The Ottoway Lakes Loop

A panorama of the Red Devil Lake area, and Red Devil Lake. I will get to the particulars in a moment. The trail crosses the open flat area below and heads for a lake that can be just seen beyond the small tarns on the open area.

Many Vistas

The Ottoway Lakes Loop, September 2004

Somewhere around 10,300 feet, I started to get some great views of Red Devil Lake. I have been forever swearing to myself that if I ever got into that area, I would camp at or at least visit Red Devil Lake. I had studied the mileage's over and over again but I could not squeeze in a night at that lake, but I was determined to at least visit the lake.

One of the off-trail lakes below Red Devil Lake. Need solitude? Here you go. Beyond is the Merced River trench, and the peak on the right is Mt. Florence. There is another small nearly hidden lake to the right of the obvious one.

From a knoll overlooking the area (where the trail turns south for a bit), the lake looked enticingly close, but I was to learn that was deceptive. At least at this point the trail became less of a pain to walk (except for this one step I actually had to jump down from) and the hiking became smoother.