Ostrander Lake

I can’t rate beautiful nature below 5 stars. Unless the people have ruined them!
Some people do day hikes here, we backpacked during 4^th of july and spent on the lake for couple of days.
You’re starting at about 7,000 ft and will end up around 8500 ft when you get to the lake. The first 3 miles was flat and passing by the meadow. It’s beautiful. Then after you enjoy all that beauty, you meet the the hard part of the trail… 3 miles of uphill where the 1500ft elevation gain happens. For some people it might be easy, for some it might be hard like me. I saw some people were just cruising up and I saw some people struggling. Props to the folks who do roundtrip. All of our friends were spent after we arrived to the lake. I was about 12 weeks pregnant when I backpacked here so it was doable but prepare for elevation gain. Water was kinda cold for swimming but the view was really nice.
Most people camped on the right facing the lake, but we chose to camp on the left side where there were a lot of rocks. We got a good spot though. Our 4^th of July didn’t fireworks coz we got natural fireworks. Beautify sky at night.

I went on a backpacking trip with Boy Scout Troop in mid Aug.
Started at the trailhead located between Bridalveil Creek Camp and Equestrian Camp. Temp was 48 F at mid morning.
There was a Bear Box at trailhead for us to store our excess food that could not fit into our Bear Cans.
It took us 5.5 hours to reach the lake. First 4 miles were mostly shaded and relatively level along the creek, scattered with wild flowers even in Aug. Last 3 miles were steady incline along various terrains in partially exposed sun. Temperature warmed up to 75 F when we arrived to lake in late afternoon. The stone hut sat beautifully next to the alpine lake. Water was cool but it felt nice to soak our tired feet. Some swam, some fished. You can see trouts jumping, we caught and released one. The lighting at sunset was beautiful. No problems with mosquitoes during this time of year.
Next day, it took us only 3.5 hours to hike the 7 miles down to trailhead.

12.4 miles. Out and back. The lake is the destination. Until the lake, it is dry and wondered if there was a lake. But suddenly lake showed up… sooooo beautiful. Rewarding! must visit.