Duck Pass and Pika Lake Trail is a 10.3 mile great weekend backpacking or day hike. Just up the road from the Coldwater Creek Campground next to Lake Mary in Mammoth is a huge parking lot and the trailhead. I arrived late in the night driving up the 5.5 hours from Los Angeles after  work on a Friday night, sooooo I took a quick morning nap in the parking lot surrounded by trees and stars. This trail starts at 9,054 ft elevation so if you are coming from sea level, it’s good to take some time to acclimate before hiking up to higher elevation. 

You’ll need backcountry permits if you want to camp out at Pika Lake as well as a backcountry fire permit. I also saw many people doing this as a day hike to go swim. 

The first roughly 4 miles are uphill. For 3 miles I took a gradual climb up the trail passing 4 different lakes with swimming, fishing and camping. They make great landmarks along the hike to enjoy along the way. I started early because in July it was going to get quite hot, and between mile 3 and 4, you climb Duck Pass which is completely exposed switchbacks up granite mountain trail. I got to the start of the pass before 10am (which was my goal so woohoo!), and slowly went along with my 40 lb pack and monitoring my body as I climbed in elevation topping out at 10,920 ft. The view along the pass is beautiful which is cause for many photo breaks as I peered down the valley to all of the lakes I had just passed and more, backseat by the eastern Sierra mountains. You can even see the ski slopes of Mammoth Mountain. Once you go through the saddle of the pass where I was surrounded by nothing but granite mountains and leftover snow, I came to see another set of lakes – Duck and Pika Lake.

The last two miles for my day I descended down to the shores of Duck Lake. The water is so clear you can see the fish swimming around and it was getting hot and I was so excited to swim. I hustled over to Pika Lake at 10,546 ft to find a campspot for the night. It was pretty empty in terms of campers when I arrived so I had my pick of the litter. So of course I chose the site just behind the tree line with a view of the lake and mountains as well as shade. I set up camp, made a dehydrated lunch, filtered water, and went out to find a spot to chill for the afternoon. There was one patch of sand off the grassy and muddy shore of the lake speckled with wildflowers so I set up there. I spent the day swimming, reading, napping, journaling, and enjoying the sun. It was lovely and quite, the water was cold and the sun was hot so I was everything I could ask for.

As the sun started to got lower and I got hungry, I went back to camp to make some dinner. I also happened to bring gushers so I knew I had a fun dessert waiting for me. I watched the reflection start to show on the lake as the sun got lower, then went out back out to the lake to watch and get eaten alive by mosquitoes no matter how much big spray I put on (and I was DRIPPING in bug spray). Two women ended up camp as the closest tent to me and we put our bear bins away from the campsites in the same spot – they both had mosquito head nets and kept asking me how I’m surviving, and I just had to be honest, on the East Coast (where I’m from) the mosquitoes ARE SO MUCH WORSE. So yeah, there were a lot of mosquitoes and it was annoying at times, but I really only went home with actually itchy bites. Although, I do appreciate how lucky I was to have no mosquitoes in my tent (because I make an Olympic sport of how fast I can unzip, get in, and rezip my tent)

In the morning, I got an early start knowing I had the now longer drive with traffic back to LA. But hey, how can you be that worried about things back in civilization when you wake up at an alpine lake. I made coffee and breakfast, enjoying the sounds of nature and view of the lake. Then I got a move on, filtering the water I’d need for the hike, packing up camp, and getting on my way. The way back is significantly easier than the way there, but that doesn’t mean the first climb back up to the saddle of the pass didn’t kick my ass while a woman and her dog (both with packs) jog up the trail right past me. I took my time going down Duck Pass with its beautiful views then enjoyed the gradual downhill back to my car along the lakes while the mosquitos descended on me anytime I stopped to take a breather. I was back at the parking lot by 11:30am, drove down to Lake Mary to swim before starting my drive back to LA with a good pitstop in Bishop.