Question: Lord Meadow to Huckleberry on south side?

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balzaccom
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Re: Question: Lord Meadow to Huckleberry on south side?

Post by balzaccom »

Our trip was early July a few years ago, and we had massive mosquitoes at Emigrant Lake and other areas of the hike...but didn't notice any at Latora. It's all a question of timing.
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SSSdave
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Re: Question: Lord Meadow to Huckleberry on south side?

Post by SSSdave »

Given our dry February, there is a fair possibility we are looking at another dry overall winter. As a hard core skier, am hoping for another big March miracle like in 2018 and in fact will be up skiing at heavenly again tomorrow my day #21. But will see haha. That has me looking at possibly planning an Emigrant Basin fishing oriented group trip since that zone with countless shallow granitoid pools of water otherwise has the worst mosquitoes in the range after wet winters. Would likely target Styx Pass, Huckleberry, and Lertora so Kibbie Ridge. Thus went to the Stanislaus National Forest website where their contact page has an email contact form. So sent them the below that is more likely to get to a knowledgeable person versus a general phone call.
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The Shingle Springs trailhead was gated closed after washouts during the 2017 winter and has remained closed to my knowledge despite forest service vehicles driving into that trailhead even in 2017. Instead the trail up Kibbie Ridge by mid-summer has started at the Lake Eleanor trailhead that I've used. Members of the High Sierra Topix web community are interested in knowing if that is now permanent or are there plans to eventually open that road to the trailhead again especially for the 2020 summer?
Last edited by SSSdave on Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Question: Lord Meadow to Huckleberry on south side?

Post by kpeter »

Thanks SSSDave for pursuing that information!
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Re: Question: Lord Meadow to Huckleberry on south side?

Post by SSSdave »

This link that might be a recent addition, provides a list of trail mileages within Emigrant Wilderness. At least where I've been comparing against my own topo map work appears reasonably accurate.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 534687.pdf

After some analysis, if we do this likely 9 day trip, will be hiking in from Kennedy Meadows and base camping at Letora Lake 3 nights with other nights in Saucer Meadow, Middle Emigrant Lake and big Emigrant Lake. Via a cross country route from Blackbird Lake, it appears we can reach Letora at just 17.5 miles about mid day of day 3. Will set a date in late spring dependent on when I think the mosquito plague has waned. Decades ago I backpacked into Maxwell and Emigrant from Kennedy.
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Re: Question: Lord Meadow to Huckleberry on south side?

Post by SSSdave »

response:
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The damage on 1N04 between the Lake Eleanor Trail Head and the Shingle Springs Trailhead from the 2017 winter storms was significant enough to classify the road as unsafe for general public use. Due to the numerous road failures that occurred that year across the Stanislaus National Forest, road repairs were prioritized based on greatest need. The limited funds and resources available were then used to repair roads in that order. This road is on that list and is planned to be repaired in the next few years.

Tim Hughes, PE
Forest Engineer
Stanislaus National Forest
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kpeter
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Re: Question: Lord Meadow to Huckleberry on south side?

Post by kpeter »

Thanks, SSSDave for asking and getting that question answered. In other words, the federal government is currently putting a very low priority on roads to backpacker trailheads. Not really a surprise. My guess is that "the next few years" means they haven't decided whether the budget will improve sufficiently after the 2020 election or whether it won't improve sufficiently until after the 2024 election.

In the meantime, we can add a couple of miles and 900 feet to the approach.
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