Emigrant Wilderness 2022
Here are some pictures taken on a five-day backpack trip in the Emigrant Wilderness of the Sierra Nevada, during the week before Labor Day. The previous winter had very poor snowpack, and the creeks were mostly dry, but the lakes still had decent water levels and were good for swimming. For the first four nights, I had the lakes all to myself. There was some smoke in the evenings from a fire in the Tuolumne Canyon to the south, but not too bad. The weather was mostly in the high 70s during the day, and there were no mosquitoes, so the hiking conditions were perfect.
This was my first trip testing some new Ray-Way backpacking gear I had made over the last 2.5 years: a one-person tarp, Spitfire bug net, one-person 50 degree quilt, and backpack. If I had gone later in September, I would have used a 30 degree quilt that I made back in 2007.
At the start of the trip, I wasn’t sure how far I could hike each day, due to a recurrence of plantar fasciitis. But after the first day of only five miles, I realized I could do more miles than anticipated, so I doubled the miles on the next three days.
On the fourth day, I could have hiked all the way back out to the trailhead, but due to scheduling and not having a place to stay that night, I chose to stay an extra night in the Wilderness.
Itinerary:
Day 1: Gianelli trailhead to Chewing Gum Lake.
Day 2. Chewing Gum Lake to Deer Lake.
Day 3: Deer Lake to Upper Wire Lake via Wood Lake and Buck Lake.
Day 4: Upper Wire Lake to Powell Lake.
Day 5: Powell Lake to Gianelli trailhead.