Nee's Journeys

Trip Logistics When – July 3 – 5, 2014 Emigrant Wilderness – Kennedy Meadows to Unnamed lake above Iceland Lakes – Partial x-country route Elevation gain from Kenedy Meadows to unnamed lake – approx..   2700 ft One way hike from Kennedy Meadows to unnamed lake – approx.. 9 miles Unnamed Lake – approx.. at 9200 ft Pictures -  https://www.flickr.com/gp/57882009@N02/4F110W/ I’ve fallen out of the habit of doing a write up after each backpacking trip and this is my attempt to restart.   For the last several years I’ve always gone backpacking on the 4 th of July.   I miss the fireworks but being in the backcountry makes up for that.   This year we did a trip in Emigrant Wilderness with the intent to get to Iceland Lake.   The same trip participants from last year were in attendance this year – me, Curtis, Steve and Nora.   Our trip got started out with margaritas and great Mexican food in Alameda.   We a...

Emigrant Wilderness – Cherry Creek – July 1 - 3, 2010 Some trips just don’t pan out the way you planned and this was one of those. It was a decent snow year and I knew that there was a chance that we were going to encounter some snow and of greater concern was the runoff and trying to cross any creeks. It was the first trip of the season, which meant my usual backpacking suspect Steve was present and my friend Andrew also joined us. I had been given a tip awhile back by a friend of mine about a great off-trail lake called Rosasco. The plan was to hike into Rosasco on day 1 and then do an off-trail hike visiting many great lakes in the area….that was the plan anyways. As the time approached for the trip I kept my eye on the snow level reports and knew that if we got to our intended destination it would be through a bit of snow. We started off at the Bell Meadow trailhead. I’ve never gone out of this trailhead and it is quite nice. I think it’s best to go early season, as it is a...

Emigrant Wilderness – Gianelli Cabin trailhead to Toejam Lake – 07/11 – 07/12/09 On July 11 and 12th a group of six adventures headed out to Toejam Lake about an 8.5 mile hike. I was leading this trip as part of my local Sierra Club backpacking group. After weighing our backpacks and taking some happy pre-hike pictures we were off. The trail starts out gradually climbing through a forest and soon you come to the Burst Rock Lookout. From Burst Rock we had great views looking North at Castle and Cooper Peaks and the Three Chimneys. After taking a short stop at Burst Rock we carried on to Emigrant Pass. We then headed down the trail and came to a great slope that had a good number of wildflowers including some very colorful Paintbrush, Western Wallflower and Mule’s Ear. This slope would be a source of distraction and lots of picture taking on the way back, especially for me. We also saw lots of Lupine plants but they had about a week and a half to two weeks left before they starte...

06/27/2009 - Emigrant Wilderness - Leopold Lake Where do I start with this trip? It was definitely an adventure for the books. This was the second trip of the backpacking season for me and definitely more challenging than the trip the week before. The plan was to start out from the Crabtree trailhead in Emigrant Wilderness and head up Tom’s Canyon x-country and head over to Leopold Lake. I had heard and read that this lake was really beautiful and I couldn’t wait to check it out. This trip was also an opportunity for me to try out my new Garmin 60cx which we would all soon fall in love with. We got an early start (early for me). We headed to the Serene Bean in Pinecrest to get our fill of coffee and unhealthy breakfast foods. We picked up our permit from the Summit ranger station where we were warned that there was snow above 8300 and that Chewing Gum Lake was surrounded by snow. Our destination sat at 8800 feet….hmmm should be interesting. After weighing our bags and trying de...

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. ...