Smoke chased me to Emigrant Meadow. Turned out great.

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balance
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Smoke chased me to Emigrant Meadow. Turned out great.

Post by balance »

Kennedy Meadows into Emigrant Wilderness.

On Saturday morning Aug. 23 bright and early, I was at the Bishop Ranger station to get a wilderness permit for Lamarck Col. No luck. Too much smoke. Drove up to Mammoth. Smoke. :angry: On to Bridgeport. Local fire had closed a campground. Smoke. :crybaby:

Not giving up though. Checking the prevailing winds, I continued North over the Sonora Pass to Kennedy Meadows. Spent two nights at the little backpackers camp while some light haze cleared. Then six perfectly clear days in Emigrant Lake, Emigrant Meadow Lake, High Emigrant Meadow Lake. Please note: The "trail" from EL to EML runs through a beautiful, isolated alpine valley. Be prepared for cross country navigation, as the trail often completely disappears. I don't use GPS in summer, so it was interesting. Then up over the saddle to HEML. The only two people I saw up there was a father and son who had just pulled a four pound Brook trout out of EML.

Not exactly Eastern Sierra high country, but great nevertheless. Topped it off with a hot shower and excellent dinner with the friendly people at the Kennedy Meadows Resort. :)

Looking to dodge all the smoke? You might check to see if it's still clear up there, but it saved the day for me. Peace.
Last edited by balance on Sat Sep 05, 2015 10:35 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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rlown
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Re: Smoke chased me to Emigrant Meadow. Turned out great.

Post by rlown »

Hi balance,

Any chance you could post a stand alone TR and maybe correct that Sept 23rd date. Maybe even with some pics?
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balance
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Re: TR: Smoke chased me to Emigrant Meadow. Turned out great

Post by balance »

Okay rlown. Getting a little ahead of myself there. Changed Sept. to Aug. Didn't take any pictures, except in my memory.
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Re: Smoke chased... Butte Fire probably makes this moot

Post by richapple »

Butte Fire. Started Sept. 9, east of Jackson, looks big and will likely smoke out lots of Emigrant. Bummer! (Glad you got your trip in, "balance". We had an off-trail trip into the Granite Dome area there years ago that was horrid for mosquitoes. We were thinking of going there again after seeing your post...)
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Re: Smoke chased... Butte Fire probably makes this moot

Post by schmalz »

richapple wrote:Butte Fire. Started Sept. 9, east of Jackson, looks big and will likely smoke out lots of Emigrant. Bummer! (Glad you got your trip in, "balance". We had an off-trail trip into the Granite Dome area there years ago that was horrid for mosquitoes. We were thinking of going there again after seeing your post...)
Christ. Fall can't come soon enough. I *almost* went up there yesterday to avoid all of the other fires.
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Re: Smoke chased me to Emigrant Meadow. Turned out great.

Post by mangomegan »

Yep, just got back from the Emigrant--we had to leave early because of the smoke! We chose it because it seemed a safe bet, being far enough away form the Rough fire. Little did we know that the Butte fire had just broken out...
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Re: Smoke chased me to Emigrant Meadow. Turned out great.

Post by deenad »

Thanks for the post! Hey! Does anyone know how the smoke in Rock Creek has been lately? I'm going there in eight days. Fyi, hiked to the Palisades (Big Pine Creek) three weeks ago, and the smoke seemed easier above 10,000 feet......
xo Deena
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Re: Smoke chased me to Emigrant Meadow. Turned out great.

Post by windknot »

Glad you had a good trip, and thanks for the weather update! This was helpful in my own trip planning calibrations last week.
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