Route: Emigrant Wilderness Traverse (CA)

One of the silver linings of our global pandemic has been the opportunity to explore more deeply and purely the wilderness and natural beauty in abundance across the Sierras.  We have been spending our time living with the heartbeat of nature and mapping out adventures through the high sierras this summer.  My wife Kim and I had not spent any time in the Emigrant Wilderness and began to research the area, reaching out to friends and exploring the FKT boards for adventures.  We travelled up to Sonora Pass in mid-July and we each had superb adventures, I ran a Leor Pantilat Granite Dome Loop that was outstanding.  Kim ran a point to point from Sonora Pass to Kennedy Meadows that had her glowing at the end of her adventure.  This hatched the idea for something bigger to immerse ourselves more deeply into the Emigrant Wilderness. 

I was inspired by the moonscape of ancient volcanic rock intermixing with the monolithic granite that forms the base of the High Sierras and wanted a route that showcases the beauty and contrast of the entire wilderness.  I mapped out a 38mi route that traverses the entire Emigrant Wilderness.  The route starts at Sonora Pass and enters the Emigrant Wilderness on its northeast edge.  It follows the PCT south on a pure and beautiful ribbon of trail that dances on each side of the crest past Leavitt Peak and separates from the PCT onto the High Emigrant Lake trail just before Emigrant Pass.  As you cross over the crest the landscape transforms from a stark moonscape to high granite domes, lakes, and lush green meadows.  The contrasts are striking and inspiring. The trail weaves through the high alpine basin, crossing High Emigrant Lake, then to Emigrant Meadow Lake and continues to contour west moving through all the lakes and rivers.  Granite Domes, beautiful meadows, lakes, rivers, flowers, and lots of nice runnable trails made for efficient movement through the wilderness.  When arriving at Gem Lake, I made the decision to travel down the Crabtree trail instead of taking the Bell Meadow trail which sees more horse and mule traffic.  A beautiful trail that crosses Piute Lake, Piute Meadow, Lily Lake, and Camp Lake along rolling terrain with a nice final section into the Crabtree Trailhead on the western edge of Emigrant Wilderness.  Kim met me at the trailhead and she cooked a great meal and we shared our adventures of the day.  She did a great loop up the Crabtree Trail to Gem lake and down the bell meadow trail.  She confirmed I made the right call descending the Crabtree Trail.  If you are not shuttling cars, this is a great day hike loop so the driver gets a great adventure too. 

I had no intention of going fast on this day and spent lots of time taking pictures, swimming, stopping to chat with backpackers and hikers and eying trails and terrain for future adventures.  It would be easy to cut a few miles off by taking a direct line off-trail between high emigrant lake and emigrant meadow lake, but the route follows the trail.  This is an outstanding route to see the incredible diversity of the Emigrant Wilderness!