Emigrant Wilderness-Relief Reservoir and Kennedy Lake

[chris Nelson]

Date:September 15-17 2012
Temperature: Day-mid 70's Night-low 30's
Mosquitos: None but plenty of yellow jackets

For the last trip of the season we went to Emigrant Wilderness after ditching our plan to go do Desolation because we couldn't get our permit online and didn't want to risk getting a permit the day of. So for the third time this year we are going to Emigrant. I was totally ok with that because each time we went from a different TR and Emigrant is oh so beautiful!

The plan for the trip was to have a relaxing hike to both lakes so we could spend some time fishing and enjoying the views. We Left Kennedy Meadows TR around 11am after leaving San Francisco early in the AM.

The Crew

Crossing the fist bridge

Top of the First ridge where we ate lunch. Weather is perfect

First view of Relief Reservoir

We made the hike to Relief in a few hours and gave us plenty of time to swim and fish. You can tell Relief is a very popular lake. Unfortunately there was a lot of trash. We did our best to pick it up. Even though, it is a very pretty destination.

As the sun came up in the AM

We had a relaxed AM then headed to Kennedy Lake. 2 of the crew could only stay one night so when we hit the junction they went back the TR and we went further to Kennedy Lake. Once we hiked towards the Lake it was a good climb and we got some good views at the top

The rest of the hike to Kennedy lake is slightly up hill. We were thinking of changing plans and going to Sharon Lake but we decided to stick with the plan. Maybe next time.

Then the cows. Seeing that many cows in the wilderness was surprising to me. Anyone know what the deal is with the cows out there?

Cabin-anybody know what it is used for?

We hiked too close to the river and was very marshy. On the way out we stayed higher and were better off. There also a ton of hunters out there.

View from camp. Lucky we found a spot on the other side of the lake with not so much cow p00p. There was a ton of it!

We had a beautiful sunset

Next AM. We had a chilly night but all slept well

Leaving Kennedy Lake and saying bye to all the cows.

We had a great tip with perfect weather and great people. We had some first timers who really enjoyed the trip and plan to do some more backpacking in the future.

[Paul McLaughlin]

Grazing occurs in various parts of the Emigrant, it is a historical use allowed by the wilderness regulations. The cabin is used by the ranchers who run the cattle – I have met them in there in the past when they were staying at the cabin.

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