Convict Lake - 2018
Between Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, California
Convict Lake is a lake in the Sherwin Range of the Sierra Nevada in California, United States. It is known for its fishing and the dramatic mountains (including Mount Morrison) that surround it. Its surface lies at an elevation of 7850 ft (2393 m).
Convict Lake has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names. The lake, known to the Paiute as Wit-sa-nap, was renamed by settlers after an incident on September 23, 1871, wherein a group of convicts escaped from prison in Carson City, Nevada. A posse from Benton, California, led by Deputy Sheriff George Hightower, encountered the convicts near the head of what is now Convict Creek. Posse member Robert Morrison, a Benton merchant and Wells Fargo agent, was killed in the encounter, and Mount Morrison was named after him.
