Getting There

Bull Lake is a special lake located off of Highway 4 in Alpine County. Bull Lake in Alpine County can be reached via Highway 4 at Ebbett's Pass. Ebbett's Pass is a 30 minute drive from Markleeville or a 30 minute drive from Lake Alpine. There are a couple of ways to find parking near Ebbett's Pass. I usually choose the larger parking lot on the east side of Highway 4, closer to Kinney Reservoir.

The Hike

It is a moderate to difficult hike to Bull Lake. At 5.5 miles, it doesn't make for an easy day trip to Bull Lake. I packed into Bull Lake and it was a more difficult hike. The trip to Noble Lake along the way is a moderate hike. It is a mixture of up and downhill with a significant amount of downhill (remember that for the way out) for a great deal of the way. However, there are some pretty nice switchbacks towards the end that will challenge you for sure. When you reach Noble Lake, you will find a small, murky looking lake. You still have a ways to go to get to Bull Lake. Follow the trail until you see the sign for Bull Canyon which will lead to the left (east). This juction is about a half mile past Noble Lake.

Take a break. The next hill is going to be rough. There is a very steep grade leading over the saddle and into Bull Canyon. Once at the saddle, it drops down into Bull Canyon. When you get to the meadow, the trail peters out. The trail has been hard to find in the past in the meadow. The trail picks up again on the south east side of the meadow and you can follow it to the junction of the Bull Lake trail. Just go towards the right; towards the trees. The lake trail is a lightly used trail that can be easy to lose sometimes. But it is so close to the lake, you will probably not get lost. I usually take an alternate route and follow the hillside south and east until I run into the lake trail. Saves some climbing/descending.

The Fishing

The fish were biting at Bull Lake! While fishing Bull Lake I found action casting from the west shore near the inlet. Half of the lake has a marshy shore so it can be wet on your feet to get too close to some areas. However, the inlet area has always produced for me in the past and this summer too. Historically, when there were Paiute Cutthroats in Bull Lake, we had luck using black ants with our fly-rods. Black ants, they wanted black ants. This time I landed a beauty on a yellow Panther Martin! I always catch and release in Bull Lake as these are WILD trout. Don't bring bait to Bull Lake. This lake can't stand to lose too many of its native members.