June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

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TehipiteTom
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by TehipiteTom »

In fairness to Kibbie, I gather the part nearest the trail is kind of the least scenic. So I probably haven't seen its better sides.
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by DoyleWDonehoo »

TehipiteTom wrote:In fairness to Kibbie, I gather the part nearest the trail is kind of the least scenic. So I probably haven't seen its better sides.
The trail starts out in hot dry transition zone and it is a slog to get to Kibbie Ridge. Kibbie lake is under 6500 feet, so there is that. The closer you get to Styx Pass, the better it gets. That whole Boundary Lake and Big Lake area is nearly one continuous ocean of white Yosemite pluton granite.
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by SSSdave »

rlown wrote:Do people here really like Kibbie? what is the draw?
Rather large lake that is very deep on the glacially gouged out east side.

Relatively short distance from a trailhead with just a modest amount of uphill.

Easy to obtain a permit from Stanislaus National Forest. Can phone in even on day of departure get permit written up, put in night box, and picked up in night box on drive in.

Rather difficult to circumnavigate unless one has a bushwhackers badge. So few ever manage to reach east side. Thus seclusion if one wants it.

Tall cliffs on north and east sides that plumb drop into deep water. Low elevation lake that warms up by late August so taking a swim is reasonable as well as cliff jumping.

Mid east side, a bay with a cliff rising out of the water that makes for great echoes.

June waterfalls mid lake east side some of which drop directly into lake.

Visited by eagles.

Good population of rainbow trout planted from the late 1800s that have developed an excellent lake strain. Can witness considerable spawning late May on inlet stream.

Wonderfully large fragrant western azalea blooms grace some of its shores.

Acres of nice smooth granitoid gruss flats on southwest side that have nice belly flowers.

Can use a first day at Kibbie to eliminate a single long boring trail day to Styx Pass by after a first night at Kibbie angling crosscountry from back end of lake up towards Kibbie Ridge.
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by kpeter »

Lots of useful observations here. Thank you!

Kibbie Ridge Trail condition

Doyle, yes, I remember our meeting well. Earlier in the thread Phoenix 2000 reported that last summer--must have been after you and I met on the trail--the Kibbie Ridge trail had been cleared, the deadfall removed and it is now easy to follow.

Mosquitoes.

The June trips I have done have been expressly designed to avoid mosquitoes by getting in before the hatch.

Mosquitoes begin hatching about 3 weeks after snowmelt and become unbearable for about four weeks after that. By 8 weeks after melt they usually are not too bad. (There are a few species of hardy anti-freeze mosquitoes that overwinter, but they never appear in great numbers. The horrible ones we usually notice take three weeks to become adults after their ponds thaw.)

You can avoid them by going very early or late--people on this board have observed that July is usually a bad mosquito month in the Sierras, while June and August are better. To give you some examples. 1) Last year I went to Kibbie the third week of June and had very few Mosquitoes--it was a bit too soon after the melt and they were just beginning. 2) Previous year I went in to Lake Vernon again 3rd week of June and saw my first mosquitoes on the way out. But nearly anywhere I have been in the Sierras in the first couple of weeks of July is mosquito saturated. The question is...in a dry year will the mosquitoes come out extra early? If it is too dry the hatch might happen in time to have a cloud waiting for me the first week of June. I guess I will find out.

Why Kibbie?

Strange to say, it has to do with my being a teacher. My school year begins in mid August, so if I want to do much backpacking I need to find places I can go in June and July. August is always great--it just is not long enough. NW Yosemite is low enough in elevation to be accessible in June in most years. Equally important, it has so much granite that the landscape seems gorgeous even though it is not alpine. In June, I am so starved for the wilderness that Kibbie can seem like Ediza to me. And to think of all those granite lakes behind Kibbie I have never seen....I am looking forward to this trip!
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by DoyleWDonehoo »

kpeter wrote:Earlier in the thread Phoenix 2000 reported that last summer--must have been after you and I met on the trail--the Kibbie Ridge trail had been cleared, the deadfall removed and it is now easy to follow. ...And to think of all those granite lakes behind Kibbie I have never seen....I am looking forward to this trip!
Thanks for the info! We may try it again this year early, maybe late May or in June.
Everything SSSDAVE wrote was right on, as kpeter undoubted saw.
The Boundary Lake area is one of the best places in the Sierra. You just have to pay with effort to get there. It is guarded by Kibbie Ridge which goes over 8000 feet (snow), by a X-C route out of Kibbie Lake, or via the Flora Lake route, which means a crossing of Kibbie Creek and following the mostly gone trail to Flora and the easy X-C to the Boundary Lakes. It all good...
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by kpeter »

Now that we have had another week of April snow, the Kibbie Ridge snow gauge is showing about 22" of snow and 7" of water content at 6700 feet. Of the last half dozen years the year that comes closest to that is 2009.

Anyone backpack in NW Yosemite/Emigrant in early June 2009? What were the conditions like?
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Re: June Trip up Kibbie Ridge to Many Island?

Post by kpeter »

Many thanks to all who posted here giving me advice and directions. I put it all to good use. You helped me have a successful trip!
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