Hiking Trail
The hike to Ostrander Lake is a long and strenuous 12.7 miles (20.4 km) roundtrip hike starting from the trailhead located just after Bridalveil Creek on the Glacier Point road. The hike begins with a fairly level path through an extensive burned over and regrowth area, with both shaded and sunny areas. The second half of the hike climbs, steeply at times, over 1,500 feet (460 m) in elevation in about 3 miles. Hikers will have a nice view of Clark Range before dropping down to the north shore of the lake. Several excellent campsites can be found on the west side of the lake, particularly on the benches overlooking the rocky ridge that forms the eastern shore backdrop. Fishing is fair for 10-12" rainbow trout. In the summer, the lake is a great backpacking destination because the ski hut is unoccupied but its presence keeps away the hordes of hikers looking for a "wilderness" destination. The lake is named for a descendant of Alexander Ostrander (1783) of Smithfield NY. This branch of Ostrander family settled in Colorado (Georgetown, Granby, Hot Sulphur Springs, Golden) prior to 1872, and some moved from Colorado to California.
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Famous quotes containing the words hiking and/or trail:
“The westerner, normally, walks to get somewhere that he cannot get in an automobile or on horseback. Hiking for its own sake, for the sheer animal pleasure of good condition and brisk exercise, is not an easy thing for him to comprehend.”
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Perhaps of all our untamed quadrupeds, the fox has obtained the widest and most familiar reputation.... His recent tracks still give variety to a winter’s walk. I tread in the steps of the fox that has gone before me by some hours, or which perhaps I have started, with such a tip-toe of expectation as if I were on the trail of the Spirit itself which resides in the wood, and expected soon to catch it in its lair.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)