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  • Cinco Lake-Will Oxx fly fishing Upper Paiute Meadows - Hoover Wilderness. Photo: Darryl Lauren

    Will Oxx fly fishing Upper Paiute Meadows - Hoover Wilderness. Photo: Darryl Lauren

  • Cinco Lake-Lots of these in Cora Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Lots of these in Cora Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Darryl Lauren. Hiking from Cora back to Harriet Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Darryl Lauren. Hiking from Cora back to Harriet Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Darryl Lauren fishing Cinco Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Darryl Lauren fishing Cinco Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Fishing was good at Harriet Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Fishing was good at Harriet Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Beautiful High Sierra Brook trout from Harriet Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Beautiful High Sierra Brook trout from Harriet Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Small Brook trout - West Fork West Walker river. Photo: Will Oxx

    Small Brook trout - West Fork West Walker river. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Rainbow Trout from Lower Long Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Rainbow Trout from Lower Long Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Crossing the West Walker River near Lower Paiute Meadows in the Hoover Wilderness. Photo: Will Oxx

    Crossing the West Walker River near Lower Paiute Meadows in the Hoover Wilderness. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Packed up waiting for the Outfitter's return

    Packed up waiting for the Outfitter's return

  • Cinco Lake-West Fork of West Walker River. Photo: Darryl Lauren

    West Fork of West Walker River. Photo: Darryl Lauren

  • Cinco Lake-Walker Meadows area. Photo: Will Oxx

    Walker Meadows area. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Lower Paiute Meadows. Photo: Will Oxx

    Lower Paiute Meadows. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Lower Long Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Lower Long Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Lower Long Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Lower Long Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Flowers everywhere - like an eternal spring. Photo: Will Oxx

    Flowers everywhere - like an eternal spring. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Cora Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

    Cora Lake. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Kicking it in our Base Camp for 2!. Photo: Darryl Lauren

    Kicking it in our Base Camp for 2!. Photo: Darryl Lauren

  • Cinco Lake-Walker Meadows. Photo: Will Oxx

    Walker Meadows. Photo: Will Oxx

  • Cinco Lake-Leavitt Meadows Pack Station

    Leavitt Meadows Pack Station

s
Fishing:
barbarbarbarbarbarbarbarbarbar   10/10
Hiking:
barbarbarbarbarbarbarbarbar   9/10
Scenery:
barbarbarbarbarbarbarbarbarbar   10/10
Solitude:
barbarbarbarbarbarbarbarbarbar   10/10
Distance:
barbarbarbarbarbarbarbar   9 mi 1-way
Map:
Map of Cinco Lake in Mono County
Leavitt Meadows to Long Lakes:
West Fork West Walker River - Leavitt Meadows to Long Lakes
Base Camp to Cinco Lake:
WF West Walker Riv er - Cinco Lake
Base Camp to Upper/Lower Piute Meadows:
Elevation Profile of West Fork West Walker River Base Camp to Upper & Lower Paiute Meadows hike
Base Camp to Walker Meadows:
Elevation Profile of West Fork West Walker River Base Camp to Walker Meadows hike
Base Camp to Harriet & Cora Lakes:
Elevation Profile of West Fork West Walker River Base Camp to Harriet & Cora Lakes hike
Base Camp to Upper/Lower Long Lakes:
Elevation Profile of West Fork West Walker River Base Camp to Upper/Lower Long Lakes hike
Gallery:
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West Walker River
Cinco | Harriet | Upper/Lower Long | Cora Lakes
Contributer: Will Oxx

Mono County
Toiyabe National Forest
Aug 10-16, 2017

Getting There

Leavitt Meadows trailhead. Portions of the Pacific Crest Trail. This was our 4th trip into the Hoover Wilderness from the Leavitt Meadows Pack Station on Highway 108. 2017 is a BIG water year and the snow finally cleared from the lakes and most of the trails. We hired horses & pack mules and spend a solid week fishing different rivers and lakes every day during mid August 2017. We chose our camp near the wooden bridge that crosses the west fork of the West Walker River just off the PCT. This Base Camp shortened all of our day hikes to various lakes and rivers. We can confirm the fishing is excellent in many of the surrounding lakes and poor to non-existent in the upper portions of the West Walker River & West Fork of the West Walker River.

The Hike

We rode horses in and out and camped in style thanks to Craig, Matt and Eb at Leavitt Meadows Pack Station. We hiked with lightweight day packs everyday. A pair of waiters / float tube works great in Upper Long Lake. We crossed paths with less than a dozen PCT hikers, a hand full of Forest Service gals chopping logs by hand, and a group at Walker Meadows. We saw no one else fishing - except for 2 gals from Bishop who rode their own horses to Upper Paiute Meadows (where there were zero fish). I am impressed by the number of women we saw in the wilderness! When we came out we ran into Matt (Craig's son) who said his horses were slipping on the snow and he couldn't reach Dorothy Lake. We helped a young gal named Mika (from Portland) cross the river below Harriet Lake who'd lost the PCT under the snow. Gave her a bunch of chocolate to lift her spirits.

We established our Base Camp roughly 100 yards northeast of the wooden bridge that crosses the west fork of the west walker river ~ 8600' elev. Staying at this location had a great advantage in that it allowed us to spoke out in a different direction each day to a new area with minimal elevation gain or loss. We hiked around 40 miles during our 7 day Hoover Wilderness excursion only carrying light day packs. We took different trails and fished a different lake or river each day between August 10 - 16, 2017.

The Fishing

First the good news: we caught and released over 150 trout using barbless hooks and flies. Cinco Lake: 50+ Brook trout 6-14"; Harriet Lake: 40+ Brookies & Rainbows 10-16"; Cora Lake: 40+ Brook's & Bows 8-14"; Upper and Lower Long Lakes: 20+ mostly bigger Rainbows 12-18".

Bad news: winter snows killed thousands of trout living in the Lower & Upper Paiute Meadows portion of the West Walker River and West Fork of the West Walker. It will take a few years for the trout to make a comeback in these areas - which is stunningly beautiful. The upper portion of West Fork of the West Walker River had a few smaller trout that survived in deep holes. We fished this river up where it blends with Grizzly Creek below Cinco Lake down past the lower Walker Meadows area. Grizzly Creek had a few bigger trout. Mosquitoes were light in most areas, thick in marshy shaded areas around Cinco and Lower Long Lake.

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