10. Tyler and Gertrude Lakes

Length:	8 miles round trip
Hiking time:	6 hours or overnight
High point:	8,200 feet
Total elevation gain:	1,400 feet
Difficulty:	moderate to strenuous
Season:	late July to mid-October
Water:	bring your own
Maps:	USGS 7.5' Rockbound Valley, USGS 7.5' Pyramid Peak, USFS Desolation Wilderness
Information:	Eldorado National Forest Information Center

Enjoy seclusion while admiring rugged and scenic alpine backcountry on this trek to two small lakes that rate among the most pristine in the High Sierra. Choose from several lake campsites that allow good views of steep rocky ridges. You must obtain a permit for this hike. Call Eldorado National Forest Information Center for more information.

Drive Highway 50 about 46 miles east of Placerville and 17 miles west of the junction of Highways 50 and 89. Take paved Wrights Lake Road (initially signed 11N26), and reach a dirt road after 4 miles (the trailhead for Hike 7, Sylvia and Lyons Lakes). Go straight here and again 2 miles farther. After another 1.7 miles, note the wilderness area parking lot on the right. Backpackers leave vehicles here, but day hikers continue along the main road another 1.1 miles (go right at two road forks) to the trailhead (look for self-serve day hike permits).

From the north side of the trailhead parking lot, cross the creek, then pass through the meadow as you enjoy eastward views of Mount Price. Walk through an open red fir and Jeffrey pine forest, and stay left at a trail junction at 0.4 mile. Bear right at two other trail forks shortly thereafter, then go right again on Rockbound Trail at 1.2 miles.

Take Tyler Lake Trail by making a right 0.5 mile farther (the left-hand trail is described in Hike 11, Maud, Lois, and Zitella Lakes). Proceed past quaking aspen, huckleberry oak, and lodgepole pine, then watch for rock ducks (cairns) as you ascend a steep gully. The jagged mountaintops to the east come into view at 2 miles, after which the trail climbs steeply.

The trail levels at a saddle at 2.2 miles. From here, climb past a section of scattered Sierra juniper and Jeffrey pine at 2.6 miles, then pass a dark bog in a mountain hemlock forest 0.2 mile farther. Watch for the sign at 3.3 miles directing you to the Tyler grave site.

Arrow-shaped Gertrude Lake appears on the left at 3.9 miles. Mountain hemlock and lodgepole pine adorn the shoreline of this shallow and swimmable lake. Two exposed campsites sit atop the rocky ledge above the north shore.

Plan on spending most of your time at the more scenic Tyler Lake. Retrace your steps 75 yards and locate the rock ducks that guide you 0.2 mile to the oval-shaped and deeper body of water, sided by steep granite on the south, east, and north sides. A superb campsite rests near the northwest shore beneath a large western white pine and smaller whitebark pine. Find other campsites part way up the smooth granite slabs that taper to the north shore. An easy 0.5-mile cross-country climb northwest to a bench just west of Peak 9441 lets you visit two large, clear alpine ponds. If you want more hiking, consider the trails of Hike 11 (Maud, Lois, and Zitella Lakes), Hike 9 (Twin and Island Lakes), and Hike 8 (Grouse, Hemlock, and Smith Lakes).