The Dinkey Lakes are located in the Dinkey Wilderness in the Sierra National Forest east of Shaver Lake. There are several lakes in this region with First and Second Dinkey Lake being only two of them.

Back in the spring of 1996 me, my wife Stacy and her parents Jim and Sandy, took a beginning backpacking class through the city of Merced. The class was about 4 to 6 days worth of basic information in a two month period and as a "graduation" we went on a three day trip to Dinkey Lakes. So in July about a dozen of us took off towards First Dinkey Lake as our first night out. I do remember how many bugs were around as evident by this picture! We were to hike to First Dinkey Lake the first night, a distance of about 3 miles. Then on to Second Dinkey Lake, another mile or so. At this time I can't locate the pictures I took so I'm using the photos that Jim and Sandy took, but they joined us on the second day.

Within the first half mile we come across this waterfall. The trail to First Dinkey Lake was pretty easy, with the exception of being dusty and at some sections bug-infested.

A week before our trip the four of us took a trial run (hike) to Mystery Lake. Our excuse for this was to make sure Jim and Sandy could find the trailhead on their own, as if we needed an excuse to hike!

On day two we meet up with Jim and Sandy and took off towards Second Dinkey Lake. The scenery around here is awesome!

We stopped here to filter some water before climbing. Our teacher Steve up ahead, Me and Stacy getting water and that's Sandy on the right.

The trail up to Second Dinkey Lake was a bit more difficult than what we encountered on the first day, but it wasn't strenuous. After arriving at the lake and setting up camp, Steve took some of us on a short cross-country hike a ½ mile to Rock Lake to put our map and compass skills.

When we returned we took a swim in the lake, which wasn't too cold. After cleaning up, I made chicken soup for the four of us. We didn't stay up too long as the mosquitoes were getting pretty bad. We got up the next morning and packed up for the 4 mile journey back to the trailhead and eventually the "civilized world". Writing this report and looking at these photos is giving me a desire to go back there again. This is the only backpacking trip that I've done that I have not repeated…I think it will be time well spent! Until next time…