Rambler: BethDrink at Hand: 2004 Parrot Ranch Cab Sav

Welcome back for another edition of Thirsty Thursday...time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. Last weekend was a pretty good one here at Welliver Photography, mainly because we weren't so much "here" as we were "out there" -- the best way to spend a long holiday weekend!

Saturday morning we parked Ellie near Saddlebag Lake and the three of us headed out into the Twenty Lakes Basin in the Hoover Wilderness. The hike to our camping spot was pretty quick and easy, leaving us most of 3 days to explore the endless alpine lakes in this High Sierra basin. Beautiful, glacier-fed lakes nestled beneath 12,000 peaks.

Exploring Shamrock Lake. The middle of the glacier-fed Conness Lakes, roughly 11,000' up. There was one more up above this lake! Requisite glowing tent photo (forgive me, its my first one!). North Peak in the background.

Roughly 3 days and 27 miles later, we had sufficiently explored Twenty Lakes Basin and give it two thumbs up. Over the top beautiful, though I think the 10,000' altitude certainly wore us out by the end!

If you want to visit the Twenty Lakes Basin yourself (and you should!), you can find the trailhead at Saddlebag Lake, 2 miles north of Highway 120 / Tioga Pass (the dirt road to Saddlebag Lake roughly 4 miles from the east gate to Yosemite National Park). There is a shuttle boat that will take you across Saddlebag Lake and drop you very close to the first of many lakes in the basin without having to do more than a half mile of hiking. Get out there and check it out!