Hiking Crystal Lake Trail Near Mammoth Lakes

Hiking Crystal Lake Trail is a short but scenic adventure climbing switchbacks through the woods to a beautiful high elevation lake. Along the way there are incredible views of the surrounding granite mountains and several of the gorgeous lakes down below. Hiking Crystal Lake Trail is a great hike as far as bang for your buck or beauty for your effort. But it’s also a great choice if you are hiking in the area before the roads up to the trailheads are open to vehicles. When the road is closed you will need to add an additional four miles to the hike (two miles there and back). And since this is only a 2.5 mile hike to begin with, turning it into a 6.5 mile hike is still quite manageable.

Quick Info: Hiking Crystal Lake Trail

Distance: 2.5 miles roundtrip or 6.5 miles roundtrip if the road to the trailhead is still closed for the season.

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Directions: Click here to get directions to Crystal Lake Trailhead

Our Experience Hiking Crystal Lake Trail

As we were driving up towards the trailheads for many of the hikes in the area, we discovered that Lake Mary Road was still closed at Twin Lakes. This was news to us! The road closure meant that we would have to add 4 miles on to our hike to account for the extra two miles to the trailhead and back. So that is when we decided that instead of the longer Duck Lake hike we were going to be hiking to Crystal Lake instead! And now the 2.5 mile hike to Crystal Lake now totaled out at around 6.5.

When we reached the road closure gate, the parking area near Twin Lakes was full and there were a lot of vehicles parked along the roadside. We snagged a spot and hit the trail! The paved trail that is…

Lake Basin Trail

Hiking to Crystal Lake began by following the paved Lake Basin Trail. The paved path primarily paralleled the road and it made for a nice stroll through the woods. It definitely wasn’t my idea of a hike but at least it was still pretty scenic and shaded. We followed Lake Basin Trail until we finally reached Lake Mary. After reaching Lake Mary, we turned left at the intersection and picked up the next leg of our adventure – Lake George Path.

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Lake George Path

Lake George Path is the final section of paved path before we really began hiking Crystal Lake Trail. This path was shorter and a bit more exposed. After crossing the bridge near Lake George we began following the road up towards Lake George Recreation Site. Once we made it up the hill we saw a campground on the left and the trailhead sign on the right!

Hiking to Crystal Lake via Mammoth Crest Trail

This is where the hike would start if you were hiking to Crystal Lake in season. The trail to Crystal Lake technically follows Mammoth Crest Trail for a mile. It begins by entering the woods and immediately gaining elevation. We followed a few switchbacks and encountered a few small areas of snow.

Along the way we were granted some incredible views of the surrounding mountains as well as Lake Mary and Lake George down below. We found a nice spot for lunch with spectacular vast views of the granite and the deep blue colored lakes. After climbing around a bit and getting lots of photos we got back on the trail.

And we didn’t go far before we reached some real snow on some of the switchbacks.

These sections were a bit slow going but after getting a bunch of snow in our boots we reached the next intersection. This is where we turned right to continue hiking Crystal Lake Trail.

Crystal Lake Trail

From the intersection it’s only another quarter mile to reach the lake. This section had some more great surrounding views and a bit less snow. We meandered down the rocky trail before reaching the outlet and saw the beautiful Crystal Lake. Shane didn’t jump in this time but he had to at least get in a little bit! We walked over to the shoreline and took in the beauty of it all.

Hiking Crystal Lake Trail was definitely worth the effort! The lake itself was pretty big and the surrounding granite cradling the lake still had a lot of snow. But the dramatic Crystal Crag rock mass feature really added to the visual appeal of the the lake! This feature had caught our eye throughout our entire hike and it was cool to end up this close to it.

We had fun walking on the logs laying across the lakes outlet. Let’s just say if Shane’s boots weren’t wet from the snow, they were definitely were now! Watch the quick video below 🙂

Thanks for Keeping Up with The Lost Longboarder!

Crystal Lake was a beautiful hike in the Mammoth Lakes area! The lake itself was beautiful and the views along the way were pretty impressive too! If you’d like to see some other beautiful hikes, feel free to check out the links below:

• Point Trail in West Clear Creek Wilderness
• Humphreys Peak via Inner Basin Trail
• Backpacking to Seven Sisters and Tuhare Lakes

We love getting out, hiking and seeing new places as often as we can! And when we’re not adventuring, we’re working on our hand painted one of a kind longboards! If you’d like to check out our latest lineup, head over to our Lost Coast Longboarding Shop!

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