High Sierra Topix

Great report and pictures. This year was my first time in the Emigrant and I have to agree it way different than I was expecting.

That polished granite is super cool looking, glad you had a good trip and thanks for the report

What a neat report with great photos. I think 15" is a bit conservative for that fish. That looks like a legitimate monster. That a lot of ground to cover in 6 days at this time of year, eating cold food, no less. Anyhow I hope we'll get to use stoves up there next summer because I hope to hit the area around Emigrant Mdw L-Emigrant-Huckleberry-Snow etc. as well Dorothy-Tilden-Mary, out of Leavitt Lake in 2021. We'll see. I really haven't gotten to that part of Emigrant yet, so it has moved to the top of my (to do) list and your report really cements this in the no.1 position for my next long trip.

Darn it! Now I want to go there too. You keep posting these great trip reports, and I just don't have the time to go see everything that I want to.

Thanks for all the nice comments. I hope we can all get back in there soon.

giantbrookie/Professor John, I know you are probably writing two or three pro. geologic papers, but can you drop that for a few minutes to educate us on the genesis of giant sheets of glacial polish? Check out wildhiker's photo above from the Lyell Fork of the Merced, an area I believe you too have explored, isn't that the very same sort of massive granite we saw in lower Lord Meadow? Why don't you produce yet another paper on glacier polish, and then you'll be hard at work, and billing for your time while roaming the Cherry Creek lakes and canyons? Thanks, Ian.

What a cool place. And I love the silhouette dog pictures. Oh, and most people have a hole in their face that they can put brandy. It has been known to potentially have detrimental effects on the start of a trip (I'll have to find a link to the study), but it does take a lot longer to leak out.

Just read your report.. What a great trip report. And I agree with GB comments..looks like the fish is on the high side!
Yes, similar itinerary to mine..a little bit east.

I have been on a very very similar itinerary as yours..in perhaps 1974 or so. Big Lake is a favorite of mine, but it has been more than 40 years.
I was at Pingree Lake back then and met a couple of old timers who had made it in somehow with horses and had a row boat there. There are few enough trails in this area, and soooo many lakes to visit. You can both see lots of people..or have places all to yourself. A choice you make.

Your TR has provided some motivation to return here... Not sure what time of year is best..but perhaps any will do.

The only time I would say to avoid is peak runoff, particularly in a high snow year. That varies each year but you can track that on CDEC website. Creek crossings are a major undertaking at peak runoff, some dangerous, some impossible. I have had to turn back twice when I could not cross. Different trailheads all have their creek crossing problems. Peak runoff fishing is also not the best.

I have gone in very early, before peak runoff; it is still pretty wintery but the granite slabs melt off early. I tend to go to Emigrant a lot and have done several short trips just because it is close to where I live and permits are very easy to get. The off-trail travel can get nasty if not on the vast granite slabs. The terrain has a lot of small-scale complexity. There are some off-trail destinations that are actually easier to reach when the terrain is covered with snow. I always thought late spring ski trips would work- the main difficulty being snowed-in trailheads. Kennedy Meadows opens early; the road is open here considerably earlier than the opening of Sonora Pass.

Another adjacent area is the Boundary Lakes area just south of Cherry Creek, actually goes into Yosemite. This is accessed from Cherry Lake. I did a trip report as as Kpeter. You may want to look into that too. Unfortunately this area does not have great fishing.

What about my idea to head from Cherry Lake TH up Kibbe Ridge, maybe down to a camp at Many Island Lake, then over Styx Pass, then back downstream along Cherry Canyon Creek? Wouldn't this be possibly even during high water, and even at its best? It would be brilliant to view the raging waters. Seems like one could stay on the left bank, and avoid all serious river crossings, and either reach Cherry Lake again, or if that's impassable, head back up to the Kibbe Ridge Trail for the last couple miles? Does anyone see a potentially impassable creek crossing in that stretch?

I really wish I could include a Caltopo, but have failed so far at learning to work it.

Harlen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:11 pm What about my idea to head from Cherry Lake TH up Kibbe Ridge, maybe down to a camp a t Many Island Lake, then over Styx Pass, then back downstream along Cherry Canyon Creek? Wouldn't this be possibly even during high water, and even at its best? It would be brilliant to view to raging waters. Seems like one could stay on the left bank, and avoid all serious river crossings, and either reach Cherry Lake again, or if that's impassable, head back up to the Kibbe Ridge Trail for the last couple miles? Does anyone see a potentially impassable creek crossing in that stretch?

I really wish I could include a Caltopo, but have failed so far at learning to work it.

I'd think something like that is how I'd want to do it in early season. I'd probably go the opposite direction, doing the cross country first so that if I got stuck out after dark, it'd just be jogging some trail miles back down the hill.

I know if you're into carrying overnight gear, there's a place called the Flintstone camp down near the creek as well.