Lyndon, we dayhiked to the Conness Lakes a few weeks ago, and those are some incredibly spectacular alpine lakes. The last one is a bit under 11.5K'. All use trails and slabs as your route, but nothing exposed or particularly steep for any duration.
The water taxi across Saddlebag can save you some time and mileage. From the landing on the other side of Saddlebag, it's about 4 miles to the last lake. Pretty decent dirt road between Tioga and Saddlebag.
Thanks for the info Gary. I just learned about them this morning. Looks pretty amazing!
As a backpack, I think I would combine these two routes:
start this loop counter clockwise -
http://www.saddlebaglakeresort.com/saddlebagmap_424x600.jpgthen pickup this route when we cross it:
http://calipidder.com/wp/2014/09/north-peak-12242-tioga-lake/and spend a night near Conness Lakes if possible.
That would break down to:
Day 1- 8.5miles, +2100, -1475.
Day 2- 5.5 miles, +1705, -2330 (includes a North Peak summit)
On the way back to the 120, I would probably bag Tioga Peak if I was up for it.
