I haven't been to Cherry Lake before. I may be in the area in a few weeks. Is the road to Cherry Lake dam still accessible up to the dam? I would be with someone that wouldn't want to do more than a moderate day hike. Trying to figure out if it would be worth going back there to see views of Kibbie Creek flowing into Eleanor, and to hike up Kibbie Creek a ways. I'll probably try to get up there later this year to explore a bit more. Not sure if I should just wait to go later.

Road to dam is open year round.
Regardless of whether the gate is open or not... the road across the dam is
closed to traffic from Dec. 15th to April 14th.
I would recommend you wait until April 15th to go to Cherry Lake.
That way you can drive to Eleanor TH, Eleanor Dam TH, and Shingle Spring TH
and get a feel for them.
It's not a huge distance to hike over the dam... and the trails are fairly simple to follow...
but I'd still recommend for first time to wait til Apr. 15th.
Then again... come April 15th it may get very busy with the huge snow year we've had.

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O... and the way in from 120 is much nicer than 108.

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Thanks for the info. How long does it take to drive from 120 to the dam?

Figure about 50 minutes to an hour. It's 24 miles iirc... but it's very windy.

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Quote
chick-on
Figure about 50 minutes to an hour. It's 24 miles iirc... but it's very windy.

It is windy but the scenery is quite nice at least the first 200 times you drive it.

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Old Dude

I figured you guys had been there at least 300 times.

iirc I had to convince Z Old Guy we should do all the trails in the park...
not just Hetch Hetchy area and Kibbie 400 times.

(the truth of the matter is... Old Guy probably been to Kibbie 100 times more than me)
(it's all his fault in case you never heard me mention it before)

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As usual chick-on is right. Following the creek from Eleanor to Kibbie would be a great trip. No matter how fast or how slow I drive on cherry lake road it always seems to take the same amount of time. For a first timer, you could camp at Cherry Lake and day hike Eleanor and Kibbie.

The only thing I would disagree with, is that it's not a bad drive on Cottonwood Rd to cherry lake.

A ranger at Eleanor Lake told me last year the reason they changed the time frame of the gate being open to December was that there was a misprint out on a map the they had put out, so they just left it open until December, which I was very happy about.

As of March 1st (the last time I was in), there was patchy snow at 5000', maybe 60% coverage at 5500' and full coverage at 6000'. Although when I left the morning of March 3rd it was raining, so I assumed it washed more of the snow away.

I've only drove the 108 route once.... so ur the expert on that one.
I only know it seemed a whole lot longer and a whole lot windier than
Cherry Road.... and if with the wife... windy == ... which means
I gotta slow waaaay down.. or she drives... so 120 in it is.

Jimbo wanted a moderate dayhike for his friend. So up Kibbie may not be wise.
I'd just hike around Eleanor Lake... it's pretty in it's own way...
(and by around I mean I do not mean AROUND)

Dec 15th. I dunno. Ok. They misprinted every single forest service road map?
And it's been open 2 years now until Dec 15th.

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Drive time wise, I'd definitely agree that 120 is faster. I enjoyed 108/Cottonwood just for the change up and it does have nice scenery. However, if you have someone that has car-sick issues, 120 is definitely the way to go.

I don't know about the veracity of the story the ranger at Eleanor told me (we talked to him last October) about the misprint on the map, but it did make me chuckle. It does have a Federal Government ring of truth to it, "we put a misprint on a map!" "Okay, well we will just say we changed the policy and its open til December 15th now. Its not a mistake, we meant to do it!" Regardless of the real reason, I'm glad that its open later in the year as that is one of my favorite areas of the park.

Dayhiking wise, you're probably right that Eleanor would be closer to what he was looking for. Eleanor is flat all the way and Kibbie has that 700 foot bump in the first mile.