Snow free sierra routes for Memorial Day?

[Sierrasnob]

Looking for low mileage memorial day weekend snow free, either tahoe area or yosemite area. carrying a baby so mileage will be low.

Any reliable snow free areas in desolation? I figured emmigrant will be still snow, and hetch hetchy may be too vertical.

[kpeter]

One way to decide is to look at the snow map:
https://www.fs.fed.us/r5/webmaps/SierraSnowDepth/

Personally, I am going into Emigrant beginning on Memorial day, the more southerly destinations are snow free now, and more will be clear over the next couple of weeks.

Kibbie Lake is another possibility--already clear.

[Lenier]

How often is that updated? It's out of date for what I experienced last weekend in Sequoia.

[kpeter]

How often is that updated? It's out of date for what I experienced last weekend in Sequoia.

That is a good question and I can't find a timestamp on it. It does seem consistent with the conditions in Emigrant described in another thread--clear to Bear Lake and snow beginning at 8000 feet.

It shows the areas south of the Buck Meadow trail to be clear--Rosaco, Pingree, Big Lakes, etc., and Pingree is at 8000, so it must be the general southerly facing as the granite rises up from Cherry Creek Canyon that clears the snow out of that area earlier than a little further north. I well remember that the snow hangs in a long time on the Buck Meadow trail since it is down in a shady canyon on a north slope, and it clears off of Crabtree Trail earlier since it tends to be higher and on a southerly slope.

[CalMntHkr]

The snow in the Emigrant is melting quick. Check the snow sensors from this website from the CA Dept of Water Resources.

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/misc/SnowSensors.html

At the bottom of the chart pages is a link to the map location of the sensor.
For the Emigrant I use Gianelli Meadow for lower elevation and Slide Canyon (North Yosemite) for the higher elevations. Gianelli should be at 0 inches of snow within a couple of days. Slide Canyon is a week or so more. I'll be fishing there in a couple of weeks.

-K

[c9h13no3]

Looking for low mileage memorial day weekend snow free, either tahoe area or yosemite area. carrying a baby so mileage will be low.

Any reliable snow free areas in desolation? I figured emmigrant will be still snow, and hetch hetchy may be too vertical.

The Desolation Wilderness is on the crest of the Sierra, one of the snowiest parts of the range. You'll have a better shot at snow free travel in the majority of the Emigrant wilderness.

A standard early season backpacking destination is Kibbie Lake.

Satellite images are your friend.

[kpeter]

A limitation of Emigrant may not be snow, but stream crossings. I am still trying to figure out if W Fork Cherry Creek will be safe to cross on Memorial Day or soon thereafter.

[TahoeJeff]

Satellite images are your friend.

As is this site:

https://www.fs.fed.us/r5/webmaps/Sierra ... lon=-118.5

[brianA]

We're going to the Bayview Trailhead near Emerald Bay. First we'll see how high we can get depending on the snow. I'm thinking not much past Granite Lake. On the way up there are cool views of the bay and Lake Tahoe. When we come back down we'll be going out to Cascade Falls.

To your point, the Cascade Falls hike is what you're looking for. It's pretty. Short mileage, and on the edge of Desolation. It should be below the snow. Get there early because it'll be crowded. Walk to the back of the campground to find the trailhead. Take a right to go up to Granite Lake, and a left to go to Cascade Falls.

Also, the Wapama Falls hike at Hetch Hetchy is moderate with low mileage. Don't know if you need a reservation to get in there.

[c9h13no3]

To your point, the Cascade Falls hike is what you're looking for. It's pretty. Short mileage, and on the edge of Desolation. It should be below the snow.

I was there last month, just a spot of snow to walk over... but it is like 3 miles round trip.