Emigrant trip advice around Big/Hyatt lakes area

[Wandering Daisy]

I have hiked from Lord Meadow to Huckleberry Lake entirely on the south side, avoiding any creek crossings. It was not bad, just some easy x-c travel.

My interest in 2018 was to go up the NORTH fork of Cherry Creek, staying on the NW side. Has anyone done that?

[SSSdave]

The East Fork is the largest fork and will probably be impossible to cross till mid August. North Fork early season is rather impassable too as it drains all that snowy high volcanic geology about High Emigrant Lake. Recall one time looking at the Cow Meadow crossing in July that would have been a cold swim. For decades have wanted to visit Huckleberry and Letora mid summer when most green after damselflies and dragonflies hatch, however is a long effort to reach there and only practical in drier winters when streams might be crossed and mosquitoes have less standing water to propagate in. That noted, Letora Lake along with Huckleberry and Cow Meadow Lakes beside it has to be the worst place for mosquitoes in the range as there are ridiculous numbers of small shallow bedrock ponds as well as swampy areas in the 2 canyons.

[mschnaidt]

I have hiked from Lord Meadow to Huckleberry Lake entirely on the south side, avoiding any creek crossings. It was not bad, just some easy x-c travel.

My interest in 2018 was to go up the NORTH fork of Cherry Creek, staying on the NW side. Has anyone done that?

I have done a bit of it. This is hand drawn but close. It was in late July or early August so the creek was low. The views and solitude were great and the going was easy on open granite while in the canyon.

North Fork 2009.JPG

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[murphtron]

As someone that has been down along the rarely visited West Fork of Cherry Creek early season, a mile below where mschnaidt crossed, the notion of crossing the creek at a time when people are still having trouble crossing Buck Creek well up that creek had me wondering. So brought up where it shows he crossed at 6600 feet that shows the creek branching out widely as it cascades down glaciated bedrock. So indeed that looks like it would be crossable though just at that one spot.

WFCherryCr1.jpg

I wouldn't cross that glaciated area that appears as if it's branching out. The water is rushing downhill very quickly and there are deep, wide channels. Better to cross a mile or so downstream where it's flat. I haven't found a good route going upstream from this glaciated area in high water on the south side. It's doable in low water following close to west fork.

[RosamundLM]

For what it is worth, here are some of the routes/trails that I used in 2018

Love that map...I wish there was a version to show the other side of Hyatt. Also, I once did the straight line from Rosascoe to Hyatt. Riders from Aspen Meadows told us about it...short distance but lots of taking pack off and handing down to team members.

[frozenintime]

As someone that has been down along the rarely visited West Fork of Cherry Creek early season, a mile below where mschnaidt crossed, the notion of crossing the creek at a time when people are still having trouble crossing Buck Creek well up that creek had me wondering. So brought up where it shows he crossed at 6600 feet that shows the creek branching out widely as it cascades down glaciated bedrock. So indeed that looks like it would be crossable though just at that one spot.

WFCherryCr1.jpg

I wouldn't cross that glaciated area that appears as if it's branching out. The water is rushing downhill very quickly and there are deep, wide channels. Better to cross a mile or so downstream where it's flat. I haven't found a good route going upstream from this glaciated area in high water on the south side. It's doable in low water following close to west fork.

i just crossed west fork cherry this weekend, about 1/2 mile south of the cascading section mentioned above. this crossing was wide and varied from ankle to thigh deep at points, but was uniformly slow moving (i'm 6'1" but others in my group were 5'9"ish and managed just fine). a dunk here would be very wet but not dangerous.

the glaciated section is striking, but did not look particularly safe this early. *maybe* there would be a way to jump across the narrower bits, but maybe not. it would be sketchy and misjudging a jump could be really unpleasant. just a bit later in the season, you could probably cross here with dry feet.

west fork cherry.jpeg

[balzaccom]

By the way, and only slightly off topic, we went from Big Lake up to Red Can Lake a few years ago. There are a couple of different routes, but we found that it was easiest to go via Five Acre Lake...from there Red Can is pretty easy, and you can easily get to Leighton and Karl Lake at that point, without getting wet. And that, of course, would lead you back to Woods...and those pesky trails.

[murphtron]

Hey @frozenintime did you continue up West Fork or were you going over to Hyatt? Just curious if you continued on WF was it possible to climb adjacent to the falls on the south side about 1/2mile above that photo.

[frozenintime]

we were en route to hyatt, so i can’t answer, sorry!

[Schleppy]

Hey @frozenintime did you continue up West Fork or were you going over to Hyatt? Just curious if you continued on WF was it possible to climb adjacent to the falls on the south side about 1/2mile above that photo.

@murphtron Not sure if your question was time sensitive to the '22 early season, but I can confirm that sticking to the south bank of the W Fork is straight forward to navigate the next ≈1.25 miles above the pictured pool once you get around the bushes on it's east shore. I don't see that it would ever be made difficult by high water, and it's a lovely section when the creek is moving. There's no significant impediment until the wide+shrubby area beneath the prominent granite ramp 1.25 miles upstream.