The hook
A glacial lake pinned against a 12,000-foot wall of banded rock, named for an 1871 shootout where escaped Carson City convicts killed a posse leader on its shore.
01Why it's worth it
Convict punches far above its two-minute detour off 395: the Sevehah Cliff behind it is a folded, striped face of some of the oldest rock in the Sierra, and the lake sits so close beneath it that the reflection doubles the whole thing. The name is earned — twenty-nine prisoners broke out of Carson City in 1871, six fled south along the escarpment, and the gunfight here killed posse leader Robert Morrison, whose name the peak above carries (Mount Morrison). The walk is the payoff-per-effort champion of the Eastern Sierra: a flat 2.5-mile shoreline loop, aspen groves on the inlet side that go solid gold in October, and trout water clear enough to sight-fish. It slots between Mammoth and Bishop as the stop that turns the 395 drive into the trip.
02How to experience it
Convict Lake Rd off US-395, ten minutes south of Mammoth. Walk the loop counterclockwise for the cliff-face approach; rent a boat from the small marina if the morning is calm. October is the season the photographers guard. The lakeside restaurant is an unexpected old-school steakhouse if the timing works.