On our way back north, at the top of the summit above Mono Lake, there is a turn off for Virginia Lakes. Our friend, Jerry Burgan had strongly recommended we stop here since it offered some amazing views and hikes. We climbed a couple thousand feet in elevation over a relatively short distance on a smooth paved road. When we got to Upper Virginia lake we were at about 9800′ and the lake still had ice on it with snow on the surrounding peaks, which had to be 11-12,000′ high. We parked near the lake and started off at the trail head, hoping to hike in a mile or two since it was getting late in the day. However, we ran into too much snow so instead let the dogs play in it. Charlie was beside himself with joy. Even old Ben was rolling around in it.
The Viginia Lake campgrounds were still closed so we proceeded on north to Bridgeport and decided to spend our last night back at Twin Lakes campground. Ended up getting our same site #10 right on the creek. Really nice ending to a great ten day trip. Still lots to see along the 395 so I think we want to venture further south next time to see Death Valley and the Mojave Desert, maybe even Salton Sea and Alabama Hills. But in the early spring, like March of 2019.
