Gary-Summer: March 5, 2026 - FINS to Lost Lake

Sunday, March 8, 2026

March 5, 2026 - FINS to Lost Lake

Title: March 5, 2026 - FINS to Lost Lake
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: FINS Parking area

Trail: Lost Lake

Destination: End of trail

Actual Destination: Most of trail until it got muddy

Distance: 5.41 miles

Start Time: 7:35

End Time: 10:29

Travel Time: 2:52 (1.89 mph)

Moving Time: 2:19 (2.33 mph)

Elevation Rise: 354 '

Descent: 304‘

Maximum Elevation: 325'

Minimum Elevation: 270'

GPS Tracks

Description:

I got out of bed at 5:30 and was on the road to the Sportsman store by 6:45, arriving a few minutes before 7:00. Jerry of the Central Valley Hiking Group has organized this hike and is there right at 7:00. The other hiker here is Lucia. That is all which we have going with us. Three others dropped out. I drove us to the FINS near Friant.

Jerry assures us that this would be a hike I can do in my tennis shoes. I still bring along my poles-I feel more stable with them. I have not done this hike before, so I am interested in doing the trail. Plus Jerry assures me that this will be an easy hike-I think it should be. The last time I hiked with Jerry, I struggled.

The trail out of the parking lot leads us past the Friant Fish Hatchery, actually called the San Joaquin Fish Hatchery. We do not enter in as it appears to be still close-it is before 8 after all. The trail is paved and is a gentle downslope to get down closer to the river. There are also stairs which we descend-more on these later. When we reach the level of the hatchery, there is a Small Fries Children’s Trail going off to the side. We take that. It shows how trout develop. It only takes us a minute to walk through it.

Maybe a flume?

After rejoining the trail, we cross a bridge over what looks like a flume, but I am not sure about that. A short distance away we come to the eastern end of the Lost Lake campground. Rather than walking the road, Jerry leads us through the wet grass, from the dew, by the San Joaquin River.

We do not really walk by the river, rather behind some bushes which line the river. Occasionally there are holes in the line of bushes which gives us a chance to peer into the river environs. One of the benefits of walking this early is that the sunlight gets filtered, making the colors accentuated. Lots of yellows and greens. Then there are the geese and ducks which flock on both banks.

There becomes a standing joke that someone will give some money if they walk on some plants which line our side of the river. Even though sometimes these plants look pretty solid, they are floating on water. Nobody takes the offer, but if someone did, they would be taking it with a splash.

We also see lots of mistletoe in the trees-they look pretty healthy. Many of the trees look like they are still in Winter mode as we do not even see the start of leaves. Still there is enough foliage for us to enjoy a pleasant morning.

We make it through all of the campsites. This brings us to the Lost Lake Nature Trail on the south side of the park. I have walked this trail before, many years ago. Then the trail was more a bunch of use paths, resembling the Hydra of Greek mythology. I was reading that a couple of years ago, the County invested a good sum of money to make the trail easy to walk and very evident where to go. I wonder if the County will be putting up interpretive signs as well?

Lucia and Jerry

We got a ways down the trail when we needed to cross over a semi-fallen tree. Then, to go with the steeplechase motif, the trail turns muddy. Jerry looks ahead and it does not look very promising. We turned around rather than slosh through the slime.

Jerry had wanted to make it a loop by following the trail to the end. There it would go up the 50’ bank. We would then have a view of the snowy mountains to the east. We returned the same way we came until we came to a use trail up the slope and we followed it. This puts us at the sixth hole of the frisbee golf course. This looks over a gravel pit. We had a discussion about where we lose the lake? Turns out that the large gravel pit is where Lost Lake resides when there is water in it.

We go back down our use trail and quickly come back to the campground. We stopped for a few minutes at a picnic bench by the river. Then off we go again. We do not stop nearly as often going back as we did coming in. Still, we enjoyed the walk. I surprised myself as I still had a pretty bouncing step rather than my usual walks lately where the last mile the feet are dragging.

Mosaic Stairway

Jerry was hoping the fish hatchery would be open and we would walk through it. While the gate was open, the other end did not look promising. But there is a last bit of eye candy. Those stairs we came down? Going up we can see that there is a mosaic mural which comes into view as we face it. Not only is there one, but there is another on the steps below us and another above the one showing.

We get back to the car and I drive everyone back to the Sportsman store. When I get home, it is just past 11, right when I said I would be home by. While a little tired, I still was able to work on our patio renovation in the afternoon.