TR: Emigrant 6/29-6/30

[venturefar]

Inspired by Wandering Daisy's recent TR viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19586 I headed out to see if I could get to Emigrant Lake.

I spent the night Friday 6/28 at the trailhead campground at Kennedy Meadows. I dozed off listening to an "Ask about Fly Fishing" podcast. I woke up after an hour to the sounds of several hikers started setting up camp in my site. I emerged from my tent and ended up enjoying the night and a few beers with PCT hiker site mates who kept me entertained with their stories from the trail.

I got an early start on Saturday morning hitting the trail at first light in effort to get on the snow I expected to encounter before it got too soft. The snow coverage started at about 8500' as the trail ascends to Sheep Camp. There were some short sections of steep snow below Sheep Camp that would have been pretty sketchy without spikes. I brought an ice axe as well but only used it on one particular steep short traverse. I never saw the sign at the junction to Emigrant Lake. I'm not sure if its gone or just buried by snow. The Summit Creek crossing was shin deep at the most. I headed toward Emigrant lake on hard snow thankful for my early start. After getting to the top of the ridge the terrain levels out somewhat and the rest of the way to Emigrant Lake I hiked on the edges of sun cups. This was my first time hiking with microspikes and I greatly appreciated the extra traction. I made it to the eastern side of the lake by noon. I found the conditions very similar to the imagery I saw on the new caltopo satellite layer. What a game changer! The images showed the inlet and the edges of the north shore thawed or thawing. I also noticed that the western side of the lake showed exposed water so I headed there to check it out. I found some open water and caught a few fish before I wandered down to check out the water spilling over the check dam at the western edge of the lake. I found a nice slab to camp on and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening fishing and snacking.

Sunday morning I again got up early and headed out enjoying the extra traction and confidence my spikes provided on the still frozen sun cups. I saw a set of snowshoe tracks that weren't there on my way in but I never saw another soul until I descended below Sheep Camp. I made great time heading out reaching my car in the trailhead parking lot in under 5 hours.

All in all it was a really fun trip. Solitude and good fishing. I can't say enough how excited I am about the new caltopo layer. Despite Wandering Daisy's awesome TR (Thanks again!) I'm not sure I would have attempted this trip at this time had I not seen the open water on the satellite image.

[texan]

Thanks for the TR. Emigrant Lake does have nice size rainbows, Looks a lot like the summer of1995, I didn't get over brown bear pass until almost the end of August and it was 50 percent coverage on the other side of Brown Bear. The skeeters are going to horrible in August.

[justm]

Thanks Venturefar !! I can always count on you getting into the Emigrant early with a report. Nice trout ! I'm heading into Hyatt the week of the 8th and will hopefully catch some nice ones there, and I may do the loop ; Huckleberry to Emigrant lake and back via Deer, if the snow isn't to bad.

[balzaccom]

Nice fish. Compare that one to the skinny fish in the Hilton lakes report. Food does make a difference!

[windknot]

Thanks for the report! Great job on getting out there and finding fishable water right now. That new Caltopo layer certainly is a game changer when it comes to accurately predicting ice-out at specific lakes.

[gary c.]

Thanks for the pictures and report. We'll be headed in that direction on the 21st. I sure hope it continues to melt.