I had my eye on bagging Thousand Island Lake for over a year. After crossing off Duck Lake and the glacier lakes out of North Pine Creek the previous summer, Thousand Island Lake was one of the great day hikes I had yet to concur in the Mammoth Basin.

Corey and I set up camp at Sherwin Creek campground just outside of Mammoth the last week of August. Early Saturday morning, we hit the road to Agnew Meadows and started the 16 mile, 4,500+ foot elevation gain hike to Thousand Island Lake.

We took the river trail on our approach out to Thousand Island Lake which had positives and negatives. Positives were it was relatively shady and interesting terrain to hike through as we followed the San Joaquin river. Negatives were the relentless mosquitoes that love hanging near the river. Bug spray helped, but we still got feasted on.

There aren’t a ton of huge switchback sections on this hike. There are gradual climbs, as well as decents throughout (more on that in a minute).

We made it out to gorgeous Thousand Island Lake with the sun shining bright through cloudy skies. We saw quite a few backpackers along the way, but we were one of only a few groups of people spread out in the massive area to enjoy the views when we arrived. We put our beers in the lake to cool down, found a rock to post up on and enjoyed lunch.

The lake was so calm and reflective when we got there, it was almost disorienting. A mirror image of the sky and Banner Peak could be seen the on the surface of the lake. But just like that it was gone. A storm rolled in and rain began to fall.

Corey and I decided to switch up the scenery and take the high trail back as opposed to trudging through the mosquitoes again. It was mosquito free, but the high trail gains significant elevation from the surface of the lake and it’s scenery was a bit less diverse than the river trail. As I said earlier, this hike isn’t one long switchback to the lake, you gain and lose elevation often on the hike, meaning the way home had just as much uphill as the way there. This isn’t the type of hike you can just run back downhill to your car.

But 16 miles later we made it back to Agnew Meadows, having conquered one of the best day hikes in the Mammoth Lakes Basin.