Fontanillis Lake via Bayview Trail and the Velma Lakes Loop

We drove to the Bayview Trailhead on the south side of Lake Tahoe to hike up to Fonanillis Lake via the Velma Lakes Loop in the Desolation Wilderness, about 11 miles and 2,700 ft of overall gain. View of Lake Tahoe from partway up the trial.

view of Emerald Bay and Lake Tahoe about 1/2 mile up the trail.

We also  hiked past Granite Lake about 1 mile up the trail.

Views of Granite Lake and Lake Tahoe as we continued up towards Maggies Peaks 

Lots f pine trees and granite along the trail.

From along Maggies Peaks, we could see down to Eagle Lake below.

From Maggies Peaks the trail descends down to Velma Lakes (we went counterclockwise on the loop), we had lovely views of surrounding Granite Peaks and lovely boulders.

The trail went past part of Upper Velma Lake

rocky crossing across the outlet to Upper Velma Lake

view downstream

view upstream

Before turning up along the Pacific Crest Trail portion of the loop,  we hiked over to overlook Middle Velma Lake and took a break.

From the outlet of Fontanillis Lake, we could see down to Lake Tahoe far below

I loved this short portion of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) that traveled along side Fontanillis Lake:

As we descended from Fontanillis Lake, we took the short side trail for a view of Dicks Lake

We then left the PCT to descend down towards the end of the loop, here we had another view to Lake Tahoe far below

Enjoyed the many granite boulders and peaks, and views to some lakes below.

As we neared an unnamed lake, we saw some lovely fall colors.

We took another break at this unnamed lake

pano of the lake

After our restful break, we continued up towards Maggies Peaks and back to the trailhea, continuing to enjoy al that was around us, including a  fabulous old pine tree and 

many builders.