High Sierra Topix

Hi,
I am planning a trip leaving the Crabtree TH to Camp Lake the first night. Deer Lake night 2, Buck Lake night 3 (with a day hike to Emigrant lake), Y Meadow night 4. Here are my questions, please:
Can I find decent camp sites at Camp Lake, close enough to water to filter and carry buckets back to camp?
How is the cross country trail from Chewing gum to Crabtree? I saw tons of people going from Gianelli to Chewing gum, but not sure about from Chewing Gum to Crabtree. I am a beginner at cross country navigation so I want to make sure that the trail is reasonably good with OK footing and no bush wacking.
Thanks so much

I hiked from Chewing Gum to Crabtree last year and it was all on trail -- a dusty forest trail with some very loose, unmaintained switchbacks. The Tom Harrison map of Emigrant shows it in red. It's 4.9 miles from the Lake Valley/Crabtree trail junction.

Thought Camp lake was off limits to camping... If i remember right there wasnt too many campable spots nearby either but i didnt really look

Camp Lake used to be closed to camping, but now apparently the USFS feels that it has recovered enough to host overnight visitors again.

Yes, you can get water there. And there are campsites...even if the lake is busy, it seems as if there were more along the trail towards Bear lake...which also has camping sites.

The regulations at Camp lake are; that you can't camp from the trail to the lake. Which means the camp sites are limited. You'll definitely be carrying a bucket of water up the hill adjacent to the lake.

No worries about the use trail from Crabtree to Chewing gum. It is a well used trail. Why are you choosing Camp lake for the first night when much prettier and less busy Piute and Gem lakes are within easy reach?

Camp and Bear lakes each have one night limit per trip.(along with Grouse, Powell, and Waterhouse). At Camp Lake there is a nice large campsite south of the trail towards the eastern end of the lake. If you go to caltopo.com look at a 7.5 minute map the site is located basically to the left of where the first E in Wilderness is printed on the map. It's a bit of a haul with a bucket of water but you are rewarded with a nice view to the south overlooking Pine Valley. Have a nice trip.

Hi and thanks to all of you.
I was planning Camp Lake for two reasons. One is that we have a 7 1/2 hour drive to get to Pinecrest, not counting time to get permits. I am afraid that we will not have enough daylight to get to Piute or Gem. If we camped at the trailhead and went in the next day, I am afraid that on the 2nd day, if we go from Piute to Buck, it will be so long and time consuming for my kids, we will not make it to Emigrant Lake. I was really hoping that if we could get an extra few miles past us on the driving day, we could get to Emigrant Lake. Just not enough vacation days...SIGH!!

That make sense then. It's a pretty easy hike to Camp Lake and if you don't get to Emigrant Lake...well it will be there for another day. Have fun!