The Sabrina Lake Trail is one of the more popular trails in Inyo National Forest, but given the vast playground that awaits visitors, it still manages to offer solitude and tranquility for those willing to hike to the end. For this trip, we set our destination for Moonlight Falls and the accompanying Moonlight Lake, one of the few alpine lakes at the end of the trail. We were totally unprepared for the beauty that awaited us.
There was rain and the sounds of a storm as we kicked off our hike- not the best of sign. To make matters worse, a hiker we passed along the way also said that they slept through a storm and got hailed on the other day. That interaction definitely made us feel uneasy, but as we arrived at Blue Lake, the location for our first night's rest, a scenic sunset quickly put our unrest to an end. Everything was going to be alright.
The weather turned out to be phenomenal the next day. It was the perfect temperature for backpacking and the high elevation views were spectacular.
After a couple hours of lugging our gear into the mountain with plenty of breaks to rest our shoulders, we arrived at Moonlight Lake, our intended destination. As the lake was fed by a nearby glacier, the water took on a turquoise hue.
The vicinity around the lake was like a playground. Surrounded by multiple high mountain peaks, there were other alpine lakes and meadows all around. After setting up our home base, we had a wonderful time exploring the area.
The water from Moonlight Lake fed into Moonlight Falls, the subject that inspired us to take this trip in the first place. And it did not disappoint. The waterfall itself split into multiple offshoots, some of which we were able to easily walk under.
On the final day, we spent some time on an adjacent side of Moonlight Lake. The water near the shore there was deeper and took on a greener tone. This area was full of trout, and they were not shy about coming closer to the edge. After multiple attempts to fish on this trip, we finally had success here after switching the bait to local grasshoppers. I guess the fish preferred the more natural stuff.
This trip turned out to be my favorite backpacking trip so far. The views were rewarding and it was just the right amount of difficulty to make it feel like it wasn't just spoon-fed to us. What a great way to unplug for a long weekend.