High Sierra Topix

I'm want to head out next Thursday and spend 5-7 days and emigrant seems perfect. The plan is to head from crabtree, cross west cherry creek and off trail explore some of the lake basins (riccasso, big lake pingree).

Does anyone know what the conditions are like up there right now? I went June first last year and there was know snow, it was very hot (100+ at one point) and the mosquitoes were brutal.

Is there still snow? Is cherry creek crossable? Are the mosquitoes out?

Hi JB,

Welcome to HST! Please read: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4205" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Welcome to the forum. It really helps to give answers to all the questions on the survey that Mav linked. It lets us answer your questions better. I can't answer your questions re. current, snow, skeeter, and water situations, but one thought popped into my mind. If you're interested in a short trip from Crabtree along with some off-trail, you might consider Hyatt Lake which has a large sandy beach on the north shore. Folks like the place so much in fact, they call it the Hyatt Regency.

Thank you for the welcome! I've been lurking here for a couple years.

"What level of backpacking experience do you have?"
Level 4

"What terrain are you comfortable with? "
Class 3 terrain/pass/x-country
River crossings - I can handle most river crossings, but as I'm probably going to be solo on this trip I don't want to screw around.
Snow travel/Glacier crossings - I can handle snow, but I don't have experience walking over slippery technical snow fields.

"What is your main interest?"
Fishing
Cross country scrambling
Tree and shrub identification.

Hyatt is definitely on my short list of lakes to visit, it looks beautiful.

The closest photo's to that area from this year that I have seen so far was from
Kibbie back from April: https://plus.google.com/photos/10308950 ... banner=pwa" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi Justin, I was planning that same trip for this weekend. I've done the trip several times and it's my season opener favorite. I called the summit ranger station a few days ago, and they said the road to crabtree trail head isn't accessible yet, due to a large snow mound that hasn't melted yet. I'm heading up there tomorrow to probably do a trip up to Kennedy lake instead, but if the roads open I'm heading to crabtree. Despite how hot it's been in the bay area this week, I see that it will get close to freezing at night up there for the next several nights.

I was in Emigrant last Saturday (May 10), on a day hike from Kennedy Meadows to Relief Meadow and back. I encountered significant snow starting at 8000' at Lower Relief Meadow. I trudged on for another mile, but turned around before reaching Upper Relief Meadow. Here are some photos:


Kennedy Meadows is basically perfect right now.


Granite Dome still holds a lot of snow on its north face.


Many south-facing slopes are entirely melted. Here, on the trail below Lower Relief Meadow, looking up Summit Creek Canyon towards Saucer meadow.


There are snow drifts like these at 7800'. Further up around 8000', snow coverage is complete on north-facing slopes.


There are some nice early-season peak-bagging opportunities on south-facing slopes. For example, here is the unnamed peak 10,530' north of Grouse Creek.


The difference in snowmelt on north- versus south-facing slopes is striking.

Anyway, FWIW, I hope this data helps.

Yep. We called off a trip on Saturday because the wind was howling, the clouds were building, and we were hiking into 8,000 and lots of snow. That was up Disaster Creek, which is a south facing slope...but any place there were trees, there was snow.

The heat this week may have helped a bit, but I bet there still plenty of snow above 8,000 feet.

you can read about our trip and see more photos on the website.

justm wrote:Hi Justin, I was planning that same trip for this weekend. I've done the trip several times and it's my season opener favorite. I called the summit ranger station a few days ago, and they said the road to crabtree trail head isn't accessible yet, due to a large snow mound that hasn't melted yet. I'm heading up there tomorrow to probably do a trip up to Kennedy lake instead, but if the roads open I'm heading to crabtree. Despite how hot it's been in the bay area this week, I see that it will get close to freezing at night up there for the next several nights.

I called the ranger station this morning and the guy said crab tree road was open. Maybe you should call a second time before leaving in case he was wrong... I really hope the road isn't closed!

Thanks Justin, I'm heading up there early tomorrow morning. I have a good feeling Crabtree will be open !! But if not, Kennedy lake for some German Browns