Not far from Bishop is Tom's place. It is also a great place to make incursions to the higher elevations of the Sierras. I was thinking of the Hilton Lakes area, but learned from the previous days snow limitations, that lower is better. So I had a wonderful hike up the Rock creek trail to Rock Creek Lake. This riverside trail winds up past two campgrounds (closed for the season), and a resort of sorts, with mini cabins and other buildings, all deserted for the winter, even though it was fantastically warm in the sun. Kind of "shorts and a fleece" kind of weather.

I noticed that nearly everything in this location is called "Rock creek", multiple trails, roads, area designation, even the lake…. Rock creek lake- that's a funny name. With giant trout hanging out at the exit part of the lake. I'll bet they're "rock creek trout"!