The Trail Less Traveled - Emerald and Arrowhead Lakes
- Miles 3.5
- Elevation Gain 795 Feet
- Highest Elevation on Trail 9,915 Feet
- No Map - Fitbit Application Crashed
So the real reason to go the Sierra was our annual pilgrimage to Mammoth’s Bluesapalooza. The concert is now a four day event that has great Blues bands and on Saturday 80 craft breweries including some of our favorites June Lake Brewery, Hangar 24, and of course Mammoth Brewing. So before things got too hung over I needed to get my 54 for Dave hike in.
I had been looking for the next hike. There were some lakes calling like; Gaylord, Blue, Grass, and Cooney. However with a tight schedule and guests staying with us I decided to stay close to our beloved condo Snowflower 13.
I had been to Emerald Lake before when training for Half Dome. It is a nice hike. One of the guidebooks suggested a loop of going to Emerald then continuing on up to a saddle and down to Arrowhead Lake. Sounded fun so Emerald/Arrowhead it was.
The guide suggested taking the creek route instead of the main trail. What a great suggestion! The main trail is nice but a basic trail with limited views. The creek trail closely follows the Coldwater creek and this time of year has awesome wild flowers all along the creek.
It had been raining on and off the entire trip, mostly in the afternoon and early evening. This morning' the clouds were already threatening by my 6:30 AM start. The clouds behaved themselves until I had put on my backpack and started walking. Then the rain started. Slowly at first and steadily getting heavier. It was not a monsoon downpour but enough to get you pretty wet. I ducked under a group of pine trees to ponder what to do.
No one would blame me for heading back to the condo. It was going to be a while however before I was going to get back to home sweet Sierra so I really wanted to get a hike in. So I was conflicted. Just about to throw in the towel a couple of hikers with their dogs pass by up the trail with their jackets on.
Well if they were willing, so was I. Put may rain jacket on and headed up the trail. Following the creek trail was the best decision I made all weekend.
Almost immediately, I was next to a beautiful stream full of small cascades and wild flowers. The grey clouds made for perfect soft lighting for taking pictures
The trail was pretty easy, except for stepping over a lot of tree roots in certain spots.
The flowers and cascades kept on coming. It seemed like I would never get very far as I kept stopping to take another picture. The rain stopped and I stopped to take off my rain gear (I hate jackets). It never rained much for the rest of the hike.
After a bit, the trail turned right and followed a tributary. It turned left again and eventually revealed a beautiful open meadow to the left. The trail seemed to disappear and it looked like I had two choices. Hike up a slope to the left to catch the main trail or weave my way through a gully full of big granite rocks. Remembering the trail instructions I took the gully route. The gully looked to be only twenty or thirty yards long but steep. Turns out the rock scramble was a piece of cake with a trail at the top.
After the gully I started up the trail and Emerald Lake opened up to the left. Boy did I hit the jackpot. I still had the morning golden light on the peaks and the water was perfectly still.
Along the shore, under the water is a mass of fallen pines. Looking through the water at these dead soldiers gives an eerie but peaceful feeling.
It was still early so I decided to keep going on to Arrowhead Lake. For me, a big heavy boy, the trail was a huff and puff trail. After going up for bit the trail got even steeper and started going into a series of switchbacks. It seemed the trail was teasing me. Every time I predicted being at the summit the trail took a turn up to go event higher.
The view at the summit took your breath away, both view and the uphill grade! At 9,915 feet, you have an eye level view of Mammoth Mountain and the Minarets! It gave me a sweet sense of accomplishment!
The junction to turn down towards Arrowhead was not marked. But timing is everything. Just as I reached the junction and was deciding to go left or right here comes the first person I had seen all morning bopping up the trail. I asked her if that was the way to Arrowhead and she said it was.
It was so nice to now be walking downhill! I reached the path down to Arrowhead Lake and was rewarded with a view of a beautiful lake with a wonderful granite rock outcrop at one of it's ends.
After enjoying Arrowhead I headed back down the trail. There was one bluff where you could see Lake Mary way, way down in the distance. It reminded me how high I had gotten and how far I had yet to go. Made it back to the car in plenty of time to get home a rest before the concert started.
So it turned out that the hike that almost did not happen turned out to be awesome.
11.1 miles in the books - 43 more to go!. Here is to you Dave!
Here is how we are doing on the pledge drive!
Thank You(s)
Thank You - Rick and Lori Jackson, Thank You - Mike and Monica Barnett, Thank You - Ed Nash, Thank You - Pam Eye, Thank You - Emily Aguto. Thank You - Rob Wynner, Thank You- Matt Garelik, Thank You - Jim Langlois, Thank You - Brad and Karen King, Thank You - Anita Sobel
We have already reached $625 of our $2,500 goal. Awesome! Feel free to share this blog link to anyone who would enjoy the images and stories. Maybe enough to donate!
Till next time “Happy trails to you...till we meet again…..”
You can donate to the 54 fro Dave pledge drive at this link.