I found Sardine Lakes (Upper and Lower) by looking down on them from the Sierra Buttes Lookout Tower. In Sierra County these mountain lakes are majestic, poised in the midst of tall pines on jagged mountain sides that encircle the lakes. We parked at the campground and hiked uphill along the rocky OHV trail.
The campground may be an option if you want to investigate the area more thoroughly. A high clearance vehicle is also necessary, or you will have a challenging hike to these lakes. The trail is only 1.
3 miles out and back. Resting in a bowl just under 6000 feet elevation, Lower Sardine Lake is good rainbow and Brook trout fishing I’m told. You can hike past lower Sardine Lake to Upper Sardine Lake.
Rock hoping and sunbathing were our preferred way to spend the day but mostly we just gazed at our surroundings. Lodgepole Pine forest, beautiful mountain lake and granite ridges and glacially serrated rock outcroppings. Sardine campground and the lake behind it are located 1.
5 miles north on Bassetts on the Gold Lake Highway and a half mile south west on Sardine Lake road..
