TR: N. Yosemite, Emigrant, Cherry Creek, Styx Pass 5/28-5/30

[Wandering Daisy]

I just got back from a similar trip. You would be amazed at the melt. I went in from Shingle Springs at about 11:00 AM on Memorial Day; did we perhaps cross paths? There was a load of cars at the trailhead and tons of people coming out when I went in. I came out today and there were only 5 cars. Other than the first two miles from the trailhead, I saw not a single other person for six days. I will put in a trip report in a few days. I did the same route as you did, but then added the loop to Spotted Fawn, day-hike to Inferno Lakes, day-hike to Nance Peak and ran the ridge to the lake on top, then to Flora Lake, Barrett Lakes and Many Island Lake. Wasn't Cherry Creek amazing! PS you have a lot better photos than mine.

[seanr]

WD, a couple of us were only on the Kibbie Ridge trail for 2-3 hours in late afternoon Monday. The other two left Cherry Creek Canyon earlier due to our trip's taxing mileage, gain, and terrain with full packs on, but still only would have spent the full afternoon on Kibbie Ridge trail, returning to the parking area after 4pm. So, we all missed seeing you. When I came out after 5:30, there were just a couple other vehicles still there. We saw an older couple heading up trail near Lookout Point, but spied nobody else in the backcountry Monday. On Saturday, one guy made his way far along Kibbie Ridge with similar timing to us. Besides him, we saw one other couple as we all approached Boundary Lake from Styx Pass late afternoon Saturday. Sunday evening at Boundary Lake, we spoke with an HST member and his companion. So overall, I'd say we had decent solitude. The lot had been very full Saturday morning and Friday morning and (over the phone) the ranger office was very picky about all quotas being full if entering via ANY small piece of YNP.

There was talk of visiting Nance to see the steep side views, and I would not mind returning to visit more lakes. Mostly a couple of us think we would like to devote more time to canyon travel there. The trip was done with an adventuresome spirit; our original plans were higher along the crest and this trip came together last minute. Partly due to threads on HST, I was the only one who was highly skeptical of crossing Cherry Creek to tag peaks in Emigrant. It didn't take long standing near it to dampen that plan. After we eventually found a crossing that would have been uncomfortable, but likely survivable, the others were happy to head southeast to Bartlett and Wheeler Peaks instead. The flows increased more this past week; I know it must have been pretty impressive!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[tomba]

Sunday evening at Boundary Lake, we spoke with an HST member and his companion.

Nice to meet you there.

Friday evening we slept by the road some distance before the trailhead. Trailhead looked crowded and one party had a fire going there. On the way back we found that a ranger left them a note.

We rounded Kibbie Lake west and north and camped at Bartlett Creek at about 7060'. Sunday we strolled upstream by the cascades at 7320' to Little Bear lake (passing by the waterfall below), peeked at Spotted Fawn Lake, went east of Little Bear Lake and west of Boundary Lake. We tried to go to Many Island Lake, but Lake 7489' seemed tough to go around. So we went north of Boundary Lake where we camped with a view of the canyon. Monday we initially took the trail but we left it and went towards Many Island Lake. We stayed high, passed by lake 7459', crossed the trail, went up to the pass east of Mercur Peak, and looked at lakes there. We hiked back on Kibbie Ridge trail, where we talked to Wandering Daisy on the way.

[seanr]

Sunday evening at Boundary Lake, we spoke with an HST member and his companion.

Nice to meet you there.

Friday evening we slept by the road some distance before the trailhead. Trailhead looked crowded and one party had a fire going there. On the way back we found that a ranger left them a note.

We rounded Kibbie Lake west and north and camped at Bartlett Creek at about 7060'. Sunday we strolled upstream by the cascades at 7320' to Little Bear lake (passing by the waterfall below), peeked at Spotted Fawn Lake, went east of Little Bear Lake and west of Boundary Lake. We tried to go to Many Island Lake, but Lake 7489' seemed tough to go around. So we went north of Boundary Lake where we camped with a view of the canyon. Monday we initially took the trail but we left it and went towards Many Island Lake. We stayed high, passed by lake 7459', crossed the trail, went up to the pass east of Mercur Peak, and looked at lakes there. We hiked back on Kibbie Ridge trail, where we talked to Wandering Daisy on the way.

Hi Tomba, come to think of it, we did see the campfire activity when we pulled in late, and we saw you again late afternoon Monday while we hurried down the trail to catch up with the rest of our party. For a holiday weekend at one of the better areas for pleasant current conditions, people sightings were pretty rare once away from the trailhead.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk