Ancient Lakes — Saturday, Jun. 16, 2018

(WARNING - The hike is about 1 mile in distance to the lake) My girlfriend and I were originally going to backpack to Ancient lakes. 6 miles each way did not seem too bad. But I used GAIA to see how far it would be and it said a little over 1 mile. So instead we went climbing at Vantage and then did a day hike. We started at the trail head that WTA has listed and plugged in the exact coordinates to get there. From there, we hiked exactly one mile, past 2 waterfalls and a ton of sagebrush to an overview of the lakes. We took a few picture and then left. If I didn't use GAIA to see how far it truly was and we backpacked it, I would be pretty irritated because it is listed as a 12 mile hike! Like others have said, it might be 12 miles if you do every trail and explore, but it is very misleading. So be careful and don't expect too much! We probably spent a total of about 40 minutes walking and 30 or so hanging out at the overview and that was plenty. Truly is a cool hike, but I would not suggest it to anyone who is looking for a longer backpacking trip!