How I Found California's Best Kept Secret 

I have visited a small lake in the Trinity Alps at least 7 or 8 times. I have been going there since 1981 and never seen another person there. Not even signs of a campfire. Fish are small but you can catch all you want. I call it Michael's Lake.

Thank you for the nice comment :)

Thanks so much! Yeah the heatwave last summer was insane!

Hiking up Buckeye get you to the the same area (Kerrick Meadow) - but there are a lot fewer hikers.

Ugh - I do not envy you up in PNW! With a heat wave like that, you are almost crazier not to go to the mountains! It was a good 20 degrees cooler above 8,000!

Oh thank you! That’s so sweet! I use a gossamer gear gorilla 50! I really love it and do recommend it for most people :)

I love Emigrant! But I have never been in spring time! I was thinking about it this year and I probably should have - I just have never seen mosquitos like that in my life!

:) The trailhead is called crabtree - it's just outside of Pinecrest/Strawberry

@@ElsbethWeeks thank you for getting back to me. It's been super hard finding info on how to get to a place, park, permit and where the trials are. I was able to contact the ranger station Tuesday and they stated that the park isn't open u til April 15

​ @cbingham40 Yeah I totally understand! WIth all of the different agencies managing their areas differently, its especially tough. Sorry it took so long for me to respond! Have fun :)

Yes, but it’s free and there is no quota or cap. You can get them at a near by ranger station and can self permit if the station is closed

So you work for free then? You decline your paycheck from your employer? Thanks, so kind of you.

​@bustaruckus5611 nope, but in my free time, you can find me at no name lake off lost mans trail all to myself, because thats what "secrets" are for, imo

@@Wanderlustwild That's great...but it doesn't mean she can't be helpful to people and also get rewarded for the time and effort it took her to shoot and edit this (as well as the video equipment and software costs). ✌️

@bustaruckus5611 thought I'd express my opinion on the ironic title and the ethical shortcomings. She can do as she pleases, though

@@Wanderlustwild There are no ethical shortcomings here. I was happy to have the info, and I'm happy that people are monetarily incentivized to keep putting out helpful information that they might not have otherwise shared if it wasn't worth their time. And that's not an ironic title. She's acknowledging that it's little-known, but now sharing the info with us. And "best kept secret" is also just a phrase people use...not a literal assumption that it's a secret. An example of irony is Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing having Oakland, CA stamped on the bottle. If you're going to get pedantic with people, at least construct a good argument.