On an early fall day, we decided to take our puppy River on one of her first longer hikes (at least for her) on a lesser travelled, but still beautiful trail to Maul and Spuller lakes in the Hoover Wilderness just outside east Yosemite National Park.
Since our puppy River is still learning trail etiquette, we’ve been trying to find some lesser-travelled hikes that still have great views and fish for catching. We had hiked to Spuller Lake 5 years ago and remember seeing very few people (it’s just outside Yosemite), and were also pleasantly surprised with the beauty and quality of fish in the lake. So we thought this would be a good one for the pup!
Last time we took the trail that starts from Junction campground, which is appropriately named because it’s at the junction of Saddlebag Lake Road and Highway 120. That trail goes up past Bennetville, an old mining town, as well as Shell and Fantail lakes before finally climbing up to Spuller. Shell and Fantail were both shallow lakes filled with small Brookies, so although they are beautiful, they didn’t add much fishing to the hike.
Instead of repeating the same way, we tried a different route up to Spuller with some cross country travel. The route started from Sawmill Walk-in Campground and continued along a well defined trail heading west up into the basin beneath White and Conness Peaks.
The reason there is a defined trail is because of the old research station that is now out of commission. Most of the use on this trail now must be from people going to summit Mt. Conness. We stayed on the trail for maybe a mile until we saw a good place to cross the creek and head up the hill towards Maul Lake.
Once off trail, the walking was easy other than climbing up the hill. There were small game trails and tons of deer poop to follow. The only real obstacles were a few willow patches, but there was always a path through or around them.
Near Maul Lake the terrain flattens out and the last little bit to that lake is an easy walk across grass with excellent views of the ridge south of White Mountain. We thought about stopping here to fish for a little bit before heading up and over the last hill to Spuller, however upon initial inspection there wasn’t any fish activity so we kept moving to lake we knew had fish!
The steepest portion of the hike is getting over ridge from Maul to Spuller, but it’s only maybe 15 minute hike so the heavy breathing is short lived.
Once we topped the ridge, Spuller Lake was in clear view ahead and Mt. Dana was even peaking out on the horizon. We walked around to the far side of the lake where there is a little peninsula that sticks out. We sat down under some small trees in the shade and ate some lunch.
After replenishing our energy, we traded off fishing while the other hung out with River. The fish were rising and readily took a home-tied foam ant pattern, which is typical for this region of the Sierra.
We fished for about an hour and a half and each caught a few Brookies before we decided to head back. It was a great day exploring an area we had mostly never seen before and at the same time getting to a lake we hadn’t been to in quite a while. It was great to see that the fishing was still good!
It was also the first time we’ve been able to take River on a longer hike with some fishing at the end. We learned she is an excellent hiker but gets a little impatient waiting for us to fish. I’m confident with some more experience and training as she’ll get more comfortable in the wilderness and be the best fishing buddy!
