TOM C. AND I BEGAN OUR TREK ON 9/9/00 AT LEAVITT MEADOWS, OFF HWY. 108, EAST OF THE SONORA PASS. THE EMIGRANT WILDERNESS ABUTS THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF YOSEMITE, A COUPLE OF HOURS DRIVE EAST OF MODESTO, CALIFORNIA. WE HIKED ROUGHLY 45 MILES IN SIX DAYS, EMERGING FROM THE WILDERNESS AT LEAVITT LAKE, SOUTH OF THE SONORA PASS. OUR ELEVATION GAIN OVER THE SIX DAYS WAS ABOUT 10,000 FEET (UPS & DOWNS). WE CAMPED AT LOWER PIUTE MEADOWS, DOROTHY LAKE, BIGELOW LAKE, MAXWELL LAKE (NEAR EMIGRANT LAKE), EMIGRANT LAKE AND HIGH EMIGRANT LAKE. WE ENJOYED DINNER AT KENNEDY MEADOWS RESORT & PACK STATION BOTH THE NIGHT BEFORE SETTING OUT AND THE EVENING WE CAME OUT. THE RESORT AND PACK STATION IS A GREAT HOME BASE FOR THIS AREA. YOU MAY CAMP OR STAY IN ONE OF THEIR CABINS.
IN SEPTEMBER, 2001 LIN AND I ARE GOING TO ALLOW HORSES TO TAKE US BACK INTO EMIGRANT LAKE, THEN BACKPACK OUT TO LEAVITT MEADOWS. LIN HAS NO INTEREST IN BUSTING HER BACK CLIMBING UP OVER BIG SAM, OR ANY OF THE OTHER TOUGH CLIMBS REQUIRED IN ORDER TO REACH EMIGRANT LAKE, SO WE WILL LET THE HORSES GET US UP THERE, AND THEN HIKE BACK DOWN. Click Here TO GO TO OUR EMIGRANT WILDERNESS HORSEBACK & BACKPACKING TRIP PAGE.
Me, resting atop pass overlooking Bigelow Lake, Day 3. Behind us, the ugly climb from Snow Lake.
TOWER PEAK, PROSPECT PEAK, GRIZZLY PEAK AND WALKER MOUNTAIN SERVED AS EXCELLENT LANDMARKS, WHILE THE MANY PRISTINE LAKES DELIVERED SCRUMPTIOUS TROUT AND DRINKING WATER. THE TORTUOUS CLIMB FROM SNOW LAKE TO BIGELOW LAKE BROUGHT MAGNIFICENT VIEWS AS WELL AS FREQUENT GRUNTS. I FOUND INTERESTING THE FACT THAT THE PACK HORSES, WHICH WORK THE AREA, PROVIDED, IN SOME CASES, THE ONLY RECOGNIZABLE SIGNS OF TRAILS. THEY DO THEIR SHARE OF DAMAGE, NO DOUBT, BUT THEIR PRESENCE WAS A GODSEND IN AREAS WHERE TRAILS WERE HARD TO FOLLOW WITHOUT REACHING FOR ONE'S COMPASS AND MAP.
Bigelow Lake reflection - WOW!
THE CLIMB OVER SNOW PATCHED BIG SAM MOUNTAIN, ABOUT 10,825,' WAS TEDIOUS, BUT THE FAR-REACHING, 360 DEGREE VISTAS AND VIEWS WERE AMAZING. THE BOULDER STREWN CANYON WE TOOK FROM MAXWELL LAKE TO CHERRY CREEK JUNCTION WAS SPECTACULAR. ONE FIRST MARVELS AT HOW THESE GIANT BOULDERS GOT THERE, BUT THEN THE WORD "GLACIER" CREEPS INTO YOUR THOUGHTS, AND THERE'S THE ANSWER.
TOM ENJOYED THE FISHING AND ALSO THE GEOLOGY OF THE AREA. QUARTZITE DEPOSITS, GRANITIC FORMATIONS AND VOLCANIC DEPOSITS ABOUNDED, AND PROVIDED A BROAD VARIATION OF ROCK AND GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. TOM WRITES:
"THE RIDGE SEPARATING SNOW & BIGELOW LAKES FROM YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK HAD ITS ORIGIN FROM SEDIMENTARY DEPOSITS OF AN ANCIENT OCEAN THAT WAS CAUGHT UP IN THE UPLIFTING ACTION OF THE ADJACENT GRANITE BATHOLITH NEARLY 200 MILLION YEARS AGO. THESE SILICON DEPOSITS FORMED QUARTZITE PEAK BEHIND SNOW LAKE.
"WORLD WAR II SAW A JEEP ROAD CARVED THROUGH THE AREA, ALL THE WAY TO SNOW LAKE FROM SONORA PASS, PURSUING TUNGSTEN, A VITAL ORE USED IN STEEL PRODUCTION. ALTHOUGH MINING ENDED IN THE 1960S, THE PRESENCE OF THE ABANDONED ROAD JEOPARDIZED, FOR A WHILE, THE INCLUSION OF THE AREA AS A PROTECTED WILDERNESS AREA.
"THE SEDIMENTARY - METAMORPHIC ROCK FORMATIONS AROUND SNOW & BIGELOW LAKES MAKE FOR COLORFUL PHOTOGRAPHS, EXPLODING IN REDS, ORANGES AND YELLOWS, ESPECIALLY AT SUNSET.
"IT WAS INTERESTING HIKING ALONG THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN GRANITE AND VOLCANIC EXTRUSIONS, PARTICULARLY AT THE UPPER END OF SUMMIT CREEK AND NEAR BROWN BEAR PASS. WHILE THE WESTERN SIDE OF THIS CANYON IS GRANITE, THE EASTERN SIDE IS VOLCANIC, WITH THE STREAM SEPARATING THE TWO."
OH, AND TOM ADDS, "THIS COUNTRY IS A FISHERMAN'S MECCA. CHECK OUT DOROTHY LAKE, BIGELOW LAKE AND BLACK BEAR LAKE, MAXWELL LAKE AND EMIGRANT LAKE. I (TOM) LANDED A 17" BROOK AT EMIGRANT AND A 13" BROOK AT MAXWELL. DOROTHY LAKE SPORTS RAINBOWS UP TO 18" IN LENGTH."
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