Backpacking Ruwau Lake in the Eastern Sierra

Trip date: July 22 – 23, 2023

Every year, my friends and I plan for one backpacking trip a month from May to October. We (tentatively) decide what trails we are going to do months in advance so that we can pick up permits as soon as they are released six months prior. Sometimes we change our minds and pick different trails; sometimes we have to reschedule due to weather or fires; and sometimes (like last year!) we are able to add trips due to slow weekends and low snow years. 2023 was a year where the Sierras really said, “Backpacking season, who?”

Unprecedented snow levels from the 2022-2023 winter season canceled our May Yosemite Falls trip, our June South Fork of Big Pine Creek trip, and our July Saddlebag Lake trip. But even though the road to and the water taxi across Saddlebag Lake were still closed, I figured there must be somewhere in the Sierra that we could go backpacking in July, so the week of our trip, I perused permits and was pleasantly surprised to see a ton of permits for Bishop Pass! Coincidentally, our last trip of the 2022 backpacking season was up and over Bishop Pass to Dusy Basin, so I knew that regardless of how far we were able to hike in, there would be plenty of lakes and campsites to enjoy. We quickly grabbed them, and our first trip into the Sierra was finally underway!

We left LA on Friday night anticipating to camp in Alabama Hills, as per usual. We arrived at our usual campsite around 9pm, turned off the car and opened the door, felt the air for about 5 seconds, and instantly decided to drive to higher ground. It was SO HOT and impossible to sleep in without AC. We hightailed it to Whitney Portal where we found much cooler air and the perfect environment to sleep in. It felt so good to be back in the mountains!

When morning arrived, we took some time exploring the swollen Lone Pine Creek before heading back down the hill, to Schat’s Bakery in Bishop for a sandwich, and up to South Lake. Since we knew that we probably wouldn’t be able to hike too far, we didn’t mind getting a later start. I don’t think we started hiking until about 10:45am!

The Bishop Pass trail starts with an initial lung-burning uphill section. Fortunately, you are instantly treated to fantastic views of South Lake and the surrounding peaks. I was in absolute awe of how much water was in South Lake!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so full in my life. I know that this winter was extremely difficult for locals, but it was so nice to see some of the benefits that it brought to the area.

We followed the trail around the lake and watched as boaters and kayakers enjoyed themselves. There were a bunch of other hikers on the trails enjoying summer in this High Sierra as well! It was such a beautiful day.

After leaving the shores of South Lake, the trail takes you through about a mile and a half of wooded forest. The incline was gradual, and we couldn’t believe how much water was in the area in the forms of seasonal streams and new ponds. Unfortunately, this meant that the mosquitos were out of control. Fortunately, we had anticipated this, so we were prepared with copious amounts of bug spray – but even with the bug spray, we were getting absolutely eaten up. I could literally feel the mosquitos biting me through my shorts. Not a fun time. I would highly suggest bringing mosquito nets and treating your clothes if you are venturing out into the Sierra anytime soon.

We passed the trails for Treasure Lakes and Marie Louise Lakes quickly, and soon came upon the trail for Chocolate Lakes. As I mentioned, we didn’t really have an itinerary – we just wanted to go as far as we could. We entertained the idea of going to Chocolate Lakes, as neither of us had been before, but there was a very large snow field visible from the trail junction and we had seen on AllTrails that the area was still pretty socked in with snow, so we decided to continue on to Long Lake. Our idea then was to see if we could make it up to Saddlerock Lake or Bishop Lake.

Within about two miles, we arrived at Long Lake! Very aptly named, Long Lake is so long that it looks like a river when you first happen upon it. Up until Long Lake, we hadn’t hit much snow – maybe one or two small patches at most. This would all change here though!

Almost immediately after hitting Long Lake is a water crossing. Typically, you can just rock hop across, but since there was so much water, all of the rock-hopping-rocks were completely submerged. We watched a few hikers rock hop on the shallow submerged rocks, but I know myself too well and knew that if I tried that, my entire shoe would be underwater before I knew it. I took of my shoes, donned my camping crocs, and waded into the water. Holy ish was it cold.

After the water crossing, the trail follows the eastern shore of Long Lake. There was a pretty big patch of snow at one point that looked a bit sketchy (think snow cornice hanging over the lake, so if you slid at all, you’d be swimming), so we went off-trail for a bit to avoid probably a quarter mile of the trail. It was clear that a lot of others had taken this little side trail as well (it was snow-covered, but not over water, so we felt comfortable following the previous hiker’s tracks through the snow). After a short detour, we were back at Long Lake and climbed up on some rocks to enjoy our Schat’s sandwiches!

After about an hour, we were back on trail and back into the snow. It was crazy – there were barely any snow patches up to Long Lake, but as soon as you arrived, it was like winter all over again. Nearing the end of Long Lake, the trail was completely covered in snow. Despite our plans to get to Saddlerock and Bishop Lakes, we weren’t super interested in snow hiking, so our plan changed to just make it to the end of Long Lake and find camp there. There were already a ton of tents that we were passing, and we were determined to find a bit of solitude!

Almost at the end of Long Lake, we happened upon a side trail to Ruwau Lake! I had forgotten our maps (first trip of the season, happens), so we had no idea this offshoot was coming up! The trail looked steep – it started with a staircase – and we figured it would take us up and out of the valley. We figured that best case scenario, we’d have a little privacy and a beautiful lake, worst case scenario, we’d just come back down to Long Lake. It ended up being best case scenario and our own private lake for the night!

The trail up to Ruwau is short, but steep. The trail, while maintained, was not in great shape – the trail itself had turned into a flowing stream, and there were quite a bit of long snow patches that made us a bit confused finding the trail. After a bit of trail searching though, we came upon the lake, and it was gorgeous! The alpine lake of our dreams.

The lake was still quite frozen, but the outlet was free-flowing. We saw what looked like a good campsite on the western edge, so once again we took off our shoes and made a water crossing. There was a HUGE snowbridge covering the outlet of the lake – friendly reminder NEVER cross snowbridges over water!! Just take off your shoes, make that water crossing (safely), and endure the cold.

Lo and behold, the campsite we thought we saw was perfect! We set up our tent and hammock, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon lounging in the Sierra sun. There was enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitos at bay and give us some relief for awhile. At one point, we saw two fisherman come through and try their luck at Ruwau Lake, but those were the only two other people we saw all night. We had Ruwau Lake to ourselves!

The afternoon and evening was spent reading, playing Skip-Bo, and forcing down food. Both of us were feeling the effects of the altitude (the first trip always chews you up and spits you back out, no matter how “easy” it is!). All in all though, a wonderful day in the Sierra!

We woke up the next morning eager to escape the mosquitos and ready for some Bishop Taco Bell, so we pretty much just got up and out. Not to say that we didn’t enjoy the beautiful scenery on the way out though! It was setting up to be a gorgeous Sunday in the mountains.

On the way out, we heard from a hew hikers who had tried to make it up and over the pass but bailed early that the pass was extremely dangerous. We believed them – you could see a huge cornice right where you are supposed to cross the pass even from Long Lake. They mentioned that they had made it up about halfway the day before when they watched another hiker slide a few hundred feet and stop just short of a rockband – that is what made them turn around. I personally could not see Bishop Pass opening up until the end of August at the earliest, but I suppose it’ll just depend on how much heat the area gets over the next few weeks.

Overall, we had a fantastic trip for our season opener. We didn’t get as far as we would have hoped (ideally – Dusy Basin), but we did explore a new lake that we likely would have never purposefully made a trip to! I did hear after our hike that you can actually get to Chocolate Lakes from a unmaintained trail out of Ruwau and make a loop out of it from the Bishop Pass trail. I do not think that would have been accessible to us this time due to all of the snow, but it’ll be on my list for when we do end up visiting Chocolate Lakes sometime in the future.

We came home feeling refreshed and excited for the summer ahead!