Re: Emigrant Wilderness, Granite Lake

I backpacked to Granite Lake, in the Emigrant Wilderness, this weekend. I've been there once before, hiking from the Gianelli trailhead. This time, due to reported conditions beyond Burst Rock I hiked from Crabtree.

A wilderness ranger had been to Granite a few days ago and found it iced-over. I found it mostly iced-out, with a raft of ice covering less than 5% of the lake on Saturday, and much of that ice gone Sunday morning. The south (therefore north-facing) side of the lake had plenty of snow, less so on the north side, but there were some campsites melted out.

The mosquitoes were terrible.

With a bit of ice still in the lake, and with plenty of snow around the edges, I didn't attempt swimming in Granite. On the way out I had a very nice swim in Camp Lake.

Bear Lake:


Bear Lake from the cross-country route to Granite:


Granite Lake, Saturday Afternoon:


Granite Lake, Sunday Morning:


Sunset:

Nice. Good to know that things are finally opening up in Emigrant. And that the mosquitoes are thriving...grin.

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Beautiful. It seems so weird how late everything is this year.

Thanks for the report and pictures.

I have plans to be in this same area next weekend. Can you elaborate a bit on the "conditions beyond Burst Rock"? I planned to enter at Gianelli, head over Burst Rock (never been there, has been on my to-do list for a long time) to Y-Meadow, then cross country around Granite, Toejam, and Leopold Lakes.

Is the road to Gianelli TH open? Is there still snow (reported or seen by you) on the trail to Burst Rock? Aside from the awful mosquitoes (which I fear are simply unavoidable now) are there other obstacles that might convince me to change plans?

Thanks.

Quote
ags
I have plans to be in this same area next weekend. Can you elaborate a bit on the "conditions beyond Burst Rock"? I planned to enter at Gianelli, head over Burst Rock (never been there, has been on my to-do list for a long time) to Y-Meadow, then cross country around Granite, Toejam, and Leopold Lakes.

Is the road to Gianelli TH open? Is there still snow (reported or seen by you) on the trail to Burst Rock? Aside from the awful mosquitoes (which I fear are simply unavoidable now) are there other obstacles that might convince me to change plans?

The reports that the rangers had when I picked up my permit Saturday morning were that much of the trail beyond Burst Rock was covered, and Powell was iced-over. They had said Gianelli was open, with some snow in the parking area but still usable (no idea whether that's still there or not).

I suspect "conditions are changing quickly" may be an operative point. Granite had been reported iced-over mid-week, and it was mostly thawed Saturday/Sunday.

Stanislaus NF has been posting conditions on their Facebook Page. Based on 7/15, they said:

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Stanislaus National Forest
Emigrant Wilderness update:

Gianelli Trailhead to Chewing Gum Lake: 75 percent snow free; “post still covered” (this means you cannot see the signpost at the junction to Chewing Gum Lake)

Powell Lake: 75 percent iced over; “Trail hard to find”

Chewing Gum Trail: 50 percent snow covered

Chewing Gum Lake: 80 percent thawed

Quick note: these aren't new photos ... they're just to show you how it should soon look!

Thanks to Wilderness Ranger Sterling Collins-Hill for the Emigrant Wilderness Trail Conditions, reported on 7/15/17.

We saw only a scant few mosquitoes in the area of The Emigrant we were in last weekend.
Location location location


Tanks fur Sharon!

(fwiw (probably not much) ... personally... I just nod when they give condition reports...
things change rather quickly... and one persuns "impassible" is another "o yeah!" )
(the stuff they said when called for a permit was either old, out of date, wrong, not
right, they never went there themselves, all of the above, none of the above, or either)

Have fun

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2017 02:17PM by chick-on.