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Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14

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TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 01, 2014 10:32PM
Well this is my first trip report that I have ever put together so bear with my while I figure this out. tongue sticking out smiley Anyway I went out to kennedy lake a few weeks ago (Before I knew about this forums) but I thought it would be nice to share a few pictures and thoughts about the trip and area that I visted so as to pay back a little bit to the community. *

Well thats enough of that, lets get to the trip.
I went out with a few friends on a friday. Got up there to the trail head by 10am with day packs filled with food and water to spend the whole day up there.


The Trail was a total of 16miles round trip and consisted of a good bit of elevation change. Roughly 1,800ft each way and the max grade was 24%



The waterfalls on the way up were running very nice at the time.


After the Second bridge and not far before the 3rd and final bridge you get a nice little view


Heading on up farther on the trail and we started getting some clouds rolling in. At this point we are about 3miles out from the lake. The dog in the picture is my trail buddy Alex and he comes with me everywhere I go. smiling smiley


Starting to get a glimspe of the mountains. Just shy of 2 miles away and the clouds are definitely gathering.


Made it out to the meadow and at this point its Snowing/hailing on us let alone the thunder and lightning that started. Time to make a break for the tree line to eat lunch.



After lunch it was time to do the last 1 mile through the wet meadow. Alex didnt mind one bit! tongue sticking out smiley


Made it to the lake! To bad its still cloudy and cold though but its time to check out the lake anyway.


The lake was Freezing cold! Alex didnt care though!


After a few mins of hanging out at the lake the clouds started to blow out of the area and it turned into a very nice day. And we even had the whole lake to ourselves.




After a few hours chilling at the lake, taking a nap, and exploring it was time to hit the trail and head back home.




All in all the trip out the kennedy lake was very nice. The views on the way up are beautiful, the river you follow part of the way is very nice, the meadow was awesome as well. As far as dislikes go I only had a few. 1. The trail up from Kennedy meadows camp site is a horse trail so the horse crap was a little annoying, 2. at 8 miles each way it can be a little far for a day hike for some people, but thats not necessarily a bad thing in my mind. I do hope to go back sometime this year for an overnighter that way I will have some time to summit some of the nearby mountains and explore a little bit more. Hopefully this was a decent trip report and everyone enjoyed looking at the pictures even though they are not of Super HD quality. I plan to write up another Trip Report in a few days (When I get the chance to go through my pictures smiling smiley ) for the Overnight I just did last weekend at Sword lake so please let me know if there is anything you guys would like me to change, add, remove, or whatever.









*All pictures were taken with a samsung Galaxy S4 and have not been edited at all so don't expect amazing DSLR quality like a lot of you guys are accustom to tongue sticking out smiley
avatar Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 02, 2014 09:19AM
Spot-on trip report.



Old Dude
Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 03, 2014 09:26AM
Fine report and a good looking dog.
Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 03, 2014 10:27AM
Thanks everyone! Im taking off today and will be back late sunday from a trip to visit some family down in the city but when I get back hopefully I can get another Trip report up. Anyway, I always enjoy reading everyone elses trip reports so im glad to see people enjoy reading mine. smiling smiley
avatar Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 03, 2014 04:08PM
Nice! I enjoyed reading that. Thanks for the report.
avatar Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 05, 2014 07:36AM
Mr. Steve,
Kennedy Lake are is famous for :

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,28235,28235#msg-28235

Also of note...

On that particular trip we actually saw a bear on the way down from Lost Lake to
Kennedy Lake... (which is an absolute gorgeous area and really a route you
should do if you are in love with the Emigrant)

Wife and I just got back from 6 days from Gianelli to Bond Pass and back...
and there were cow pies at ... believe it or not.. the area between Toejam and
Leopold.

I told the wife that be prepared for roto-tilled trails and lots o horse dookie.
It didn't disappoint.
So... we just go off the trail... a bit here and there .. You mentioned you
wanted to get to Long Lake. That was fairly simple in one day from Gianelli.
You can take the trail the entire way and it's prob. right around 15 miles.
We zipped off the trail 1.3 miles from Y Meadow Lake and visited it for
lunch and then zipped to Toejam before getting back on trail up out of
Salt Lick (there were cow pies there too).
Long down to Deer is trivial.
On way back... well... read this first and can say more.

Thanks for the report ...



Chick-on is looking at you!
Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 05, 2014 12:28PM
Quote
chick-on


Wife and I just got back from 6 days from Gianelli to Bond Pass and back...
and there were cow pies at ... believe it or not.. the area between Toejam and
Leopold.

Did the cow bells keep you up at night?
avatar Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 06, 2014 08:06AM
Quote
cmon4day
Quote
chick-on

Wife and I just got back from 6 days from Gianelli to Bond Pass and back...
and there were cow pies at ... believe it or not.. the area between Toejam and
Leopold.

Did the cow bells keep you up at night?

Ding dong

smiling smiley

That particular trip with Z Cows at Kennedy Lake was 3 years ago. A couple of friends and I
started at Bigelow Lake that day and came down from Lost Lake ... we ended up camping
a good 1/2 mile upstream from the lake with creek nearby... and no ding dongs during the night.
NOW... on a loop in 2005 that was suppose to inlclude 2 nights at Benson Lake... that's
a different story... let's just say I was a bit livid that "my mules" were allowed to run around
untethered all night with cow bells on. This was definitely a case where the people who
were sleeping under the stars were not very pleased and a bit concered a mule would
tromp us over during the night. Just ridiculous in my book.
Let's see Park Service, we hiked 20+ miles to get out in the wilderness... and we
get mules running around with cowbells. Thanks.



Chick-on is looking at you!
avatar Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 06, 2014 08:34AM
Don't you be coming into this forum on your high horse.



Old Dude
avatar Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 06, 2014 08:49AM
Quote
mrcondron
Don't you be coming into this forum on your high horse.

This is California baby. I'm pretty sure my horse is allowed to be high. I gotz it one of those medical cards.



Chick-on is looking at you!
Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 06, 2014 09:26PM
Lol at all of you. tongue sticking out smiley Gone for three days and look what happens tongue sticking out smiley


Anyway. Thanks for all the compliments and such its great to be recieved well. smiling smiley

Im glad Long lake was nice I still want to get out there as soon as time permits maybe for an overnight in a few weeks. I wouldn't define Kennedy Meadows as wilderness thats for sure but I would define it as a beautiful piece of land with some very nice scenery. I do not believe they run cows up there as much as they did in years past as I have yet to see a single cow up there (No cow pies either, just pies of the horse variety) but I may have just been lucky and missed them the few times I have gone. Either way I'm happy not to have run into them.


I am taking a look at your Trip report now Chick-On looks like a beautiful trip. I do really want to head up toward lost lake one of these days when visiting kennedy meadows because it looks like a very pretty area. What way would you suggest going to Lost? PCT to past leavitt lake and then on over? Kennedy meadows and then back to it? Cross country from the Highway? Just curious, I'm thinking a PCT jaunt from 108 at Sonora Peak parking lot down to leavitt lake, down to High emigrant lake, down to Emigrant meadow lake then up to Lost and then to Kennedy meadows and back out to the highway would make for a nice 3 day loop but Idk I could be wrong about that.


Anyways I have been down in the City for the weekend and am now itching to get up into the mountains more then before I am thinking about searching out a good place to swim tomorrow thats not to far from home. If anyway knows about any good swimming Holes off of Highway 108 that would work for a day hike let me know!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2014 09:27PM by randomsteve95370.
avatar Re: TR- Kennedy Lake day hike 6-13-14
July 08, 2014 07:05AM
If you just want to visit Lost Lake then anyway you can get to Emigrant Meadow is fine.
The thing I mentioned above was this route:

as always... abuse at your own risk

The nicest way in (completely my opinion) is from Sonora Pass.... over Big Sam... and down to High Emigrant ... etc.
Quickest way in is with 4WD from Leavitt Lake start.

Really nice "little" lollipop trek would be Sonora Pass->Big Sam->High Emigrant->Emigrant Meadow->
Lost Lake->Kennedy Lake->back out via "trail" up Kennedy Creek ... or more or less straight up toward Leavitt
Lake to hook back up with PCT there-abouts
Or if you bonk before going up Big Sam... then down Kennedy Creek to Lake ... and back up xcountry toward Leavitt.
Looking at the map there's many other options... but I'll stop there.

Have fun exploring



Chick-on is looking at you!
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