Dinkey Lakes ride and camping

I'm planning on a one or two night trip to the Dinkey Lakes area. Does anyone have any experience out here and recommendations on good out of the way campsites and routes? I'll be starting from San Francisco on a bmw g650gs. I have tourance tires on not knobbies so will that limit me on some of the trails up there? Any help/advice is appreciated!

some trails in dinkey are rocky and sometimes difficult depending on your abilities .. have you bought a sierra national forest map? there is also a good one by national geographic.. tell me what you have in mind as I know the area well..

It has been many years since I have been out there. Some of the upper trails are too rocky for your preferences, but you could ride all day out there on the rest of the trails.

The last time I went, it was for a bachelor party near Star Lake (I don't remember how close that is to Dinkey) We camped just before a steep rocky decline leading to the lake, leaving just a short hike to good fishing.

Bottom line: the whole area is a hidden gem.

I ordered a Tom Harrison's Dinkey Lakes trail map from total escape.com, but it is still in the mail. Do you guys think a Sierra national forest map is better? As for what I had in mind, this will be my first overnight camping trip on a motorcycle...I've done plenty backpacking. Also first time taking this bike off road...I've done some dirt biking but it will be the bmw's first time. I wanted to find a route that will allow me to leave SF in the morning, get up there around noon and have a 2-3 hour off road ride to a campsite (don't need it to be an official campground or anything) set up camp then head back out the same way. My off road skills are minimal so I wanted to take an easy route. Are permits for camping out there required? And are ranger stations the only place to pick them up? Thanks in advance for the help!

I would maybe look somewhere closer to sf for your first trip... maybe holister OHV which has camping and riding.. I work in Shaver lake and Reside in Oakhurst and know the area well but you have a long slab ride from SF.. do you own a truck? Im sure it would be 5 hrs at least for the trip to Shaver which is the gateway to dinkey creek and lakes.. But instead of dinkey lakes which are actually pond like.. I would aim to do a ride to Edison Lake above Huntington.. there is dispersed camping which means you can camp anywhere and the road is dirt and gravel with road stretches.. not good to ride alone to remote rocky places !

Sounds like good advice. I'll go check it out in the next couple of weeks and try and take some pictures to bring back here. Are there any dirt/gravel roads to explore on or is it just to the lake and then all trailheads?

Been -ing here, as I'm headed that direction next weekend--the Stewards of the Sierra NF fundraiser/ride. When you mentioned the Tom Harrison Dinkey Lakes map I thought...wait, what map?...thought I knew all the Tom Harrison maps in the area and hadn't heard about that one.

Well, I'd just been looking at their Location Map page and it turns out about 30% of their maps aren't even listed there! :huh They're on the order page though...

I've got a TH Sierra NF Recreation Map ordered now, will get it Wednesday. Thanks for the tip.