Anyone Have An Emigrant Wilderness Trip Suggestion?

When are you planning to make this trip? There are some serious creek crossings early summer and of course, possible lingering snow. Also, does your vehicle have decent ground clearance? I ask because there are a few THs (e.g. Crabtree, Gianelli) that require a short drive on rutted gravel roads that can be a bit tedious for a low slung car. Finally, are you interested in off-trail travel?

A good 20ish mile “lollipop” loop that I’ve done, which incorporates both on and off trail, starts at Kennedy Meadows TH, heads south past Relief Reservoir to Saucer Meadow on trail. Just south of Saucer Meadow you head west off trail, crossing Summit Creek, and aim for Iceland Lake. From there you continue west-southwest and rejoin the trail just south of Upper Relief Valley. Once on trail, head north and return to Kennedy Meadows. Lots of exploring along the way especially around Iceland Lake.

We were planning on late April, early May. I have driven to Gianelli in the past, not my favorite thing to do with my car but manageable. I have never been to Crabtree or Kennedy Meadows.

We can do stream crossings that are in the 1-2 foot range and will have our 75 lb dog with us. My son wants to fish, not sure if it is too early in the season.

Have you downloaded the trail map from the Stanislaus NF web site? From Crabtree, you can do a nice loop where the turn around is Cow Meadow Lake, with lots of opportunities for fishing along the way.

Note: There will be snow and some of the trail signs will have been knocked down.

You should check the rangers about how high the streams might be and whether they run higher late in the afternoon because of snow melt.

One year, we went in the first week of June and while I thought all the crossings were easy, some in our group were less confident.

Of course, the hardest part of the trip will be getting out of the Bay Area and past Tracy on the freeway. :-))

Late April/early May seems too soon to me, but it all depends on conditions. Good advice above to check with Rangers. I guess if you time it right you can sneak in before the skeeters start swarming.

Thanks! Spoke with the ranger and the road will be open in mid April, no backcountry reports yet. I think I need to find a Bay Area alternative for April/May :)

The other option for Emigrant is to hike some of the unopened roads themselves.  You can do a nice hike into the Herring Creek area, climb Pinecrest Peak, and a loop on the roads there. You won’t see anyone.  Beautiful area.  You can find a trip report on our backpackthesierra.com website.

With the extra snow we’re getting, early May will be wet. I’d rec go low. If the road to Crabtree is passable, you can drop down and head for Pingree Lake. Very sweet for a basecamp, nice dayhikes to Yellowhammer and up to Karl’s if low snow. Nobody will be there. But yes, do check with the Summit Rangers to see if anyone has been out there yet. Stream crossings to Gem, Jewelry, Deer… can be high in early season.

Manfred Kopisch posted a trip report last year or the year before here at BPL, where he drove down the Crabtree Road as far as possible, then hiked and snow shoed further toward the Emigrant Wilderness.

@Mudjester – Pingree looks nice, thanks for the suggestion. Do you happen to know how the fishing is during the season?

@Bruce – thanks for the suggestion.

Lowell

Lowell – I don’t know about fishing, stocking of lakes. Rangers & packers do ~ the packers in Emigrant seem to do a big business.