Northern Sierra Nevada, California, looking more or less west. If you enlarge the photo you can barely make out the fire lookout on the summit. The Sardine Lakes were evidently so named because some early prospector left some rusty sardine cans! The lake elevation is about 5995 ft/1827 m; that of the fire lookout at the summit is 8591 ft/2619 m. As with most of these Sierra Nevada lakes, the level was raised by a small outlet dam, for water storage, probably around the turn of the last century.