Edyth Lake

If you've been searching for the best source of information and stimulating discussion related to Spring/Summer/Fall backpacking, hiking and camping in the Sierra Nevada...look no further!
Cross Country
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1328
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:16 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by Cross Country »

I apologize for not being able to perceive if you're kidding or serious. If I understand correctly the objective of this web site is for sharing experiences. Besides that my nature is to share, so I'll continue to do so.
User avatar
ERIC
Your Humble Host & Forums Administrator
Your Humble Host & Forums Administrator
Posts: 3254
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:13 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: between the 916 and 661

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by ERIC »

The comment was tongue in cheek.
New members, please consider giving us an intro!
Follow us on Twitter @HighSierraTopix. Use hashtags #SIERRAPHILE #GotSierra? #GotMountains?
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HighSierraTopix
User avatar
cmon4day
Topix Regular
Posts: 233
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:08 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Dublin, CA

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by cmon4day »

jthomascarter wrote:I apologize for not being able to perceive if you're kidding or serious. If I understand correctly the objective of this web site is for sharing experiences. Besides that my nature is to share, so I'll continue to do so.
As stated by Eric. In no way am I trying to stifle anyone's comments or experiences. If you do a search on Edyth L, you will find a TR that I posted, so I would be a hypocrite if I were to tell you to not post up your experiences.
User avatar
Hetchy
Topix Regular
Posts: 269
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:51 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Santa Cruz Mountains Ben Lomond

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by Hetchy »

Since everyone is now going to descend on poor little Edyth lake (Tongue in Cheek as well!) I wondered about an alternate route to reach it. In the Summer of 2008 I climbed Schofield Peak (See Border of Emmigrant and N. Yosemite Wilderness) from Otter Lake. I was able to clearly see Bearup lake from that vantage point. It seemed(always seems easy from a mountain top!) to me I could have continued off trail down to Bearup and thence to Edyth returning down Kerrick Canyon and up to Laurel Lake as described above. This would make a wonderful offtrail hike and almost guaranteed solitude since I have only run into 1 person off trail in N. Yosemite in the past 10 years.
Anyhow, I have my hands full with this little 3100 mile hike this summer but that off trail hike from Otter to Edyth is definitely on my "bucket list".
A really cool Yosemite Park worker and a fella who was a Docent in the park both commended me the virtues of Edyth Lake. That Docent fella had the most amazing hand drawn routes on his topo maps I have ever seen!(I tried to sneak a look.. Let me say he knew his stuff!)
Well, now I've done it.. Let the cat out of the bag. I am sure the Sierra Club is gonna bring 10,000 folks down to Edyth now! :D
Actually I think anyplace even a mile offtrail is relatively safe in N. Yosemite cause there ain't that many folks in the area to begin with and they all seem to flock to Laurel, Vernon and to a lesser degree Tilden lakes. Which is great! Hey, Hike your own Hike! :D
We are so danged lucky to have Northern Yosemite Wilderness intact Tuolumne River not withstanding. I used to despise the dam.. Now I wonder if it has not discouraged the trampling of N. yosemite wilderness environs. :-k
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by Hetchy on Wed Apr 14, 2010 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You can make more money, but you can't make more time.
User avatar
DoyleWDonehoo
Founding Member
Posts: 480
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:06 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: San Jose, CA
Contact:

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by DoyleWDonehoo »

I too have long planned to visit this lake, and have examined all possible routes, and have been all around it but never TO it. (There is also a lake perched on the ridge high above that I would like to visit as well.) Google Earth has some pictures of the lake and area, so check it out. Someone should post a map with known routes, then the rest could edit and re-post. Looking up that canyon near Laurel Lake with a map, I thought that would be the best way, but now the Bearup way seems best (or maybe a loop...). Bearup would be a good goal by itself. This may be a good year to go: I expect a late spring. If I went, I would have to find someone to go with: my BPing pard is out of action this year. Very few people go there: I don't expect that to change...
Doyle W. Donehoo
Sierra Trails:
http://www.doylewdonehoo.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Cross Country
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1328
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:16 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by Cross Country »

My favorite trip I took to Edyth (Edith) lake was with the Phil and Gregg Ivy. It was a 7 day trip that included Bearup and Laurel Lakes. It was the only time I visited the waterfall nearby. It was the only time I saw a rattlesnake (very small) near the lake. Those 2 boys (and I) could really eat lots of fish. We ate so much fish on that trip that at the end none of us (true fish lovers) wanted any more fish. I visited every little part of that lake (mostly by boat). There is a sandy beach there. There is a way to walk to the outlet. There are lots of beautiful Lilies by the inlet. Early in the season you can catch fish out of the inlet creek and it's really fun. The weather was great (as usual).
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by Cross Country on Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Sierra Maclure
Topix Regular
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:25 am
Experience: N/A
Location: Bay Area
Contact:

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by Sierra Maclure »

I did a trip into Edyth in 2006 with my fellow High Sierra Geezers. Damn if Kendrick Cyn didn't skin me alive bushwacking thru poison oak and manzanita. It was in the middle of a heat wave and I remember hiking to a creek, dropping my pack, removing my boots, and walking head-long into the water, clothes and all. Kendrick makes you earn her glories.
Image
User avatar
DoyleWDonehoo
Founding Member
Posts: 480
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:06 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: San Jose, CA
Contact:

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by DoyleWDonehoo »

jthomascarter: I am assuming you came in from the direction of Bearup Lake? Looks like you were on the SW shore. I saw that big waterfall to the east in Google Earth (I want to see that up close), and I would say you have a nice far shot of it in your pictures.

I am guessing Sierra Maclure came up the canyon from Laurel Lake.
Doyle W. Donehoo
Sierra Trails:
http://www.doylewdonehoo.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
User avatar
Sierra Maclure
Topix Regular
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:25 am
Experience: N/A
Location: Bay Area
Contact:

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by Sierra Maclure »

Yes, from Laurel Lk we dropped down and hiked up the canyon, crossing the stream as needed. Wild, wooly, difficult cross-country and equally beautiful: a visual candy store around every turn. Ferns, azalea, flowing water, tons of bear scat but didn't see any. We returned down Eleanor Creek and bushwacked over to where Frog Cr. meets Eleanor Lake and took the trail to the trailhead. It's been called an "impassable brush-choked canyon" by Schaffer. My fellow Geezer, Michael, says "Kendrick doesn't give up her charms easily. You have to work for them." I say, "Without leather gaitors against the manzanita and a machete for trailblazing through 8 foot tall bullrush, stay the hell out, unless you want to deeply know one of the most gorgeous, isolated and least visited canyons in the Sierra." I like the idea of dropping down from the ridge to Edyth. I'll have to try that sometime.
User avatar
giantbrookie
Founding Member & Forums Moderator
Founding Member & Forums Moderator
Posts: 3580
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:22 am
Experience: N/A
Location: Fresno
Contact:

Re: Edyth Lake

Post by giantbrookie »

Regarding the routes... The Laurel approach is the 2nd easiest way in (the gap in the ridge W of Bearup is easier) and you can easily combine the two routes into a loop trip which is what my wife, a friend and I did in 1992. We went from HH by Laurel to the ridge top and into the canyon on traverse before friction slab descending and camping at the lake below Edyth on day 1. We then hiked up canyon to Edyth the next day. From there we climbed to the gap in the ridge over Frog Creek (downstream of Bearup) then worked up Frog Creek, dropping our packs at the lake downstream of Bearup then continuing to Bearup. On the 4th day we traversed from Frog Creek to the trail then bailed to HH. In 1986 my friend and I did a route from Cherry Lake that involved dropping in from the north side and following the N side of Kendrick Creek all the way to Edyth (with two detours off the canyon bottom--the detour upstream of the lakes below Edyth was dramatically horrid). This northern route is much steeper and brushier than the southern side (ie Laurel or Frog Creek). Edyth certainly has its charms, but it certainly isn't for everyone, so I don't ever see it being popular. Beck has it written up in his Yosemite Trout Fishing Guide, but I don't think any amount of publicity will cause people to stampede to the lake; it is just too difficult to reach for most. The fall after the Edyth trip with my wife I asked the King of the Tower Peak quadrangle, the legendary geologist Clyde Wahrhaftig (1919-1994) his impressions of the place when he was geologic mapping there. His exact words were "You dragged Judy to that brush and rattlesnake infested place"? In fact on the 1992 trip we actually managed not see a rattlesnake, but on the 1986 trip I moved camp from the shores of Edyth after finding my would-be tent site already occupied by the biggest rattler I've ever seen. For those that enjoy this area, I think the main allure is the adventurous nature of the off trail hiking--and it is some of the most adventurous in the range owing to the combination of brush and steep slabs. The fishing is no better in Edyth or the lake downstream of it than in easily accessible lakes such as Kibbie and Laurel and I'd argue that the fish are bigger in the latter two lakes.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 152 guests