Emigrant Wilderness - Hiking In

The trail starts off departing the parking lot at Kennedy Meadows Resort and following the dirt road paralleling Stanislaus River. The road passes the namesake meadow and several RV camping areas before reaching the actual trail. The route continues up the river and immediately starts gaining elevation, crossing two scenic foot bridges. The trail is a popular route for pack animals so there are a couple junctions for horse paths only. Make sure to step aside and yield to horses.

Following a climb after the second foot bridge there’s a junction to Kennedy Lake, and shortly after that the first view of Relief Reservoir will appear. This section of trail has beautiful views of the reservoir and a nice break from the previous elevation gain.

After passing the reservoir there’s another junction to go east or west around our destination of mountainous off-trail lakes. I recommend taking the eastern route toward Saucer & Lunch Meadows. On our first trip we took the west route back down for a little change and because Relief Valley looked like the perfect picnic meadow from above. However, route founding was much more difficult and the valley was full of inescapable mosquitos. I counted nearly 80 bites just from sprinting through that meadow to get back on the trail!

Heading down the east (left) junction, the trail gains more elevation and passes Saucer Meadow. Now for the fun part! After the meadow, the trail pulls up alongside Summit Creek and that’s the cue to exit. There’s a small forest along the creek with a lot of fallen logs and this is a good place to leave the trail and cross the water.

At this point there are two approaches to climb the mountain off-trail, both aiming for nice gradual saddles. One aims south of a local peak (fastest route to Lewis Lake), the other wraps around the peak to the north and the follows a gradual valley.

Take a look at the “Lake Options’ page to choose a destination and view off-trail routes to get there.