How I Found California's Best Kept Secret
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2021
- Emigrant Wilderness is Yosemite's lesser known neighbor to the north. Due to the close proximity, the landscape is extremely similar, despite only getting a fraction of the visitors.
I recently went on a trip to a region of Emigrant that gets very little attention. We were swarmed with early season mosquitos, had to climb over downed trees and walked through a crazy heat wave. But we found amazing alpine lakes without any crowds!
You can find the allTrails here:
www.alltrails.com/trail/us/ca...
Follow me on Instagram :) / elsbethweeks
I live in Northern California. Our National Wildernesses Areas are stunning. You lose the crowds of the National parks, and the country is just as nice. I used to hike a lot. I've done hundreds of miles of the PCT. It's spectacular.
I have visited a small lake in the Trinity Alps at least 7 or 8 times. I have been going there since 1981 and never seen another person there. Not even signs of a campfire. Fish are small but you can catch all you want. I call it Michael's Lake.
Super inspiring - definitely checking this out!!! Thank you!!
Hi from Australia. This is totally awesome, love Amazing American National Park Heritage. 😊
Love to come back to this video to hear the sound of decomposing granite under foot. The map talk at the beginning and your zest for the trip remind me of those trails years ago.
Thank you for this excellent video tour.
Thank you for the nice comment :)
This place is unreal! Backpacked here about 10 years ago, would love to go back
My partner and I hiked a little east of this in the last week of June 2022. Heat was an issue, but the mosquitos were insane. We couldn't stop for a second without being swarmed. Our hiking buddies bailed after one night. The only break we had from mosquitos was a mid-day thunderstorm. Despite the bites, it was a great trip.
Years ago, I used to backpack to and around huckleberry lake in Emigrant Wilderness. Great fishing. For scenery we would make side trips to nearby Upper and lower Twin lakes in Yosemite right on the border between Emigrant Wilderness and Yosemite.
We camped in the same spot at Piute Lake in 2022 after setting out for Gem Lake and being like “wtf this is not where it said it was”! We had awesome chilly weather for June though so the mosquitoes were minimal!
The thing that sucks about hiking is hiking back. 😅
My son and I just hiked a 30 mile loop there. With those loose rocks and huge slab steps, and river crossings, I’m impressed you guys were able to do it without hiking poles.
Thanks for this video! I'm looking to go somewhere fourth of july weekend and trying to find spots without permits.. Would you recommend Bucks Lake or other similar spot in the area?
Such an amazing video props for crushing it in that heat. I agree there's something majestic about nightfall in the mountains
Thanks so much! Yeah the heatwave last summer was insane!
My Boy Scout troop used to do a yearly backpacking trip in to the Emmigrant WIlderness area. The last two times we did it via pack team. The trails we always used were the Huckleberry Trail which starts at Kennedy Meadows Resort, and the Walker River trail on the Nevada side of Sonora Pass. There are pack stations at both trailheads. Love that area, but have not been back since the late 1980s... My favorite lake to stay at was Cinko Lake just north of Yosemite. Emmigrant Lake also was very nice.. About the only mosquito repellent I found that worked in that country is Muskol 100% DEET.
Noooo! My reaction when you said you were taking the lower trail back. Ugh. Such a sandy mess. LOL. Nicely done however. :)
Quite the gems indeed!
There are a lot of secrets, even in popular areas if you are willing to do off trail travel and camping. Especially in the Sierra where cross country travel is relatively easy.
That heat wave was brutal. We hit 117 degrees in Oregon. Good for you getting out there in the heat and mosquitoes.
Ugh - I do not envy you up in PNW! With a heat wave like that, you are almost crazier not to go to the mountains! It was a good 20 degrees cooler above 8,000!
I live very near there. At the same time I decided to backpack Peeler Lake outside of Twin Lakes/Bridgeport area. After permits and paying for parking it was 10:30a and the heat rose to 100. Ag. Didn’t do well but made it. Looking forward to my own back yard this year.
Hiking up Buckeye get you to the the same area (Kerrick Meadow) - but there are a lot fewer hikers.
I've never hiked in Emigrant but Northern Yosemite and Hoover are right next door and offer phenomena hiking. There is one thing better than a swim in alpine lakes after a nice hike - soak in a natural hot spring (kern river Hot spring) and then a swim.
I love your videos. May I ask what type of backpack you have?
Oh thank you! That’s so sweet! I use a gossamer gear gorilla 50! I really love it and do recommend it for most people :)
It use to be a secret. My dad and I have been going there since the 70s and could stay a week and never see a soul. We would go to Downey and Milk lakes. Great video thanks for sharing your adventure.
Live near there . Gets hot every year , same time. Never disappoints for 50 years . Then fall hits fast , two weeks later .. Winter . That quick.
There is a lake in Baja called Laguna Hanson that you might like.
Emigrant is awesome. Great hike. Those lakes may be nice but West Cherry Canyon is one of my favorite places. Amazing waterfalls. Amazing River. But you need to go in the spring when there are no mosquitoes! :)
I love Emigrant! But I have never been in spring time! I was thinking about it this year and I probably should have - I just have never seen mosquitos like that in my life!
What time of year was this
Where do you park to start your hike? In Yosemite?
What time of year did you go?
I’m backpacking Kennedy meadows area this Labor Day weekend, meet me out there!
It truly is
I did this trail !!!
Shhhhhhh
Great video. I’m just trying to figure out how to get there.
:) The trailhead is called crabtree - it's just outside of Pinecrest/Strawberry
@@ElsbethWeeks thank you for getting back to me. It's been super hard finding info on how to get to a place, park, permit and where the trials are. I was able to contact the ranger station Tuesday and they stated that the park isn't open u til April 15
@cbingham40 Yeah I totally understand! WIth all of the different agencies managing their areas differently, its especially tough. Sorry it took so long for me to respond! Have fun :)
How the hell are you taking a small backpack and with so little things. I'm going to weaver lake (March 3) and my great wouldn't fit in that backpack hell it doesn't even fit in my backpack.
Did you need a permit to hike/camp?
Yes, but it’s free and there is no quota or cap. You can get them at a near by ranger station and can self permit if the station is closed
GPS is good. But you just can’t beat a real map!
10 paces behind at all times 😂
A drone that fly's along with you as you walk will save time setting up the camera. The mosquito cells will also help tremendously. Great video!
Way to keep it a secret lol
Nev-ADD-duh
and promptly ruinded it by sharing with everyone.
Tom Harrison's maps are both the best & worst thing you can buy if you like backpacking in California. You'll find so many cool places to go and explore.
They're not really secrets
Then proceeded to put it on the internet for a monetary gain...
So you work for free then? You decline your paycheck from your employer? Thanks, so kind of you.
@bustaruckus5611 nope, but in my free time, you can find me at no name lake off lost mans trail all to myself, because thats what "secrets" are for, imo
@@FishDR That's great...but it doesn't mean she can't be helpful to people and also get rewarded for the time and effort it took her to shoot and edit this (as well as the video equipment and software costs). ✌️
@bustaruckus5611 thought I'd express my opinion on the ironic title and the ethical shortcomings. She can do as she pleases, though
@@FishDR There are no ethical shortcomings here. I was happy to have the info, and I'm happy that people are monetarily incentivized to keep putting out helpful information that they might not have otherwise shared if it wasn't worth their time. And that's not an ironic title. She's acknowledging that it's little-known, but now sharing the info with us. And "best kept secret" is also just a phrase people use...not a literal assumption that it's a secret. An example of irony is Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing having Oakland, CA stamped on the bottle. If you're going to get pedantic with people, at least construct a good argument.
Haaaa..... Walking past lake after lake while complaining about how hot it is.... Must have forgot your pool noodles.