Good Beginner 1 nighter in Emigrant Wilderness?

Hi Steve

Out of Crabtree your best bets are either Bear or Gem Lake for an overnight.  From Gianelli, you could look at YMeadow, Chewing Gum, Leopold, etc.  Depends on how far you want to hike.  Bear in mind that ALL of these lakes were frozen solid five days ago according to the Stanislaus National Forest.  And the roads to the trailheads are not open.

Other hikes off Highway 108 would include Sword/Lost Lakes, Boulder Lake, Disaster Creek or Clark’s Fork in the Cason Iceberg Wilderness…or Reilef Reservoir, Summit Creek, Leavitt  Lake in the Emigrant Wilderness.

Ebbetts Pass (Higway4) takes you to Noble Lake on the PCT…89  takes you to Carson Pass, and Winnemucca, Round Top, 4th of July Lakes to the South, or North to Sowers, Meiss or Dardanelles Lakes.

We have trip reports on all of these on or website: backpack Sierra.com..

Sorry.  South of 89 requires advanced booking…

Bear Lake is probably pretty good distance for people that don’t have hiking legs built up yet. As the hill going into it could suck for somebody new to switchbacks. Still remember exiting that way last year and seeing the pained faces of people coming up that hill on a hot Friday.

*Used Basecamp for graph, so Mileage is garbage.

Gem lake is alright, but kind of small. For me, Emigrant Wilderness really shines out towards the bigger guys like Buck Lake or Huckleberry Lake, but that’s more like a 3 night trip at least.

If you head the other direction off 108, Sword and Lost Lakes are about the same distance, with less climbing. But they are in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness not Emigrant.

“A Wilderness Permit is required for overnight visits to the Emigrant, Carson-Iceberg, and Mokelumne Wildernesses from April 1 through November 30. Pick up a free permit at any Stanislaus National Forest Ranger Station. If you will be arriving outside of regular business hours, please call up to three days in advance to have a permit left in the after-hours pick-up box. ”

Doesn’t SEEM to require advanced booking. I’ll call though and make sure.

Thanks for the tip Paul about Carson-Iceberg.

Does not require advanced booking for a permit.  And there are no trailhead quotas, so you don’t need to worry about “getting in.”  At Hoover Wilderness, on the East side of Sonora Pass, you self register for your permits at the trailhead.