Parent/Grandparent and Teen Backpack, Emigrant Wilderness, California

The Trip

 Bond with your teen as you share challenging experiences that take you across granite slabs dotted with Sierra junipers and Jeffrey pines, past wildflower-covered meadows, and into refreshing mountain lakes and creeks. This trip is designed for teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18, who have already been in high school, and their parents, grandparents, or other close adults. It is meant for family pairs, rather than for families of three or more.

This low-mileage, weeklong trip is designed to let participants experience a less-visited spot north of Yosemite National Park at a leisurely pace. We’ll cover 16 miles of moderate terrain in Emigrant Wilderness, with one layover day, which makes this ideal for new backpackers or those returning after a break.

Our objectives are to enjoy the spectacular country, complete the trip safely as a group, and further develop backpacking skills. Participants need to 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 altitudes, primitive camping, extreme weather changes, and sore muscles 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. 

This trip traverses the ancestral and unceded lands of the Miwok, Central Sierra Miwok, and Washoe peoples. During our time together, we’ll discuss the importance of reckoning with our past as immigrants and descendants of settlers of this land and what we can do now to take action and support Indigenous communities.

Our hiking schedule is not rigid. How far we get each day and where we camp depends on how we feel, the weather, and other factors outside of our control. Flexibility is important. The itinerary described here should be taken as a general plan, and the actual route and schedule may well depart from this plan.

Day 1: We’ll meet at 3 pm at the Crabtree trailhead campground, located outside Pinecrest, CA, at approximately 7150 ft. We’ll spend the afternoon getting to know each other while looking over packs and checking gear, followed by an orientation discussion and our first dinner together. 

Day 2: After breakfast, we’ll begin our adventure. Our first hike with full packs will be 2 miles with a 650 ft gain. While short, the trail goes straight up and will feel steep. Our reward will be swimming in beautiful Camp Lake (7640 ft), which is also where we’ll camp for the night. 

Day 3: A slightly longer hiking day of 3.8 miles (700 ft gain, 800 ft loss) will take us to our next destination. The first portion of the day will be steep and hot. Eventually, we’ll drop back down to cross both Lily Creek and Piute Creek, as well as pass by Lilypad Lake. After crossing Piute, we’ll be at our camp (7540 ft), where we can spend the afternoon enjoying the creek or exploring the granite slabs of the area.

Day 4: To reward ourselves for yesterday’s hard work, we’ll enjoy a layover day. Those interested can take a cross-country (off-trail) hike to the outflow of Piute Lake or to upper West Fork Cherry Creek. Other options are to swim, fish, bird watch, or just appreciate the beauty of our natural surroundings.

Day 5: After following the trail for a short distance, we’ll take a 2-mile cross-country route to lower West Fork Cherry Creek (7500 ft), where we’ll spend the rest of our day. We will have an opportunity to explore the creek and waterfall, or day hike to nearby lakes.

Day 6: We’ll make our way along the lower Crabtree Trail to Grouse Lake (7160 ft) in a 3.6-mile day with a 350 ft gain and 700 ft loss, crossing Piute Creek again along the way. If conditions are right, our campsite will be surrounded by a variety of wildflowers, including lupines, corn lilies, asters, and false baby stars.

Day 7: We’ll return to the Crabtree trailhead with light packs, in a 3.9-mile day with 580 ft gain and equivalent loss. We’ll cross Lily Creek one more time along the way. Our steepest hike will come in the form of a half-mile climb of 300 ft, on a trail with little shade. The view from the top, and the proximity to the cars, make it worth it. We expect to have a mid-afternoon arrival back at our cars. Our first non-dehydrated meal (optional; not included in trip price) is not far from our exit trailhead, in the town of Cold Springs.

Total: 16 miles; 2,735 ft gain overall

Getting There

 The nearest airports to fly into are San Francisco, Oakland, or Fresno, each about four hours from our meeting place. Flying into Sacramento or Reno, which experience less traffic, are also options. 

It is the responsibility of the participants to get themselves to and from the trailhead. 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.

Please do not make non-refundable travel arrangements until notified to do so by the trip leader.

Accommodations and Food

 The trip price includes all meals from dinner on day one through lunch on day seven.  Group camping gear (stoves, cooking pots, fuel, permits, etc.) will be provided. The staff enjoys creating wonderful meals from home-dehydrated fruits and vegetables. The food will be nutritious, calorie-dense, and delicious. Please indicate to the leader if you have any food allergies or dietary restrictions. In a Sierra Club tradition, participants will be divided into kitchen crews to assist the leaders in camp.

Trip Difficulty

 The trip difficulty is rated 2 on a scale from 2 to 5, where a rating of 2 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 - 4 miles, with a total of about 16 miles for the trip (not including layover day hikes). Our highest elevation camp will be just over 7600 feet at Camp Lake, and our lowest elevation camp will be 7160 feet at Grouse Lake.

Although participation in this outing does not require previous backpacking experience, carrying a 35-pound pack on trail with elevation changes is physically challenging. Participants must be in good physical condition and be prepared for the rigorous physical and mental demands of such a trip. The leader will provide training 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 80s, while nighttime temperatures can dip into the 40s 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 and 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 filtration. At the beginning of the trip, you will be issued one full bear canister of food, plus a portion of the group gear, which together may weigh up to 10 pounds. You will be required to limit your personal gear to 22 pounds or less, so that your total pack weight is no more than 35 pounds, including a liter of water, which can account for another 2 pounds. Use of compression sacks for clothing and sleeping bags is required, in order to have enough space to fit the group gear into your pack.

We require sturdy, fully broken-in hiking boots or trail runners with good treads for this trip. Regardless of the type of shoe, you should be comfortable wearing them during the multiple water crossings on this trip. All clothing should be wool or synthetic, not cotton. For shelter, we encourage you to bring a tent with a rain fly; a lightweight waterproof tarp is the required minimum. For rain gear, 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

 Maps: 

• Tom Harrison Maps, Emigrant Wilderness Trail Map

• National Geographic, Map Of Carson-Iceberg-Emigrant-Mokleumne Wilderness Areas

Books:

• 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.

• Robinson, Kim S., The High Sierra: A Love Story. A memoir and celebration of the mountain range we’ll be hiking in.

• Williams, Terry T., Erosion: Essays of Undoing. Reflections on “the assault on our public lands and the erosion of our commitment to the open space of democracy.”

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 any way with natural processes. 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 US 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 regulated grazing maintains the health of public lands 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 contaminates 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 will operate under a permit from Stanislaus National Forest.