Dazzling Fall Colors at Convict Lake | The Big 2025 Parks Tour, Part 2
In case you missed it, here's the story so far:
Jason Evangelho
Before I make my way towards Great Basin National Park, I'm staying in Mammoth Lakes for a few days with my best friend and adventure partner K, who never, not once, has steered me wrong when it comes to recommending stunning nature destinations.
No time like the present!
Original Adventure Date: October 2, 2025
As I drove towards Mammoth Lakes yesterday, I kept seeing these isolated patches of fall colors tucked into the mountains. Gentle yellows and bold oranges mixed with faint traces of bright reds. Sort of a tease. Beckoning me to come closer.
And then Convict Lake happened.
Those little patches of color dwarfed by the silver, cream, and rust-colored mountains became a ridiculously beautiful wonderland bursting with color. And it was one of the most enjoyable short hikes I’ve ever done.
It happened gradually though, the landscape morphing around every turn. Before the aspen grove took my breath away, the clear blues and greens of the water at Convict Lake transformed my entire vocabulary into repeated exclamations of "WOW!"
Strong opinion: alpine lakes are the best lakes.
As the sun played hide-and-seek, peeking out between cloud cover, the color of the water changed dynamically. It was literally shifting colors in front of my eyes! From indigo to shades of emerald and all the hues in between.
As the trail wore on around the lake, the colors became brighter and bolder.
K and I both stopped every single minute (this is probably not an exaggeration) to frame something up in our cameras.
Just before reaching the halfway point, we stopped to chat with a couple hiking the opposite direction. They gave us an invaluable hiker tip that dramatically changed the entire experience. They said “take a left at the hornet’s nest and go 100 yards.”
Judging by the excitement in their voice and their confidence in the recommendation, I kept my eyes peeled for that hornet's nest.
About 15 minutes later, sure enough, there was a hornet’s nest the size of a basketball, dangling high up in an aspen. A narrow spur trail went out toward a dry creek bed, through a stand of aspen trees adorned with lemon-lime leaves, and then opened up into a vast mountainside just outside the boundary of the John Muir wilderness.
As usual, photos won’t ever do it justice. I’ve seen fall colors before, but they’ve never looked as mesmerizing as they did on Convict Lake.
The experience of seeing this distant patch of seasonal color, and then slowly walking into the thick of it until it surrounds you… it’s difficult to describe.
It felt magical. Surreal.
I have to spend one more day in the Mammoth Lakes. That wasn’t part of the plan, but this place is exceptional!
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