Lake Edison ferry no longer running

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Oubliet
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Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by Oubliet »

from the Vermillion Valley Resort FB page:

"The VVR ferry is no longer shuttling hikers this season. The ferry has been pulled from the water due to the low lake level. We will do our snow dances and look forward to a full lake next year. We will remain open with all our facilities operating for those who hike, drive, ride or crawl in. We will still be accepting and holding hiker resupply boxes. And we'll be offering rides to Bear Ridge trailhead and Bear Creek trailhead for those who do make the hike in and are hiking south."
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The lake was extremely low when I was there on July 14th. There was a long hike down on the dry lakebed to get to where the ferryboat was docked. The report that I got was that the lake was being drained to supply other reservoirs' water needs (Shaver, Diablo, etc.)

Any hikers coming in to VVR for resupply will have to walk around the lake instead of waiting for the ferry.
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by SSSdave »

We just returned Sunday 7/29/12 from a 9 day backpack thru Graveyard Lakes over Silver Fox pass into the Minnow Creek basin. I noticed the TAE reservoir level was somewhat lower than I've ever seen it. More surprising was water was blasting out of the tunnel at the Huntington Lake reservoir at usual late spring high levels? We noted how low the Shaver Lake reservoir levels were though Huntington looked full as it usually is until fall. So your news shows they decided to boost up the Shaver reservoir levels at the expense of TAE probably because there are many commercial interests there complaining about the low water levels while TAE recreational use is insignificant.

Thus anyone that had plans to use the ferry is now going to have to endure hiking the full 4.5 miles along the hot sunny soft sandy road apple dust horse north side trail. As is usual for horse trails that are more concerned with trail subtrates than hiker efforts, it goes up and down over 600 feet on that route so is not a mere traverse. PCT thru hikers often use VVR for resupply, caching supplies, or a good meal so any that planned so will get a rude awakening. Likely they will put a warning sign up at the Quail Meadows spur trail junction at the Mono Creek bridge crossing.
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by gary c. »

I believe I was on the last ferry out of VVR last Wed morning. The last couple of ferry trips they did were with small aluminum boats and even then one of the passengers would have to stand up front and watch for rocks and sandbars getting to and from where the boats were parking at the resort end. On our way from mammoth we kept getting a different story from everyone we met as to whether the ferry would be running when we got there, we were very lucky. They had put signs up at the trail crossings before we left VVR.
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Troutdog 59
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by Troutdog 59 »

The low water level at Edison was componded by a couple of things, refilling Shaver Lake in the spring and a less than average snow pack. Shaver was drained last winter for repairs and water was held in Edison to refill it. They re-filled Shaver in late April or May I believe and drained Edison down with hopes it would refill, but the low snow pack couldnt fill it up.
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by ERIC »

Troutdog 59 wrote:The low water level at Edison was componded by a couple of things, refilling Shaver Lake in the spring and a less than average snow pack. Shaver was drained last winter for repairs and water was held in Edison to refill it. They re-filled Shaver in late April or May I believe and drained Edison down with hopes it would refill, but the low snow pack couldnt fill it up.
So Cal Edison had to overwinter some water at Florence as well, which I understand caused some damage to the dam that had to be repaired this past spring.
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by The hermit »

Will this affect water levels at florence?
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overheadx2
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by overheadx2 »

I spoke to Jim at VVR, and he advised me to plan on walking around Florence for my pick up in early Sept. Sounds like that ferry is about over.
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by The hermit »

East side trailheads are looking better.an extra hours drive is worth it to save four miles or so lakeside hiking.
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by ERIC »

The hermit wrote:Will this affect water levels at florence?
Yes. Ferry is still running, but my guess is service will stop by the end of August. If the lake is low enough and no ferry, you might be able to save some time by hiking the north shoreline beginning from Jackass Meadow.

Email MTR for the latest on the ferry because they're not always good about posting current info on their Website: howdy@muirtrailranch.com
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frediver
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Re: Lake Edison ferry no longer running

Post by frediver »

Just a bit confused.
It's been a few years since I have been to Graveyard lakes using the Edison Trailhead but IIRC at that
time TH parking was on the north side of the lake approximately in the area of Cold Creek, has it been moved?
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