Beginner Backpacking in the Emigrant Wilderness, California

The Trip

If you want to have a nice entry into the world of backpacking, this trip is for you! Our trek through the Emigrant Wilderness offers an ideal location to learn backpacking basics while enjoying the scenic lakes and creeks that abound in this area. We’ll cover 25 miles of moderate terrain, with two layover days, which will allow time for learning wilderness skills and natural history, exploring the area on day hikes, relaxing, and simply enjoying the great outdoors.

This trip is tailored to beginner backpackers who are interested in developing skills associated with wilderness travel. Basic instruction will be provided on organizing gear, ensuring wilderness safety, reading topographic maps, cooking backpacking cuisine, operating and cooking on portable stoves, using tarps, and following Leave No Trace principles.

Our objectives are to enjoy spectacular country, complete the trip safely as a group, and learn backpacking basics. While this is a beginner backpack, participants need to be fit, be dedicated to training to meet the demands of this specific trip, invest in proper equipment, and come prepared to meet the variety of challenges that outdoor travel brings when exposed to high altitude, primitive camping, extreme weather changes, and sore feet from carrying heavy packs. 

As successful backpacking experiences require thorough advance planning and preparation, the leader will provide pre-trip correspondence and resource information to help with backpacking gear selection and physical conditioning.

Day 1: We’ll meet at the Crabtree trailhead parking lot at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Before we begin our hike, we will do a gear check and go over each hiker’s equipment to be sure you are properly prepared and not weighed down. Once our packs are ready, we’ll hit the trail to Bear Lake. It’s a short 3.5-mile hike with a 500-foot ascent to our first camp. Lunch will be included on this day.

Day 2: On our longest hike, we will backpack 8 miles to Gem Lake, past views of granite slopes and mountain lakes. There will be a 650-foot climb on this day, as well as two creek crossings. This tends to be a long day — we could be on the trail with our loaded packs for about six hours. 

Day 3: A short 2-mile day takes us to Deer Lake, our home for the next two nights. An early arrival allows plenty of time for swimming, day hiking, fishing, or simply relaxing by the lake.

Day 4: Our first layover day. Options include various day hikes to nearby lakes, such as Wood Lake or Emigrant Lake. A layover will provide opportunities to practice outdoors skills, bird watch, or just appreciate the beauty of our natural surroundings.

Day 5: After breakfast, we’ll descend nearly 700 feet over 4 miles to West Fork Cherry Creek. Our trek will require fording two forks of Cherry Creek, where they converge. Once we’ve crossed, we’ll have arrived at our camp for the night. We will have an opportunity to explore the creek and waterfall, or day hike cross-country to nearby lakes.

Day 6: Another layover day will allow us to fully enjoy our gorgeous surroundings. We can relax in the cool pools created by the waterfall, go for a day hike, or just nap under the shade of a tree.

Day 7: We will return to the Crabtree trailhead in a 7-mile day with our now light backpacks. We’ll descend almost 600-feet before climbing 500-feet in less than a mile, which will be our steepest climb of the trip. We expect to have an early afternoon arrival back at our cars.

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” - John Burroughs

Getting There

This outing officially begins the morning of Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Crabtree trailhead parking lot. The nearest airports to fly into are San Francisco, Oakland, or Fresno, each about four hours from our meeting place. Ridesharing is strongly encouraged, and a roster of trip members and driving directions will be sent well ahead of time to facilitate this. Return flight reservations should be made for the day after our trip ends, or later. Please do not make travel arrangements until the leader has confirmed you as a trip member.

Accommodations and Food

The trip price includes all meals from lunch on day one through lunch on day seven.  Group camping gear (stoves, cooking pots, fuel, etc.) will be provided. The staff enjoys creating wonderful meals from home-dehydrated fruits and vegetables. The food will be nutritious, high energy, and tasty. Please indicate to the leader if you have any food allergies or limitations, or are vegetarian, when you complete your trip paperwork. Chicken, fish, cheese, and some red meat will be on the menu. Vegetarians can be easily accommodated, but participants unable to eat dairy or gluten should consider another outing. Participants will be divided into cook crews and share in meal preparations and cleanup in the Sierra Club tradition.

Trip Difficulty

The trip difficulty is rated 2 on a scale from 1 to 5, where a rating of 1 would correspond to the least difficult of the trips that we offer and a rating of 5 would denote the most difficult. Mileage on our hiking days ranges from 2-8 miles, with a total of almost 25 miles for the trip (not including layover day hikes). Our camp at Bear Lake will be at just over 7,100 feet and our camp at Deer Lake will be at 8,500 feet.

Although participation in this outing does not require previous backpacking experience, carrying a 40-pound pack on trail with elevation changes is physically challenging. Participants must be in good physical condition and be prepared for the rigorous physical demands of such a trip. The leader will provide physical conditioning recommendations to participants.

Known for its temperate summer weather, the High Sierra can also experience sudden, unexpected spells of rain, hail, snow, heat, and cold. Daytime temperatures can soar into the upper 80s, while nighttime temperatures can dip into the 30s or lower. It is essential that you be prepared for extremes in weather conditions, and also be flexible so that we can adapt our route to accommodate unexpected conditions or events. Mosquitos can be a problem at this time of year, so it is essential that participants bring insect repellent or wear insect-proof clothing.

Equipment and Clothing

The Sierra Club will provide the following items: food (including all trail snacks), pots, cooking utensils, stoves, fuel, bear-proof canisters, and water purification treatment. At the beginning of the trip, you will be issued one bear canister loaded with food, plus a portion of the group gear, which together may weigh up to 15 pounds. You will be required to limit your personal gear to 20 pounds or less, so that your total pack weight is less than 40 pounds, including up to 2 liters of water, which can account for almost another 5 pounds.

We require sturdy, fully broken-in boots with rubber lug soles for this trip. We recommend that you waterproof your boots before beginning the trip. For shelter, we strongly encourage you to bring a tent with a rain fly — a lightweight waterproof tarp is the required minimum. For raingear, bring a waterproof jacket and pants instead of a poncho. The leader will send detailed equipment recommendations to participants well in advance of the trip.

References

• Tom Harrison Maps, Emigrant Wilderness Trail Map
• National Geographic, Map Of Carson-Iceberg-Emigrant-Mokleumne Wilderness Areas

• Laws, John M, The Laws Field Guide To The Sierra Nevada. An excellent field guide to plants, animals, and more.
• Schifrin, Ben, Emigrant Wilderness. Wilderness Press. It is no longer in print but is still available at used bookstores and online book sellers.
• Storer, Tracy I., and Robert L. Usinger, The Sierra Nevada Natural History. Gives more details on specific plants and animals.
• Whitney, Stephen, A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide to the Sierra Nevada. An excellent trip and/or pre-trip read to understand Sierra ecology.

Conservation

Emigrant Wilderness was initially designated as the "Emigrant Basin Primitive Area" in 1931. It became a part of the Wilderness system on January 4, 1975. The Sierra Club was instrumental in the passage of the Wilderness Act in l964, which would insure “for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.” Unfortunately, controversy continues over how much protection should be conferred by wilderness status.

In 2013, a bill was introduced in California’s state congress to allow private companies to “salvage log” trees that had been damaged by the Rim Fire. This included Stanislaus National Forest, where Emigrant Wilderness is located. In designated wilderness areas, it is not allowed to use motorized equipment or vehicles or to intervene in the natural processes in any way. Allowing companies to log in a protected wilderness would be considered antithetical to the Wilderness Act itself. The Forest Service did allow private logging companies to remove dead logs, with the argument that the removal created safer trails and prevented further fires, that the sales of removed trees would defray costs of the fire recovery, and that the wood could be used in visitor areas in the park. Removing dead trees, however, can heavily impact a wilderness area because of the loss of habitats for local birds and other small animals and because the land can incur further damage from logging machinery. 

In the earlier half of the 1900s, several dams were built in what is now the Emigrant Wilderness. The building of dams was put to an end in 1975, with the Wilderness Act. A controversy began in the following years over whether the dams should be maintained. In 1998, the Forest Service decided to rebuild eight decaying dams in order to maintain stream flow. In 2006, environmental groups sued to stop the proposed maintenance of the dams, and the U.S. District Court ruled that the dams could be neither maintained nor dismantled. 

The Bureau of Land Management allows commercial cattle grazing on 155 million acres of its land, including Emigrant Wilderness, under the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 and other federal laws. The Bureau argues that doing so maintains the health of public lands, since unregulated grazing causes “unintended damage” to soil and streams, and preserves the character of the rural West. Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, argue “that grazing by non-native species has led to severe and sometimes irreversible degradation of native ecosystems.” Cattle grazing, regulated or not, destroys the topsoil, causing erosion and stream sedimentation, as well as contaminating waterways with fecal waste.

We will help keep Emigrant Wilderness wild by learning and following Leave No Trace practices and principles.

Sierra Club National Outings is an equal-opportunity provider and when applicable will operate under permits obtained from U.S. federal land agencies.