Convict Lake

Convict Lake is one of our favorite places in the Sierra. Just a couple of miles off of highway 395 to the west through a cleft in the Sherwin range.

You pass the camp ground, the store and Convict Lake restaurant and a pack station and then around the bend and it comes into glorious view. Surrounded on three sides by some of the oldest rocks in the Sierra it is very dramatic. You can drive out to the western shore and park under the trees and listen to the birds singing. You can grab a fishing pole and head out on the lake on a boat or you can hike around the lake. Have lunch at one of the many picnic tables set here and there. Just enjoy!

Everybody always wants to know why it is named Convict Lake...well in 1871 a gang of criminals broke out of the Carson City, NV jail and a posse chased them all over the countryside finally ending up at this lake. A gun battle pursued and a Wells Fargo agent by the name of Morrison was shot and killed. The mountain towering to the west of the lake is named for him. The rest of the gang was eventually hunted down and hanged in Bishop and it was forever after known as Convict Lake.

In 1951 Hollywood shot a movie there called "The Secret of Convict Lake" starring Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, and Ethel Barrymore. It was shot there but the story was fictional and had nothing to do with the real story. It was also a location for Star Trek: Insurrection; and the opening shots of How the West Won as well as a site for commercials.

I love to bring a picnic and a good book and watch the magpies that frequent the area. There is a calming atmosphere to this place that helps me to relax. Maybe it is the sound of water lapping against the rocks on the shore or the wind in the trees, or the smell of wild roses or all of the above surrounded by the beauty of the mountains.