Emigrant Wilderness SUL Trip – July 13-14

I was at Kennedy Lake about a month a go and it was very comfortable at night. I would say better safe than sorry. I will be bringing a down vest, beanie, glove liners and sleep in my hiking pants with a 35 degree down bag.

I was in Emigrant a couple weeks ago and it was so warm at night that we all sweated it out in our sleeping bags. It got up to 100 degrees during the day.

I would love to see a thread with everyone's gear lists!

Question: does your toothbrush count as one item? Just in case we would like to duplicate the challenge in other parts of the country ….

The weather man was accurate for a change for that area last weekend. None of us had a thermometer, but temps I would say were close to freezing. I was fine with only my wool socks on in my WM 35F bag. Slowly warmed up in the AM. Crazy back and forth weather this Spring so far. 70's one week, up to the 90's, now back to the 70's here in the mountains.
Duane

For those who are curious, I added my gear list for this trip to my profile.

Great list Andrew! I have decided no cooking gear which will save me around 9 oz. I will bring snacks, hoagies, cheese & crackers, bagels, PB, ETC. I might bring a fishing pole to catch some fresh protein. I will check the weather forecast and if no rain in the forecast I will just bring my Yama Mountain Gear bug shelter at 10.5 oz with my WM Highlite 35* at 17.5 oz.

Should we consider some bear deterrent? Are you guys bringing any and if so, what kind?
Thanks,
James

Definitely not. Bear spray is for grizzlies, not black bears. It's illegal to discharge bear spray in Yosemite. We'll be lucky if we see a bear at all – in 100+ visits to the park I have seen a bear once. An odor-proof bag is advisable for your food as an extra layer of protection inside the bear hang or Ursack, though. If we were in the park we'd have to bring bear cans, but they are not required in Emigrant which has different rules.

Thanks for the insight Andrew. Does it show that in the Bay Area I've never backpacked in either Yosemite or Emigrant? Haha but I am so excited to try it.

At what point will we start talking about rides/ carpools? FWIW I could use a ride and I live in South Bay (Campbell). I'll help pay for gas.
Thanks,
James

James, glad you are getting out there with us- careful, you might get hooked.

I'm in the south bay too, and a number of the others are in SF or the east bay, so I am sure we will do some carpooling. I think I'll probably drive up very early Saturday, if anybody wants to join me.

I am in the East Bay and if you can BART to the Walnut Creek station I can pick you up from there. I have a truck that will sit four and lots of room for your packs. I am probably going to drive up Friday afternoon and sleep at the TH.

I'll be leaving from SF and will have room for 3 more people. I'll probably leave early Saturday as well. If there's not enough of us to justify 2 cars, maybe we can consolidate in Dublin?

It'd be nice if we could combine cars like usual, Chris. From the looks of it we currently have 4 people coming from the bay area (not counting Jay who is leaving on Friday), so we should be able to fit anybody who wants a ride on Saturday morning in one vehicle.

I am planning on going on this trip and have room for up to two others (maybe three is you're really SUL). Probably leaving Friday afternoon/early evening and camping at the TH. I would be leaving from Reno and coming in from the east.

I'll be coming up from Los Angeles and will meet you at the Trail Head Saturday morning.

Sleeping at Trail-Head.

I will leave Walnut Creek around 7:00PM after the rush hour get a dinner plus a few adult beverages. Get to Sanora Pass around 10:30-11:00 get some sleep and be ready to go early in the morning. If you leave the Bay Area at 6:00AM you will not get to the TH until 11:00 or 12:00. I really like getting the drive out of the way at night versus the morning. Less traffic, better sleep and attack that trail early. But it is always hard to schedule different families and times of departure. Sanora Pass has a bathroom and good campsites. I would rather go with a crew of friends but it is always hard to get everybody on the same page. I could pick up people at the WC Bart station Friday night if possible. Have a Think and let me know.

Jay

Jay, it would be nice to hang out Friday night so we have more time but then my wife will be jealous. I'll bring some scotch to make sure we all have a good time on Saturday night. I would recommend that anyone who has concerns about acclimatizing should drive up the night before.

I'm planning on leaving really early, like 5AM or earlier, which in my experience means it only takes about 3-3.5 hours to get to Sonora Pass (my personal record is Pinecrest in 2.5 hours, I wasn't even speeding). I suggest a meeting time of 9:00AM on Saturday at Sonora Pass TH and be hiking by 9:30AM. Is that too early for the folks coming from far away?

Jay,
Sounds like you're my best bet for getting up there and squeezing in an extra night. If you have the room I'd like to claim a seat in your car.
Thanks,
James

PS to All- a stake question: reading some of the recent ( and not so recent threads on stakes in the gear section) has made me second guess my choice of carbon fiber stakes for the Sierras. Should I swap these out for some ti shepherd stakes or even some beefier ground hog stakes?
Thanks (again),
James

James, others with more high sierra experience nice might chime in too, but I find the shepherd's hooks plus a few msr ground hogs do the trick. Sometimes I'll have to use some heavy rocks as well.

I never have much luck with the ti shepherd stakes, but some people swear by them. I think your carbon ones are pretty similar in size to the Easton tubular stakes which work great.

Sounds like a great trip guys. I will be at either up by Latopie or Wolf Creek Lake this weekend. I am expecting the weather to be warm but on the Crest, it can change quickly.

On the prohibition of fires, the FS has not done a very good job of explaining the purpose of the prohibition. it is not just to mitigate the risk of starting wildfires but also ,and perhaps more importantly, preserve the nutrients created by the natural decomposition of wood at high elevations. So often the prohibtion of the collecting of wood is also but not always spelled out. So if you take your Bushbuddy and collect wood below the stated elevation, you comply with the letter and spirit of the law.

The parking lot at Sonora Pass is posted "No Camping" and I have been told by Rangers that they do occasionally cite obvious campers. But they tend to ignore folks who bivouac away from the parking lot.

Still possible to get in on this trip? I'm not an SUL guy yet… my hammock is preventing me from getting below 8 lbs…

But it sounds fun regardless. I think I'm down for heading up early and sleeping at the trailhead. I'm leaving from SF and I have a car. I can either carpool or I can drive (either way).

Still plenty of room Kevin. You can probably carpool with Jay or with Chris and James. Glad you can make it. No worries about being SUL or not, my base weight is still 8 lbs for this trip. My focus is on bringing fewer items this time rather than the absolute lightest. My personal goal is simply to have as little gear to fuss with as possible for this one.

Does anybody have an Ursack they can bring? Or is anyone planning on bringing a bear can that they might be able to share space in? The Emigrant Lakes are mostly above treeline so it's very unlikely we'll be able to do an effective bear hang. Chris and I will each bring an Ursack, but now that we have more people (which is great!) we may have trouble fitting all the food in those two alone. I have a Bearikade that we can all share but it'd be nice to save the weight and bulk.

I have an ursack that I will bring.

I am a hammock camper so I might need to create creative with my hang if we're camping at elevation but it's usually never a problem. I just looked at the map and it seems fine.

I also have a GPS and a wood stove … you guys are more than welcome to use the stove if there is no campfire around.

There are some trees up there, just not very big ones. You can probably find a spot to hang though it might be a little ways away from everybody else.

Just so you know, wood fires are prohibited where we will be camping Saturday night so you'll probably want to bring a more conventional stove option.