TR: Solitude in the Emigrant over Labor Day Weekend (9/3-9/5/22)

[paul]

Last year in June I waded the inlet at Emigrant lake and there were numerous big trout hanging in the stream, I'd say 16 to 18 inch - dozens of them about that size. If there are that many that size, it seems like a few really big rascals must be lurking in there somewhere. Maybe GIantbrookie needs to get out there and try for a new PR!

[oddtiger]

Beautiful pictures and fish, and thanks for more beta about the road condition. I usually ride an electric fat bike (a basic one, not the expensive models/brands for serious mountain biking) to trailhead when the last section of the forest road is too rough to my car, and just hide the bike and battery separately near the trailhead. It has worked well for me on the west side. Next year I'll put it in my car for this one.

[windknot]

Thanks all. Risetoadry provided a good description of the road -- for comparison, I was able to get virtually all the way to the trailhead parking area on the Bear Diversion Dam road earlier this year in my 2005 Honda CR-V (parked before the last granite slab up to the official trailhead, but that was only about 100 feet of walking). But the stretch of the Leavitt Lake road after the first creek crossing appeared to require higher clearance than I had in order to get past the rocks in that section. It's possible that I could have navigated around some of them with (very) careful wheel placement, but I didn't think the risk was worth the reward so we just hoofed it from there.

As for the fish, I too have heard of the 20"+ rainbows in Emigrant. I didn't see any on this trip, but I've heard that if one is willing to brave the monstrous mosquitoes in early summer, then one may in fact be rewarded by monstrous rainbows in the inlet stream as Paul describes.

Oddtiger, taking a fat bike in is a great idea! Is it hard to ride with a full pack on?

[oddtiger]

@windknot It depends on the power. I find it work well in most forest road and ATV road on the west side, especially in 168 country. In worst case you just have to walk a bit with the bike.

[texan]

That area always looks exceptionally dried out late season.

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Hi WD, Thanks for sharing the photos. I have been to that area during mostly high snow years 93,95,98,05,06,09,10 and we go in Late August to first week of September because the skeeters are bad until August during wet years. We usually go from Kennedy Meadows over Brown Bear Pass only been over from Leavitt lake a few times. Below is a photo of Emigrant Meadow Lake on a trip from August 27-Sept3 1995, I don't know what day it was but there was still a lot of snow but this was heavy snow year for sure. Plus a pic of a nice brook trout my friend caught. Thanks again for sharing your photos too

Texan

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[texan]

I forgot I went in somewhat normal snow years in 1999 and 2000 but when I went in 2007 it was super dry no snow at all.

Texan

[Wandering Daisy]

Early season or in a high snow year, Big Sam can be hard to get over. If going in Levitt Lake, the steep side, towards Kennedy Canyon, the road switchbacks are covered with very steep snow. You need traction- crampons preferred late season because the snow is hard as well as steep.

[giantbrookie]

What an outstanding trip. I wouldn't have expected that level of solitude on Labor Day weekend. I remember being amazed at the comparative lack of folks in late July last year in that area (excluding the PCT itself) but wouldn't have thought that would hold for the busiest High Sierra weekend of them all. Upon reading the details, I realized the hiking speeds are even more impressive than the appear at first glance--those times would be quite respectable even from the Leavitt Lake trailhead--but making that time from below the creek crossing is outstanding.

And the fishing....Yours and RiseToADry's trips really highlight the quality in that area. For decades I thought that Deso had the best concentration of lakes with truly big fish, but these reports added to others, and having a look myself last summer now makes me think that Emigrant may be the lunker capitol of the Sierra backcountry. The only catch are those fearsome mosquitoes that kept me from visiting until last year, but a quick strike on Labor Day weekend is really encouraging and will enter into daydreaming about future trips.

[paul]

I think that with really careful timing it is possible to get into Emigrant Lake early in the season before the mosquito hordes hit. Last year I got lucky on this, and managed to do it by chance. We went in right after Memorial day, and with a low snow year, things were pretty snow free up to about 9k. So coming in over Mosquito Pass we had just a little snow to deal with, and at Emigrant there was very little near the lake. That's when I saw the horde of big fellas in the outlet. I do not fish so I can't say whether they would have been biting or not. It may be that this does not work every year, even if you can time it; I think there was a cold snap the week before we went in, so that any bugs that had started up were killed off. They got worse every day of our trip, but while we were at Emigrant Lake they were no big deal. End of the same day, over by Buck Meadows, armageddon.
So you'd have to watch the weather, and the snow sensors (upper relief valley has a sensor), but somewhere around Memorial day, earlier or later depending on the snowpack, I'd bet that if you don't mind some snow here and there, you could get in ahead of the bugpocalypse and try to catch some of those big ones right after the ice melts.

[kpeter]

I've gone into the Emigrant Wilderness last week of May or first week of June in several different dry years, and in each case I beat the mosquito hatch completely. This year I also did a trip last week of June, and the mosquitoes were bad in spots and tolerable in others. Emigrant Lake itself was pretty thick.