I always try to research the hike I am going to do. Read the hiking guides, look on Flickr and Google to see pictures gives me a feel for what the hike is going to be like. Walker lake actually has two trails to it. One that goes on the south side the other on the north side of the lake. The south trail starts high and descends down to the lake.  The north that starts below the lake and comes up to it. The latter was the one I had chosen to do as it better positioned me to have the Sierra in the background.