise there would be incredible. This is definitely a must do hike in the Sierras.
Nearby Adventures
Kings Canyon National Park
Yosemite National Park:
Explore Hetch Hetchy and its controversial history
Get off the beaten path at Glen Aulin
If this hike is on your list, be sure to pin this for later!
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