Hiking to Valentine Lake (Mammoth Lakes, CA) - Trip Report
Sherwin Lakes trail is just a few minutes from the town of Mammoth Lakes featuring multiple beautiful lakes. On the way up, you’ll be able to see the whole town and the popular destination, Mammoth Mountain. You’ll reach Sherwin Lakes at 2.3 miles into the trail and it’s a great stop to enjoy a snack or a good turn around point if you only have time for a quick hike. But if you continue 2.7 miles further, you’ll reach the stunning Valentine Lake and the views are worth the extra mileage.
Hiking Information
Location: Mono County - near Mammoth Lakes, California
Trailhead & Parking: Google Maps
Date Hiked: May 21, 2020
Trail Type: Out & Back
Elevation Change: 2,122 ft
Distance Roundtrip: 10 miles
Nearest Restrooms: at the trailhead
Fees: An overnight permit is required for any backpacking trip in the Inyo National Forest, which has a fee on recreation.gov. Day hiking this area does not require a permit and has no fees.
ID# on Recreation.gov: JM02
Season Accessibility: May - November
Trail Tip: Hiking in the Spring will provide beautiful snow capped mountains as the backdrop to the lakes
The Drive/Parking
Kaitlin and I headed out to the Sherwin Lakes trailhead on a Thursday morning. The road to the trailhead is out of Sherwin Creek road with the last half mile is a little bumpy, but doable for any car, just be sure to take it slow and look out for oncoming traffic as some parts of the road are narrow. There’s a sizable parking lot that can fill up on busy summer days, but arriving early can help avoid that.
The Hike
This hike starts out in a heavily wooded area with lots of tree coverage. You’ll slowly work your way up a mellow incline and catch beautiful glimpses of the town from above and the White Mountains out east (on a clear day).
As the trail continues up, you’ll see the amount of trees start to thin out and a better glimpse at the mountains that surround the lakes. That also means you’re getting close to the first lake, Sherwin Lake.
It’s a pretty little lake with clear water and even though I didn’t see any fish there, I hear this lake has rainbow and brook trout. It’d make for a nice little summer hiking/fishing trip. The water level was a bit lower than usual as you can see the exposed rocks that are typically underwater. This winter (2019-2020) was considered low so I expect to see a lot of lakes and rivers low this year. Kaitlin and I enjoyed the warmth by the lake for a few minutes then headed back to the trail to continue onto to Valentine Lake.
Heading along the trail are lots of beautiful trees and then we stumbled upon a little body of water with the clearest water I’d ever seen. A little while after this pond, you’re going to encounter a little lake, Lost Lake. That means you’re 0.7 miles away from Valentine Lake!
At about half a mile to go, the trail got a little tricky with some snow that still hadn’t melted. I suspect this snow will be melted out by June with some warmer days on the forecast in the end of May. We made our way best we could following the trail, but there were a few spots that we had to navigate our own way to avoid some steep, slushy snow.
Once reaching Valentine Lake, we stayed to the left of the lake to eat some snacks on the big rocks along the lake shore. It was so beautiful and quiet up there, it seems like most people only hiked to Sherwin Lake so it’s definitely worth going a little further to enjoy a less trafficked lake. I hope you can check out this peaceful lake or got some enjoyment out of the trip report I wrote up. Happy Trails!
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Tiare Kirkland
Hi! My name is Tiare, but you can just call me ‘T’. I’m a California based hiker and I spend most of my free time taking photos and videos of some of my favorite hikes. You can usually find me ‘Out Hiking’ in the Sierra Nevada mountain range or road-tripping to new areas. Read more about me here and follow along with my adventures by subscribing below!