Young Lakes, (almost) Mt. Conness (pics)

I spent the long weekend camping at middle Young Lakes, and hiked to the Mt. Conness summit platform Sunday. I didn't like the exposure to continue to the top, but the pink chicken's advice about the summit platform was correct - it's a great place to explore.

The swimming in the middle lake was pretty good - a little gooey stuff on the bottom but not too bad, and I enjoyed the water temperature.

Morning view of the middle lake:



Sunset view, middle lake:



The upper lake:



View of the middle and lower lakes:



The meadow/water leading towards Mt. Conness:



Conness Lakes and the 20 Lakes Basin:



Southwest view from Conness. The lower lake is in the foreground. You can see Tenaya Lake in the background, with Clouds Rest to its left, and Half Dome beyond.



The east side of Mt. Conness, with the glacier to the bottom:



View towards the White Mountains:



Upper Young Lake, and in the background the Cathedral Range:

Thanks for posting the beautiful pics. How easy was it to follow the use trail?

Also, to what extent were you using handholds as you climbed up Mt Conness?

With going to the 20 Lakes Basin (a ways beyond Mt Conness), where did you return to?

The use trail wasn't hard to follow. As far as I can tell though, Secor is wrong...it seems to start from the upper lake. The climb from the meadow/water at around 10.7K ft. is very steep, poles will be handy.

I didn't make it to the top of Conness, as I noted. I made it past the first exposed area holding onto rock. Where I stopped - there really wasn't a good way (at least, with my somewhat worn hiking boot soles) other than over the top, and that wasn't looking good to me. As I noted in the thread at the link, I suspect the climb from the summit platform to the summit was a constructed route, with the area I turned around being where the constructed pieces have fallen away.

I didn't go to the 20 Lakes Basin, I photographed it from Conness' summit platform. Round trip day hike from the middle Young Lake.

Tanks Tom - I gotta get back there

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Awesome! Those are some outstanding views.