TR 8/12-8/13 Granite Dome Lakes, Emigrant Wilderness

[mpeters]

Granite Dome Lakes, Emigrant Wilderness. 8/12-8/13, 2023

After multiple visits to Middle Lewis and one visit to Upper Lewis in my late teens and early 20’s, I’ve eyed a return to this area for a while(I’m now 50). With a two day window and a willing friend, we hiked a variation of the typical Kennedy Meadows TH version. I figured with just two days, and the primary objective of Ridge and Iceland Lakes that a new launch point was needed. It seemed logical that dropping into Lower Relief Valley would shorten the approach and lessen the elevation gain. It was a decent plan on paper.

8/12 (6.3 miles, +2,364, -760) Early Saturday morning we drove 5N01 through Eagle Meadows and parked near the Silver Mine spur road. Not quite as far as I hoped, giving us 2 miles and an extra 700’ elevation to get to the ridge overlooking Lower Relief Valley. But, no big deal, it didn’t take long to make the ridge. Our destination was visible, guarded by the impressive walls of Granite Dome. After sliding down the slope through the brush to the valley, we sloshed our way through waist high corn lilies(?) to Relief Creek. Traveling up the drainage was decent going and soon we were able to traverse the granite slabs towards Ridge. We did get delayed by epic hail and rain around 4pm. The hail was large enough to hurt, even though huddled under a tree. We made Ridge; wow! I assumed middle Lewis had a monopoly on granite backdrops, but Ridge was equally impressive. Rain was threatening again so we pitched shelter and then it let loose. The rain didn’t let up until about 8pm so I jumped out and grabbed a few pictures of sunset. The sky was clear to the north long enough to see several nice meteors, plus the added bonus of a fireball to the south, streaking over Granite Dome. It then clouded back up and rained off and on all night.

8/13 (11.6 miles, +2,214, -3,529)
I’m the morning it was cloudy but warm and the wind was whipping. We decided that it would be fun to go check out the other lakes, descend to Summit Creek, cross Relief Dam, and walk the forest road back to our vehicle. I’ll note here that it wasn’t as straightforward as we thought, our planning excitement clouded by morning optimism. We aimed for Sardella but ended up climbing too high and the bowl we eventually gained held Upper Lewis. I camped there when I was 16 or 17 and it was a treat to see. We contented ourselves with a peak over the low saddle to Sardella and then exited towards Middle Lewis. A few scrambles later we weee looking down on Middle Lewis and it’s beauty was even more striking than I remembered from prior visits. We dropped to the inlet stream, then followed the outlet of Lower Lewis towards Summit Creek. A wet shoe crossing of Summit Creek put is back on the trail towards Relief Reservoir. The trail miles were uneventful, and devoid of people except one group dealing with the reality of mosquitoes near relief reservoir. (The mosquitoes were manageable with repellant and long sleeves, long pants. I only swallowed one.)

We were tired and less brimming with optimism but still doing ok when we reached the dam. Here is where the depression started to set in. The west side of the dam is devoid of any traveled trails and we started, stopped, backed down, scrambled up and wasted about an hour looking for the best exit. Eventually we went up a little gully, found a couple of faint footprints, and made our way back to the forest road. More hail, more rain, lightning and thunder chased us on the 800’ climb back to our truck and we made it back to Modesto by 10:45p. If you are the guys who offered us cashews and water when we emerged from our hike up from the dam, thank you! We’d have loved a ride back to our truck but the cashews were a morale booster!

In short, maybe Kennedy Meadows is the best TH for a visit to this area. There are no cold drinks or ice cream waiting at the end of Relief Reservoir dam. It’s a spectacular place, and I’m pleased we had the experience. The XC is mostly gentle with long sloping granite, only occasionally interrupted by passive aggressive high Sierra benches that force retreat and regather.

If you stuck with this long TR until now, thanks for reading and happy hiking!

[giantbrookie]

Thanks for the report. That is one of the overlooked parts of Emigrant and it certainly has a very different character. My wife and I went to that area in 1991 and camped at Iceland. I remember a very interesting ledge and ramp system that we climbed to get us over this one big step en route to Iceland; we had sheltered beneath the step/cliff waiting out a thunderstorm. Iceland, Ridge, and Middle Lewis are certainly attractive lakes, but Middle Lewis is really special. On the other hand, Ridge and Iceland are a bit more out of the way and secluded.

[balzaccom]

Yep, we've liked that area a lot. You get plenty of credit for trying the new route. We've always done it from Kennedy Meadows, where it is pretty straightforward. Those lake are beautiful!

[mpeters]

@giantbrookie - until this trip I assumed middle Lewis was the crown jewel but Ridge is a strong contender.

@balzaccom- thanks. It was fun to try a new way.

[stokejob]

Hey mpeters,

Great trip report. I've hiked into that basin twice now, from the Kennedy Meadows TH. Was the rest of the road "5N01D" gated off, or just rough?

[scottmiller]

Iceland Lake was my introduction to Sierra backpacking, about 1969 or so. I went there so often I had a nice permanent camp above the lake. My brother brought a grill up to cook trout on. Pack weight was of little concern to a teenager so I brought my guitar, quart of Bacardi, a jar of Tang (including the jar), and so on.
I'm going back there in a couple of weeks. I still bring a guitar when backpacking, but it's a backpacking guitar.

[windknot]

Thanks for the report! Glad you had a good trip. This is an area I haven't visited yet but have long heard good things about.

[scottmiller]

This is an area I haven't visited yet but have long heard good things about.

It's a very nice plateau, typically not many people because it's off trail. I've gotten there from the east, west, and south. All of the routes are about the same: Easy if you find the route, not so easy if you don't.