Ridge/Lewis Lakes, Emigrant GPS help

[Briancameronlee]

We did this hike a few years ago. Bear in mind that you will NOT be able to park your car at Kennedy Meadows itself. There is a separate trailhead parking area about 1/2 away that is where you need to park. No chance that you will be allowed to drive up any part of the road past the pack station.

We crossed Summit Creek right after the trail passes the steep gorge--in fact, the first place you could really cross the creek there and expect to go up the slabs. There's a decent campsite just the other side of the creek, if you're interested. And from there we worked up the slabs to the saddle heading Southwest. That puts you over a pass and there's a ducked trail to Ridge Lake from there. Not that we did not like any of the campsites at Ridge Lake--they were WAY too close to the water to be legal. But Iceland had some nice spots on the western shore...as did the small lake between Iceland and Ridge Lakes.

Nice area.

Thanks Balzaccom. I checked your website as well, cool info. Trying to decide if we should pick a new destination for this weekend considering the thunder storms and the fact that Ridge and Lewis might be hard to fish due to ice... Trip report on Monday should be interesting!

[Briancameronlee]

Trip Report:

Friday 6/12

We got an early 5 AM start and left the Bay Area heading up to 108. To give the trip some added flare, we decided to 4x4 all the way to Relief Reservoir. We started our scramble from the West Side of the lake over the dam to the pack trail. As expected, the weather was hot... a few clouds in the sky to provide brief relief from the hot sun. We made decent time to the river crossing for the approach to Granite Dome. Once we reached the steep granite slope leading to Ridge Lake the gravity of what we planned started to settle in... and so did the thunder clouds.

It took us a good two hours from Summit Creek to get to Ridge, the weather, heavy packs , mosquitoes, and partying the night before (GO WARRIORS!) were taking their toll on us. Once we arrived at the lake, we made our way to the main granite slab to set up camp before the clouds broke open. I was just finishing up my rain fly when all hell broke loose. We promptly got into our tents and braced ourselves. 2-3 Hours of solid rain and hail did its best to discourage us, but we are resilient! After an hour of being in the lightning position in the tent, exhaustion gave way and I fell asleep for about an hour only to wake up to stream flowing under my tent, thank god for the bathtub bottom on my BA!

Saturday 6/13

We got to bed after forcing some calories down when the storm subsided. The next morning we woke up to clear skies, wonderful temps, and a ton of mosquitoes. We proceeded to slather on the DEET and get fully covered. We were smart enough to bring bug nets and citronella sticks which turned out to be life savers . The fish were going crazy and we had a blast doing some catch and release for the rest of the day. In the evening we enjoyed some whiskey until the stars started to look blurry and hit the sack

Sunday 6/14

An early start was our best bet for enjoying our hike home on Sunday. We were refreshed and made quick work of the steep descent from Ridge Lake and were at Summit Creek by 9:30 or so. We trekked the dusty pack trail (sierra highway) back towards relief reservoir and our truck and passed more groups than I have ever seen at Kennedy Meadows! The 4x4 road was in decent condition and didn't seem to be impacted by Friday's thunderstorm... an hour or so later we were enjoying some well deserved burgers and headed home in hopes of making it to see the Warriors game, (we did).


Would we go back to Ridge Lake? Sure. Will we hike there during the summer sun? No. If I go back again this season I will be night hiking or waiting till late in the season. Thanks for the advice for the trip and reading the trip report. Next trip in two weeks!

Pictures to follow

Thanks,

Brian

[Plumgold1]

Brian and I have been best buds for many years...I'll follow up with a few pics of the above mentioned trip.











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