The Emigrant Wilderness borders right upon the northern end of Yosemite National Park and is quite a recreation destination. Varying terrain including forests, alpine lakes, and rocky ridges make for fun and enjoyable trips. Just walking a few miles can make you feel as if you've left the wilderness behind for another one. Bear Lake is a fun popular destination for backpackers and day hikers, hosting warm water and great views all summer. With the promise of warm lakes and nice weather I grabbed a friend and went for it.
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| Bear Lake in the Emigrant Wilderness |
Trip Logistics
As usual with my trips, the goals differed from what was actually accomplished. What did we want to do, hike to Granite Lake via Bear Lake and then come back past Chewing Gum Lakes the next day. Due to weather and other trip complications we opted to just stop at Bear Lake and go back and camp near Camp Lake.
We began the trip at Crabtree Trailhead. This appears to be a fairly popular trailhead with quite a few cars there mid week in July. The drive was straightforward but did require a little bit of driving on dirt roads. Watch out for pot holes, you could do this in your Honda Civic but you may have to take some parts a little bit slow.
Trip Statistics (If we hiked optimally)
2 days
7.6 miles
1300 ft of elevation gain
Trip Report
Disclaimer: Not my best photo taking trip so sorry if they look a little off or silly.
Alright so lets talk about what we wanted to get done. Originally we wanted to hike to Granite Lake via Bear Lake and then come back past Chewing Gum Lakes the next day. This meant a short two mile section of cross country to get to Granite Lake from Bear Lake. I'll detail why this did not work out later, but that is not important. What is important is that we went to enjoy some nice lakes and take in some fresh air in the mountains.
We drove up towards the trailhead yet again late on a Tuesday night. We found a nice spot on a forest road and camped out for the night. Because we are smart cookies we did our weather research before hand. Mid/high 70s during the days and low 50s during the nights. With those insane lows, we opted to only bring a single sleeping bag to use as a blanket. This saved us from an extra five pounds on trail and we did not end up shivering at night so score!!!
We were on trail by 10 am on Wednesday morning, ready to take on the day! We made our way towards Camp Lake, passing a few other backpackers and watching quite a few others hike past us towards the trailhead.
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Crabtree Trailhead
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The first sign towards Camp Lake
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The view towards Pine Valley
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A small marsh off trail
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More wildflowers
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An accurate representation of how I (and others) feel on backpacking trips
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After about two and a half miles we made it to Camp Lake. The water was quite calm and only a single pair of day hikers were at the lake. We passed them and found a nice place to eat lunch and enjoy the views.
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Camp Lake
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After finishing our lunch, we picked up our packs and carried on. Temperatures were just hitting around the mid 70s but it was not too bad in the shade. Thankfully the mosquitos were quite merciful and decided not to bite too harshly. After about a half mile we hit the next intersection and turned left towards Bear Lake. We passed another marsh on our right and were forced to rush by to avoid the only hoard of mosquitos we encountered during the daytime.
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Warning: Don't feed the hungry backpackers, they may not be as friendly as they first appear
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Eventually we made it to Bear Lake. Right at the end of the trail we ran into a single pair of backpackers who were prepping to go fish. We decided to walk around for a bit and find a nice place for a snack and a swim. After crossing Lily Creek to check out the south-eastern side of the lake we opted to cross back over and hang out on the western side of the lake.
We re-crossed Lily Creek and made our way down a use trail which opened up onto a secluded spot. As we walked out onto a nice rocky vantage point standing about 50 meters away we were greeted by the bright white butt of an older gentleman just finishing up his swim. Oblivious to our presence he slowly put his clothes back on and disappeared into the woods.
Despite being a little scarred we still dropped our packs and jumped into the lake. The water was quite warm and clear but the mushy bottom of the lake made walking around a bit uncomfortable. After a fifteen minute swim we got out and settled in for another snack break.
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Crossing Lily Creek
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Our swim spot. The butt was spotted to the left
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We sat looking north-east gazing at the horizon. As we sat there we
began to see dark storm clouds slowly rolling in. While we tried to
gauge whether they were heading for us or not we began to hear the roll
of thunder. It became more and more frequent as the clouds began to get
closer and closer to us. After a length discussion of the possibilities we opted to retrace our steps to Camp Lake to hopefully avoid any rain and lightning that we were definitely not prepared for. We put our packs back on and started on our way back towards Camp Lake with thunder rolling behind us.
Rather than try and camp somewhere we had already been, we began heading towards Piute Meadow, descending 150 feet vertically towards Lily Creek. We thought this would be a great place to camp but we were quickly swarmed by mosquitos. So that 150 foot descent turned back into a 150 foot climb, something both of us were not very excited about.
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The mistaken descent.
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We were very excited at this point in the day
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Camp Lake was our final destination, finding a nice campsite that gave us a beautiful view over the lake itself. Water was filtered, dinner was cooked, and thankfully we were in the tent before the mosquitos came out in full force. Thankfully the thunder had subsided and the night remained warm. The single sleeping bag was perfect for the night.
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Our campsite looking over Camp Lake
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The beautiful evening sky
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We were up and moving by 7 am the next morning. Breakfast was eaten and camp was broken down. My friend was frustrated as I moved as slow as a sloth and eventually we were on trail by 9:00 am. Our first stop before heading back to the trailhead was Camp Lake for some water.
After filtering some lovely woody lake water, we began our final few miles back to the trailhead. Our way back saw quite a few people, a fair amount of day hikers and even more backpackers. I cannot imagine what the trail is like on the weekend.
But the most exciting part of the trip came on the way back. As we approached a turn in the trail we heard the distant ringing of bells. I was a bit confused as we were not in grizzly bear territory so bells on hikers would be quite out of place.
Led by a lovely friendly man, a train of four llamas rounded the corner, bells jingling, followed by a beautiful medium sized dog. The man stopped and chatted with us about our trip and where he was headed and even let us snap some pictures with his beautiful llamas!!!
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The one on the left is name Smores!!!
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Eventually we parted ways, the llamas toward Bear Lake and us towards Crabtree Trailhead. After a bit we saw a group of people on horseback headed out to do some trail maintenance. On its own that would have sounded like such a cool experience too but we had just seen four llamas so we were not as impressed.
After that we continued on back to the car. Eventually we reached the trailhead where we took a quick break by dipping our feet in the nearby stream. The water was clear and cool and we were even able to see some fish darting around our feet.
We made it to the car by 11:00 am just before the heat of the day. There were still quite a few groups of backpackers gearing up to head out but we quickly packed up our gear to head back to Santa Cruz.
Even though we did not make our original itinerary we still had a great time. Both Camp Lake and Bear Lake were quite nice and provided great swimming and views. This would be a great trip for a beginning backpacker and I would even highly recommend it to anybody who is trying to enjoy a couple days in the backcountry.
Happy hiking!
-m
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