Emigrant Wilderness - granite dome lakes

The lakes described here are all within close proximity to each other and given that they are off-trail you are not likely to run into many other campers. In fact, on separate holiday weekend trips we had Iceland and Lewis Lakes all to ourselves.

Refer to the previous page “Reaching the Lakes” for a description of the hike to ge to the off-trail section at the base of the mountain. This page goes into more detail on the off-trail routes to each lake. Regardless of destination, this section of trail involves detailed route finding based on topography. The ground is primarily rough granite which makes for easy climbing although a bit of bouldering may be required.

Lewis and Sardella Lakes

Upper Lewis Lake was my favorite campsite in this area. It was unbelievably beautiful, had tons of trout for fishing, and was a prime starting point to summit Granite Dome. There are epic views of Lower Lewis Lake, several hundred feet below.

Starting at the base of the mountain near Summit Creek, locate the saddle between the local peak and Sardella Lake shown on the map. Note that the saddle to the north of the peak looks very similar when you are standing at the bottom. We made this mistake and ended up hiking over that entire peak at the end of an already long day! As shown on the topographic map, there is a more gradual section if you aim straight up the middle of the saddle. From the top of the saddle, veer south and aim for the second saddle with a similarly gradual route in the middle. At the top of this saddle is little Sardella Lake, a morale-boosting milestone that means you are just a short hike from spectacular Upper Lewis Lake. We camped on the north end of the lake.

Take a look at the page “Granite Dome Day Hike” for more detail on our route to the summit from this campsite.

Ridge Lake

This lake holds stunning views and sits just under the sheer walls of Granite Dome. Unfortunately, it did not seem to have any fish.

Ridge Lake can be reached either by continuing west after the first saddle in the route to Lewis Lake. Pay close attention to topography or GPS and you should be able to maintain elevation from the saddle and wind around to an open area which leads straight to the lake.

A second option is to aim for the saddle north of the local peak, then maintain elevation and wrap around to the southwest side of it to a gradual climb. Continue up this more gradual section until you reach the lake. We ended up on this route on our first trip exploring the area and I honestly thought we were lost because the distance to the lake was much longer than I was expecting. Keep this in mind and don’t get discouraged. It’s farther than it appears on the map.

We camped in a protected area on the northeast side of the lake and saw a few other campers up against the hill on the north side.

Iceland Lake

Iceland Lake was the most scenic campground in my opinion! The large lake appeared to be an infinity pool at the north end, dropping off to panoramic views of Relief Reservoir and the surrounding area. There were no fish in this lake either though.

Coming from the east side the easiest (and perhaps only non-technical) route comes directly from Ridge Lake. It’s a quick and flat walk and passes a smaller unnamed lake on the way. Although the east side of the lake might appear to be accessible there is a large cliff and you cannot reach the west shore. We watched some hikers trying to struggle over the wall from our campsite and they ended up turning around (likely back to Ridge Lake).

We picked a campsite on the south side of the lake. After setting up camp we went in the water, explored around the north side for some epic sights, and climbed the small peak on the south end for nice birds eye views.