End of May Emigrant wilderness circuit

[shanks59]

Hey all,

Not-long time lurker, first time poster. Just found out about this site and it looks pretty sweet. Other folks who love the high sierra are always fun to chat with. And it looks like there are some super knowledgable people on here so I look forward to learning.

Anyways, at the end of May my brother, cousin, and I are going to head into the Emigrant to do a circuit of it. Starting off from either Bell Meadow or Crabtree (if it opens) we're going to hit Big Lake, then Huckleberry, play it by ear with snow to Emigrant, and then come out through Buck Lakes and Wood. Most years it would be pretty crazy but we're all in our early 20s and good shape, so with the snow as low as it is we're going to give it a go.

Just looking to see if anyone has been out into the area yet and has any conditions to report on, or if not that if anyone has been out there at an equivalently early time in other years. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We've all been out in the Emigrant quite a few times but never made it much past Wood, Deer, or Big Lake. Done some xcountry and feel pretty comfortable with it.

One place I would like specific advice on if anyone has done this before is we are planning to drop from Big/Yellowhammer Lake to the Kibbie Ridge trail. There seem to be two route options:

The first is to come down the Yellowhammer watershed below Big Lake to the west of Gillett Mountain to Lords meadow. The other is to go above Yellowhammer and then come down the north fork of the cherry until you hit the Kibbie Ridge trail.

If anyone has done either or both and has a recommendation of which would be best/safer I would appreciate it. I'm personally leaning toward the Yellowhammer watershed as the better route. But having never done it before I am open to suggestions.

We will probably be some of the first out there so will be sure to bring back a good trail report. Thanks!

[balzaccom]

I haven't done either descent, but the granite in that part of the Sierra is pretty amazing---and easy to negotiate. But your route calls for you to cross Cherry Creek at some point, to get on the East side of Huckleberry Lake. I don't think you'll have ANY issues with snow down at those elevations (last report from Sonora Pass was less than two feet of snow up there, which is 9500 feet) but Cherry Creek during spring is a whole 'nother question. I'd be prepared to stay on the West side of the canyon all the way up...and don't miss Latora Lake. If there is one spot in that area I'd like to go back to explore, it's Latora Lake. At least from the trail, it is really beautiful.

[mschnaidt]

Hi Shanks,

I've done both descents. If you are headed to Huckleberry, the Yellowhammer watershed makes more sense and is easier to navigate. However the East Fork of Cherry Creek in May even in a drought year is going to be dangerous to cross. There is still a fair amount of snow upstream.

Your proposed route would mean multiple crossings of Buck Meadow Creek, the West fork of Cherry at Louse Canyon and Paiute Creek. Emigrant Lake and the Buck Lakes are still frozen as of 5/11. Also, the trail West of Wood Lake is shaded and faces North. It holds a lot of snow and can be really treacherous in spots.

I don't mean to throw shade on your plan but please carefully consider the risks.

Emigrant Snow Pack.JPG

[tmorton23]

I'm heading to Emigrant this weekend. Leaving from Kennedy Meadows. I'm thinking of heading out to either Toejam or Long Lake. I was wanting to loop around Emigrant Meadow Lake, but I think snow will be a problem on Brown Bear Pass. I could provide some conditions observations.

I did a loop in September 2019 from Gianelli. Gianelli to Toejam Lake. Toejam to Upper Buck Lake. Upper Buck to the Summit Creek/Mosquito Pass junction. Summit Creek to Snow Lake. Snow to Latora Lake (which I agree, it is worth the stop). Latora to Wire Lake. Wire to Gianelli. I skipped Huckleberry to go to Latora, and I am glad I did. There was a huge horse area at the east end of Huckleberry. It smelled of horse pee and manure. Snow Lake was pretty remote, except for a hunting camp about a half mile away. I went just as hunting season opened and there were hunting camps all over Emigrant. As I am not a hunter, I didn't even think that hunting would be taking place in Emigrant, but I was wrong. The trail from Snow down to Huckleberry was a little overgrown at times, plus it had some stretches of those annoying golf ball to baseball-sized ankle twisting rocks. I loved walking through Horse Meadow, though.

[kpeter]

I am also planning an extended trip into this area the last week of May, but will be going in from Cherry Lake and staying south of Cherry Creek, hopefully all the way through Styx Pass and Lords Meadow to Huckleberry. I will come back to the north of Cherry Creek in a separate trip in early June when I hope the crossing of West Fork Cherry Creek will be safer. That is a crossing that frequently turns people back early season. Don't count on being able to cross it without some advance intel.

What the above posters said is true. Even in a low snow year the crossing of the main fork of Cherry Creek can be dangerous to outright impossible so long as there is any snow melting. I would not plan on being able to safely cross it at this time of year. I have been to Lords Meadow in June of a low snow year and found the "creek" more like a river. Of course, every year is different, and your tolerance levels may also differ from mine. You might run into some kayakers porting their boats to Lords Meadow since this is when Cherry Creek is a world-class (and incredibly difficult) kayaking stream.

I also can echo what was said about the Buck Meadow Creek trail. From the ford at 7958 to the next ford at 8244 (just below Woods Lake) it is mostly in the shade on a north slope and snow hangs in there in patches for a long time. And those fords can be dangerous if the snowmelt is still going on. You are better off using the high trail that goes from Crabtree to Deer Lake since it is more open and on a south facing slope.

[SSSdave]

Sentinel Hub May 11 image shows it is now possible to get over Styx Pass on the Kibbie Ridge trail without getting into snow. Generally lakes at 8.0k to 8.5k now melting out with lots of snow higher so creeks will be high and dangerous through month end. A better strategy would be to wait till mid June that will also give time for granite gruss flats to green up with monkeyflowers, onion, and gilia. Mosquito conditions will depend on whether or not any overnight freezes occur that is common in May and will kill squeeters that are too high above 6k. At night clear skies cause radiation surface cooling and snowy areas at night cause convection sumping cold air down canyon flows and fill into any low spots. Some are laying eggs in the myriad shallow granite pools now and if it remains balmy will be waiting for you Memorial Day prey. Conversely there is a huge trough setting up in the Gulf of Alaska that could push weather southward through month end including some May snow that is optimal if cold enough for pruning back mosquitoes.

Emigrant_5-11SH.jpg

[shanks59]

Thank you for all the responses. I'll try to respond in order.

balzaccom: Big Lake is probably my favorite lake in the world. The granite slopes are truly glorious around it. And they get really slick during run off... hint hint. I'm really leaning toward hitting Letora so thanks for adding another point in the recommendation.

mschnaidt: Thanks for the pics and for the advice on taking the Yellowhammer watershed. It comports with what I've seen before when looking down from the peak on the other side of gillett from the watershed (never seen a name for it but an easy and fun hike). I think after hearing your advice what we are going to do is try to stay on the northern side of the east fork and also get down to the creek in the afternoon. That would allow us to scout without packs and also cross in the early morning at lowest water levels.

Also I'm guessing this might not be the most common route to get to Big Lake, but whenever we go we usually follow the west fork of the Cherry down about a half mile and then cross where it widens out and then pop over the ridge to Rosasco before swinging around Pingree to Big Lake. It avoids having to deal with Buck meadow at all. Also a half mile down Cherry it widens out into a bunch of smaller branches and we've crossed it pretty early season no issues. Based of your advice however, if we do end up making it to Emigrant we will probably take the Deer Lake-Gem Lake trail back to Crabtree.

tmorton: Thanks and would love to hear what it looks like. I have to imagine its melting out pretty fast with how warm its been. As mentioned above, I keep hearing how nice Letora is and am probably going to make it a stop on this trip.

kpeter: Thanks for the advice on taking the deer lake trail. My dad did that 20 years ago or so and when I mentioned it to him he thought it was an eminently sensible idea. Based on the timeline we potentially might bump into eachother or at least see eachother from across the east fork.

On crossing the west fork of the Cherry, I might actually be able to help you a bit here. There are two places you can cross early season if you are willing to scout around a bit. These are both predicated on taking the lower trail out of crabtree, upper is definitely worse during early season (harder hike too). Once you hit the cherry, you have two options.

1. From what I can tell the main issue at the lower crossing is that you have buck meadow joining up and the cherry above the juncture is pretty steep. However there is a little pocket of land between where the cherry opens up into Louse canyon and the buck meadow flows in where it widens out and splits up. If you scout around a bit you can generally find a pretty easy crossing. I've gone up to Gem Lake in the second week of may and through a combo of fallen logs and picking my spots not gotten in over my knees. That works for getting up to the Gem, Jewelry, Deer, and eventually Bucks Lake. Trying to get to wood would be more difficult as others have stated as Buck Meadow is more difficult to cross and has a lot of snow.

2. If you are trying to go to rosasco, hyatt, or pingree you can drop down about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile below the buck meadow inflow and Louse canyon opens up and does the same splitting up action. Yes it flows pretty well still but it is so divided up that you can generally find your way across if you are willing to scramble a bit.

SSSdave: Thanks for the pic and the weather info. Timing forces this early trip and we will be prudent in our decision making out there. Hopefully don't get dumped on. And no mosquitos in the emigrant will be a very nice bonus. Been eaten alive before, lol. My youngest brother's eyes basically swole shut because his bug net ended up against his face at night (tarp camping) and got bitten on the eyelids. Trooper though.

Again thanks all.

[mschnaidt]

Also I'm guessing this might not be the most common route to get to Big Lake, but whenever we go we usually follow the west fork of the Cherry down about a half mile and then cross where it widens out and then pop over the ridge to Rosasco before swinging around Pingree to Big Lake. It avoids having to deal with Buck meadow at all. Also a half mile down Cherry it widens out into a bunch of smaller branches and we've crossed it pretty early season no issues.

Hi Shanks,

I've done the Rosasco route many times and it's pretty good. A shorter alternative is to follow the seasonal creek that you can see from the trail at Louse Canyon. It is more direct and puts you up on the ridge and onto the trail to Big Lake. Stay to the right of the creek and it will save you a little time, mileage and the ascent/descent from Rosasco into the valley that leads to Big.

The Portal.JPG

PICT0026 (Medium).JPG

If you ever drop into N. Fk. Cherry Creek in the future the route is approx this:

Yellowhammer.JPG

Once you get over the ridge there is a nice ramp that takes you down to the creek. It's steep but open with great views.

P1010026 (Medium).JPG

P1010025 (Medium).JPG

Enjoy!

[shanks59]

Nice pictures. I like the idea of that stream you follow up. Might give it a shot this time around. We have gotten turned around before coming out of rosasco as I thing there may have been a rock fall that blocked the trail a couple years ago.

We have gone around the backside of the dome to the northwest of Big before but it was a bit of a scramble to get down from its shoulders where you are at Big to the valley between pingree and rosasco. So since then we just do the long trek back up the granite to pingree and then across to rosasco and thus to Louse Canyon. BTW do you know why its called Louse canyon?

So after taking all the info from y'all the current plan is to get to the confluence of the north and east forks of the Cherry in the afternoon of our 3rd day and then scout around a bit to try and find a decent crossing. Then we are planning to hit it the next morning when the flow is lower. This would allow us to stay on the north side of the east fork all the way to huckleberry. Do you think that is a reasonable option? Would it be better to take this north fork route that you sent and try to cross it higher? At least on the map it looks like the north fork widens out a bit and has some meadows where it joins the east fork.

[kpeter]

1. From what I can tell the main issue at the lower crossing is that you have buck meadow joining up and the cherry above the juncture is pretty steep. However there is a little pocket of land between where the cherry opens up into Louse canyon and the buck meadow flows in where it widens out and splits up. If you scout around a bit you can generally find a pretty easy crossing. I've gone up to Gem Lake in the second week of may and through a combo of fallen logs and picking my spots not gotten in over my knees. That works for getting up to the Gem, Jewelry, Deer, and eventually Bucks Lake. Trying to get to wood would be more difficult as others have stated as Buck Meadow is more difficult to cross and has a lot of snow.

I have gotten to Wood Lake from Deer Lake using the connecting trail, which is faint in places but was maintained decades ago. There was a little snow in a dry June in the shadowy high point between Deer and Buck, but there was a sign marking the way to Woods Lake. In fact, the first time I visited Woods lake was via the High trail in this way.

However, Woods Lake is not high on my list. I know some people love it, but I much prefer Karl's and Buck Lakes. Leighton I like less than Woods--something about all those dead trees standing in it. Deer is pretty nice, in my opinion. I like the granite coming into it on the south shore. In short, both the vistas and the lakes on the High Trail are much more appealing to me than the low trail.