Nee's Journeys

July 26 & 27, 2008 - Emigrant Wilderness - Crabtree to Granite Lake Another attempt at a partial off-trail trip and in a place that is becoming very familiar....Emigrant Wilderness. This trip would start out at the Crabtree trailhead close to the site of my first outing of the FY08 backpacking season. The route this time was a bit less ambitious than the last time but definitely an adventure. The route was the Crabtree trailhead to Bear Lake then cross country to Granite Lake. On the second day we would hike down to Y Meadow Lake loop around to Chewing Gum Lake and then take an unmaintained trail back to the Crabtree trailhead. The mileage wasn't much at 14 miles in all and about a 1500 foot gain each day but the off trail portion was sure to seem more than a 1500 foot gain. The trail out of Crabtree was nice and after a couple of miles we hit Camp Lake. There's no camping allowed between the trail and the lake so we didn't see anyone camped out there. We stopped an

July 3 & 4, 2008 - Emigrant Wilderness - Kennedy Meadows to Relief Valley This was the trip that maybe wasn't meant to be. This trip had been in the works for awhile but it was definitely ambitious (I planned it - what else is new). The original plan had been to head up to Iceland Lake and then over to Emigrant Lake for a couple of nights and out. Did I mention that day 1 included 3000+ foot gain over 10+ miles and part of that being off trail oh yeah and it was Curtis's first trip out. So I know what you are already thinking....this isn't a good idea...but let us proceed. There is about a mile and a half of on-ish trail hiking that started the trip out from the parking lot through the Kennedy Meadows resort. A majority of the resort burned down in fall of 2007 and most of it was rebuilt by the time we went through. Of special note was the saloon which had many many...many beer boxes outside...hmm maybe I am not ready to go out into the backcountry.

Spring Meadow - Emigrant Wilderness - June 28th & 29th Ah yes the start of a new backpacking season and most importantly the deployment and utilization of new gear! This year there is a lot of new gear as I have started to put together a lightweight gear set...now mind you when I say lightweight that it is relative to my existing gear which doesn't come close to being lightweight. After all I am the gal that will sacrifice an extra pair of socks so I can carry a bottle of wine and a hunk of gruyere. My victim...I mean hiking partner in this initial summer outing was my friend Steve. I am pretty sure that Steve is a little traumatized by our August 2007 week-long Sierra outing where it rained nearly every day but this time couldn't be worse could it???? The destination for this trip was Lower Wire Lake in Emigrant Wilderness. From the Gianelli trailhead in Emigrant it's about a 12 mile hike to Lower Wire Lake. There is a school of thought that says you should take it a