Emigrant 3-day trips

[shanks59]

Hey, just came out on Sunday from the emigrant. I was back out there for a 8 days from May 23-30 and will be posting a trail report soon.

Cherry is easily crossable as is buck meadow. Crossed both in the afternoon and had zero problems. Buck meadow didn't get much deeper than mid thigh at about 5 in the afternoon. Cherry especially 1/4 mile down from the convergence of buck meadow and cherry is always easy as it spreads out. The trail from Wood to Cherry though is a bear. All snow hiking on a steep slope around trees. Would recommend waiting on that.

I would highly recommend Big lake. Its my favorite EW destination. Would recommend taking the Rosasco-Pingree-Big route the first time in as the crest into Big Lake the first time is unforgettable. Still gets me. But coming out mschnaidt gave a great roughly zero elevation gain route suggestion in this thread.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21488

I took it for the first time and it was definitely worth it.

The only problems out of Crabtree is that the lower trail in Pine Valley had a big windstorm and you have to do significant tree fall clambering not too difficult but it does slow you down a bit.

[shanks59]

Oh and Crabtree opened for Memorial day. Kennedy meadows opened like a month and a half ago.

[kpeter]

I posted the trail conditions in the conditions section. The trip went well--beautiful weather and no skeets. However, I was once again reminded of the miles of hiking through burn zones. Kibbie Ridge is not a scenic trail, although it leads to some scenic places. Not sure if I will do a trail report since I have already done two of this area.

[BardoPond]

Hey, just came out on Sunday from the emigrant. I was back out there for a 8 days from May 23-30 and will be posting a trail report soon.

Cherry is easily crossable as is buck meadow. Crossed both in the afternoon and had zero problems. Buck meadow didn't get much deeper than mid thigh at about 5 in the afternoon. Cherry especially 1/4 mile down from the convergence of buck meadow and cherry is always easy as it spreads out. The trail from Wood to Cherry though is a bear. All snow hiking on a steep slope around trees. Would recommend waiting on that.

I would highly recommend Big lake. Its my favorite EW destination. Would recommend taking the Rosasco-Pingree-Big route the first time in as the crest into Big Lake the first time is unforgettable. Still gets me. But coming out mschnaidt gave a great roughly zero elevation gain route suggestion in this thread.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21488

I took it for the first time and it was definitely worth it.

The only problems out of Crabtree is that the lower trail in Pine Valley had a big windstorm and you have to do significant tree fall clambering not too difficult but it does slow you down a bit.

Thanks, sounds like you had a great adventure.

We are mostly concerned about creek crossings because my partner is petite (4'11"). It does sound like with enough patience we could find places to cross. Based on your and others' tips, one possible route could be to stay high on Crabtree Trail, cross over to Bell Meadow after Piute Creek, then cross Cherry and take the shortcut you outlined to Big/Pingree.

Where does the snow start on Bell Meadow Trail? Would we avoid most of it with this route?

We are driving over this afternoon so we'll be making the call in the next couple of hours

[shanks59]

Sorry my explanation was a bit muddled. I’ll try to be clearer.

There are zero snow issues getting from either the bell meadow trailhead or Crabtree trailhead to big lake. Both have been snow free for about 2 weeks. The only snow issues are going from cherry creek up to wood lake which I would not recommend doing until later in the season.

If you are going to big lake I would recommend going in from crabtree and following the lower trail to cherry creek before going up to rosasco.

Following this route you will be crossing three streams.

The first lily creek has a sturdy medium sized log you can cross quite easily. Or you can get in the water for a mid calf crossing.

The second piute creek can run fast in the early season but there is a big calm maybe 2 foot deep Ford where the trail that is very easy to do this year. Might end up being your deepest ford but there is hardly any current. Both times crossing were a piece of cake.

The third creek to cross will be cherry creek. This is the biggest one especially early season. However as it enters the canyon it hits a bunch of trees and splits into many smaller streams. Like you said, take your time and get about a quarter mile down the valley and it is always pretty easy to get across. Most of the time I don’t get more than my calves wet. I’ve even done the whole thing on deadfalls before.

If you want to be safe you could try to camp at piute tonight. That way you would be doing all of your elevation gain today and then you could cross both piute and cherry early in the morning when there is comparatively less water. But honestly it’s not too much of a problem this year.

[BardoPond]

Thanks so much for the extra info and clarifications about the snow. Glad I checked the forum before I lose service.
We'll get an early start tomorrow from Crabtree and see how far we get!

[BardoPond]

We had a great trip!
We spent the first two nights at Big Lake, and last night at Camp Lake (came back via the upper trail, and out this morning).

No major issues with creek crossings. We did a slightly sketchy ford of West Fork Cherry from the lower trail, but we didn't spend much time scouting a better spot. Crossings on the upper trail are all tame by now.

The shortcut north of Rosasco didn't work for us. At least from below, it looked like class 3 at least past a certain point. It's likely that we didn't find the correct route, or perhaps the track in the other post is slightly off (too far to the north is my guess). We ended up contouring to meet the Rosasco trail, which was also hard to follow in the beginning.

I explored a bit up and down Cherry Creek Canyon, and it didn't look like something I'd try to ford. Perhaps swimming across would be ok at the large pool near Big Lake's outlet.

Thanks again everyone for all the advice, also with regards to Kibbie Ridge. Looks like I have my next early season Emigrant hike planned.
I'll post a TR soon.