R06 TR: Emigrant: Powell, Granite, Bear lakes 7/22-7/25 2024

[adam_]

We went in monday July 22, and came out Thursday July 25, entering from Gianelli trailhead and exiting at Crabtree. We were two families of four, each with a 14 and 11 year old, and four middle aged adults who all used to be pretty fit backpackers but are now not quite so. From our perspective, seeking a fun family trip with a bit of adventure but nothing very difficult, this was a huge success. Thanks to those on this board who gave me advice ahead of time, or whose trip reports I mined earlier!

Temperatures were weirdly warm, especially at night- I never had to put on a fleece. But the predicted thunderstorms never rained on us, despite the ominous clouds each afternoon. Mosquitos were annoying after dark but not an issue during the day. Powell lake was lovely, and only had one other party there. The side trail to the lake was weirdly small and easy to miss for a place so heavily used. Water was great for swimming, and kids had fun jumping off rocks. I gather from what others have said here that it's usually more crowded, but for us, it was an absurdly nice campsite for such a short hike.

The next day we hiked to Y meadow lake, and then xc to Granite. The climb out of lake valley before descending to Y meadow was harder than it should have been. The route to Granite was technically simple, but required lots of micro route finding to get around boulders and shelves without too much up and down, but the kids were good at that. The terrain tended to push us too much SE coming from Y meadow dam, but aiming for the right (N) shoulder of the granite knob NE of the lake kept us on course. We camped near the outlet of granite; there was one other party on the other side of the lake. Had plans for a big day hike to Leopold lake the next day, but tired legs and the threat of thunderstorms kept us to exploring the various knobs and ridges nearby and lots of swimming followed by basking on the glacial polish.

The last day we descended cross-country to bear lake. In general we stayed further left (south) than I would have expected. It was mostly slabs with the occasional steep connecting bits, but nothing difficult. There were some helpful ducks in places, but not enough to follow the whole way. There is one huge flat expanse of granite just above 8200 ft that was especially fun. It was a great xc experience for the kids- a challenge, but nothing so difficult that they/we could get in trouble. There were a lot of parties camped at Bear. More swimming and rock jumping at bear lake, then the easy but not very interesting runout to crabtree.

All in all, a ton of fun!

[balzaccom]

Excellent! That sounds like an ideal "getting back into it" trip--lots of fun, lots of achievable challenges, and everybody happy.

Where's the next one going?

[adam_]

Olympic coast next week- no hills, just lots of wet rock hiking... again thanks to all on this board for the great advice