Early Summer destinations

[JJones]

Hello all,

My name is Josh. I have been backpacking the sierra wilderness since I was in Boy Scouts.
I fell in love with WaterHouse Lake many years ago, and have made it a yearly destination for the past 7 years. I usually go on Memorial day weekend, but this year the snow pack has forced us to put the trip off. I am hoping to be able to get up there next weekend, but the Ranger station says they have no projected date when the gate to Herring Creek Resevoir will be open. The folks at the gift shop at Pinecrest were surprised to hear the gate was still closed and no one has been into Herring Creek Res. this year. My fingers are crossed in hopes that this next week will be a hot one and the snow will melt off enough to allow us to get to the trail head.

If we are unable to make it to the trail head, I would like to drive into Dodge Ridge camp ground back in as far as we can get and hike up the river from there. I know its extremely unlikely that we could get to the lake from there, but I'm just fine with camping near the raging Stanislaus River. My main question is has anyone done this before? is there an established trail? With all the snow melt going on up there I bet the Stanislaus River an amazing site that few people have been so lucky to witness!

Any fellow WaterHouse Lake lovers out there???

[JJones]

After scouting the area surrounding Waterhouse Lake on google earth, I noticed a road 4n34 going into Gianelli"s cabin trail. Still alot of snow on the Dodge Ridge side. I'd estimate 2-4 feet or more in some spots. Check out dodge ridge summit cam, its awesome!

I made it into Bear Lake 2 years ago, and the ice was just starting to melt. It was an amazing sight!
Fished there for a few hours, nobody caught anything. But Bear Lake was beautiful as always. Wonder what its going to look like when that damn finally fails.

I also would like to see Kibbie Lake. I've seen a few pictures posted on the internet, enough to entice me to consider this weekend. Where does the trail head start? is it in the Wilderness? Hows the fishing?

[DriveFly44]

I went to waterhouse last year....fun early season hike. Was hoping to get into some fish but saw nothing.

Crabtree road is still closed as of today (open to aspen pack station though) so with Gianelli aprox. 1,400 higher I imagine it will be a while for it to open. When it does, I'm there.

The trailhead for kibbie is near Cherry Lake and the actual lake is in yosemite. It has been known to produce some decent fishing. With its low elevation of 6,500 it is probably going to be crowded since it is one of the few areas that is clear.

I'm heading to the east side this afternoon for some exploring...will have a TR upon return.



Ladd