Emigrant - Crabtree to Gem 8/28

[ppro]

We planned a nice 5 day circuit in and out of Crabtree. We were headed to Gem Lake, Long Lake/Wire Lakes, Toejam Lake, Chewing Gum Lake and back to Crabtree.

This trip was jinxed from the start.

Drive to Crabtree from the SFBA;
Livermore traffic was horrific even past Tracy. Uhg, how do people do this as a daily commute. First stop was in Oakdale at the CVS because I started to develop a nasty head cold. My buddy in the passenger seat did not appreciate my sneezing and runny nose.

Day 1 - Crabtree
Zero sleep with my head cold. But on the positive side, zero mosquitoes.
Camp Lake - beautiful as always. This is where my buddy's water bladder broke.
On the trail - I'm sneezing and my nosing is running like Usain Bolt. It turns me into a mouth breather and i'm partched.
Lilly Pad Lake - Very nice, plenty of water. One other pair of hikers were there.
Piute Lake - Water was a little cloudy but it was very nice. Nobody was there.
Water crossings between lakes - nothing was flowing but each water crossing did have some pools with water. Some water was clear and trickling through rocks. Some just has stagnant pools. Water was available in a pinch but if you just pump your bladder at the lakes so you have a liter, there was no need to pump from a creek.
Gem Lake - beautiful
There were about 5 groups there on 8/28. One group of 3 people has what appeared to be a 5 man tent. it was massive and I didn't even want to think about what it was like to carry in. This is where my buddy's Sawyer back split. There goes the backup water filter. I set up my Helinox Ground Chair. I never really liked it because it's too low to the ground. Sure enough I try to sit in it and kind of fell down onto it. Broken. great, now I get to haul around 22 oz of broken gear. Time to break out the Caldera stove. This has a Pepsi can alcohol stove. I made the mistake of carrying White Gas instead of denatured alcohol. It burns so huge that I can't cook on it. it overwhelms the wind screen and it borderline dangerous. My stupid mistake and now i have to use my friend's stove.
Day 2 - Gem
I've had enough. I can't sleep, we keep running into gear issues and I'm sick as a dog. We decide to hike out.

Positives:
No mosquitoes anywhere on the whole trail. That part was heaven. Also it was really warm at night. So warm that I was kicking my 30 degree quilt off in the middle of the night. Sitting around at night I was wearing a tee shirt. That's nice to do at 8200 feet! We also got lucky with a fantastic full moon. The lake and surroundings were light up all night long.

I'm rescheduling the trip for October.

[maverick]

Hi Patrick,

Sorry to read that your trip did not go well, going out with a cold only exacerbates your condition. Hope your Oct trip turns out much better.

[bluefintu]

Thank you for the trip report! I hope you feel better after what you went through. White gas does burn hot. Still, nice to get away!