The Sierra Butte lookout tower.

Panorama shot looking back towards Lake Tahoe from the Sierra Butte summit.

Heading back down the (steep) stairs. All downhill back to the trailhead from here.

The second outing for today, a 6mi 1800ft gain out-and-back from the Long Lake trailhead in the Lakes Basin region a bit north of Sierra Buttes.

I believe this is the northernmost of the SPS peaks and was my 25th Tahoe OGUL peak.

There were two trails leading from the trailhead- The Bear Lake trail and (my route) the Long Lake trail. The trail immediately crossed a small stream and then headed higher.

First trail junction. Left turn to go down to Long Lake, right turn to head toward the lake outlet an points beyond.

First view of Mt Elwell across the lake. The trail would head around the lake to the right, cross back across the face of the peak, and then summit from the left.

Looking down at Long Lake from the trail. The trail had horrible tread and crappy grading and was tedious to follow.

Descending down to the dammed outlet of Long Lake.