Saturday of our weekend camping trip near Bishop found us shaking off the chilly morning in camp with coffee and a light breakfast, followed by a drive into Bishop where we stopped at Schaat’s to get some lunch for the trail. Today’s destination was Little Lakes Valley, where Chris, Jane, and Pedro had done a warm-up hike in 2018 before visiting a couple of the High Sierra camps in Yosemite. The trailhead at Mosquito Flats lies at 10,250′, and the main trail leads southward up the valley gaining only 900′ over 3-1/2 miles – easy access to high-elevation alpine areas for sure. We didn’t get to the TH until 11:00am, and the main parking area was packed full. We backtracked down the access road, eventually finding a pair of spots about 4/10ths of a mile away, adding a short bit of distance to the trip. Dusty decided to leave Apollo in the well-ventilated comfort of the SUV, and we started walking southward up the road, reaching the trailhead shortly thereafter. Up the gentle valley we went, passing Mack, Marsh, Heart, and Box Lakes in turn. The views were wonderful, although we realized the fall colors had peaked a few weeks earlier. Pedro’s feet were hurting a bit today, so we stopped at the south end of Long Lake, traversing westward on a use trail through some old snow to a shady spot overlooking the lake. Here we ate lunch and spent about 30 minutes before starting back – the return trip was uneventful, save for the beautiful valley and mountain views that kept us constantly turning around to enjoy. Apollo was overjoyed to see us upon our arrival at the cars, and we stopped again in Bishop for pizza (and at Eastside Sports to pick up warmer gloves for Pedro) which we ate back at our campsite. This was a fun trip, for each of us our first visit to the eastern Sierra this time of year, and we’ll see if it becomes something of an annual event.