Many Island Lake
Kibbie Ridge Area
Emigrant Wilderness & Yosemite National Park
Aug 6 - Aug 8, 2011

The 2010/11 winter was very heavy in terms of snowfall in the Sierras. In July, the snowpack was still rated 200% above normal. So, I was looking for a scenic, uncrowded hike in an area at a relatively low elevation. Also, since Kip and Glenn were driving up from LA, it couldn't be too far north. What I found was an area on the northern border of Yosemite. The trailhead is accessed from the Cherry Lake and Eleanor Lake area.

We had a misadventure before we even got to the trail. The regulations require a free wilderness/campfire permit, which I applied for ahead of time. On the phone, the National Forest office in Sonora told me to head to Tuolumne City and then take Buchanan Road all the way to Cherry Lake, and that it would take an hour and a half from their office. Apparently the forest service doesn't realize that Buchanan Road turns off of the main road at one point, and turns into a gradually more and more treacherous dirt road. We wouldn't have known this if the GPS wasn't on, as it found the turnoff. Fortunately, all the dirt roads were on the GPS, so we could follow them toward Cherry Lake. Eventually we ran across a lady in a truck with her dogs who told us that there's no way we'd make it on the dirt road. We needed to go back out to the turnoff and continue on the main road, which is paved all the way to the lake. For some reason, the GPS was missing sections of this road, so in addition to being a stickler for the name, it didn't even have the correct route on it. Looking at Google Maps now, I can see how we might have been able to exit the dirt road later, but we didn't have that great of a map, or even know what the paved road was called (Cottonwood Road). We did extricate ourselves, and made it to the trailhead with no further problems, but we were 2 hours late.

Arriving at 4pm wasn't too bad, as we just had a short hike scheduled that day so that the hike on Sunday wouldn't be a long, all-day affair. Also, the steepest climb was at the beginning, so we'd be able to recover from that. We ended up going 4 miles in 2 1/2 hours and made it to our planned campsite that night. This campsite was on Kibbie Ridge, just before Lookout Point. A short distance away from the campsite was a set of boulders that gave an amazing view up and down the Cherry Creek Canyon. Strangely, when we later visited Lookout Point, we found that the boulders behind camp gave a much better view. The area around us was pine forest with little undergrowth. Most of the trees had been burned at least partially, and shortly across the trail was a large area that had recently been completely burned out. After checking the internet when we got back, it looks like the fire was in 2004 or 2005. I would have guessed it was more recent than that.

For dinner that night we had cheese fondue with bread, broccoli, cauliflower, and prosciutto for dipping. Delicious! For dessert, we had chocolate mint brownies that Danny had made at home. We were so full of cheese that we couldn't finish them, but they made excellent snacks the next morning. As we hope for in our D&D games, the night passed uneventfully.

On the trail

Campsite the first night

Sunset on the canyon rim

Fondue for dinner

Breakfast was a quick, but hot meal. We had instant oatmeal and Tang. After that, we headed on in the hopes of getting to camp early enough to have a swim before it cooled down. Leaving camp, the trail passed a large swamp on the right, and not much later we saw a sign informing us that we were crossing into Yosemite. Shortly after entering Yosemite, the trail stopped passing through forest and it became more granite with scattered trees.

Here, I will pause to mention Glenn's backpack, an external frame which reminded me of the ones I used in Boy Scouts. I'd forgotten how high you load those things - he reminded me of a dwarf or hobbit, with gear stacked well over his head and canted crazily off to one side. I really miss all the pockets those backpacks have. I do not miss the frame getting caught on branches all the time.

The big swamp

First view of Many Island Lake

Hiking down the granite slope

Glenn and his pack

For the most part, the trail was pretty clear. Apparently this is a fairly recent development, since many reports of the area indicated that the trail disappeared for significant stretches at a time. We made great time to the area where we had to leave the trail and head cross country toward the valley that held Many Island Lake. The way down was steep in places, the most troublesome being a small ravine that we should have crossed much higher up. We wanted to camp on the far side of the lake, because that would put us in the best spot for the dayhike tomorrow and the hike out on the following day (we planned to head straight for Kibbie Lake, a shorted hike with less elevation changes, but a significant amount of cross-country bushwacking). So, at the bottom, we had to work our way around the edge of the lake, which involved skirting swampy areas and walking through chest high ferns, a slow process.

About 1pm, we broke out of the ferns and brush and into a nice flat area, bordered by a steep hill on one side and the lake on the other. After a short break for lunch, we searched uphill for a site that would give us a good view of the lake, but couldn't find anything flat enough. In the flat area, we did find a large bare stone with a sandy flat spot in the center. We hope that the stony area was large enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay, and decided to set up camp there (but not right away).

Danny and his traveling hat

Man eating ferns

Our second campsite

Some islands in Many Island Lake

Danny and I were still warm enough from the hike that a swim sounded like a good idea, so we jumped right in. The water was warmer than I expected from my previous experiences with mountain lakes, and was quite nice to swim in. As its name might suggest, the lake had a lot of small stony islands, some with plants and trees, some just a few rocks. The water was a bit greenish, but pretty clear. It was a lot of fun to swim around to the various islands.

Try and spot Danny swimming in the lake

A fun island

Granite polished by glaciers thousand of years ago

More Many Island Lake

After playing around for a bit, we set up camp, relaxed by reading our books, and then started cooking. Dinner for that night was some of those boil-in-bag Indian quick meals, over rice. A bit heavy for backpacking, but they had originally been bought for the first night before we came up with the fondue idea. For dessert, we had a sweet Indian treat (I don't remember the name, but it was made with powdered milk). Just before sunset, the winds died down and the lake turned into a giant mirror, reflecting the trees, mountains, and the bright moon.

Twilight reflections	Reflected Moon	Not the sun
Sunrise mirror	A very still lake	Ryan on a rock

For Monday, we had a number of possible day trips to choose from, but none of them required a quick breakfast. We had chai tea pancakes with nutella, and tang and hot chocolate. There were quite a few possibilities for the day trip, including a smooth granite canyon, a peak overlooking the next valley, or visiting a number of lakes. We decided to go for the lakes, specifically Spotted Fawn Lake, which I'd heard pretty things about.

This was a cross country trip, so there was no trail. We had to pick our way up and down the slopes, and find ways through or around the areas of heavy vegetation. We climbed glacier polished granite, walked on logs through swampy areas, and waded through chest high ferns. On the way, we saw an inviting lake not too far off and thought we might stop by on the way back. After a lot of ups and downs and some obstacle avoidance, we finally made it to the point where we could see Spotted Fawn Lake. The only problem was that it was quite a ways down. Although the lake was pretty, we decided it wasn't really worth the effort to go all the way down and then back up. We'd rather visit the lake we saw on the way, and then spend the time at our own lake, which was at least as nice, and probably nicer. So, we took a couple pictures on the overlook and turned around. On the way back, we stopped at the smaller lake we'd seen for lunch and a swim. This lake had almost a maze of natural canals running off of it, and was quite refreshing after hiking in the high altitude sun.

Many Island Lake from above	Glenn checks the map	Hiking on the granite slopes
Long distance view	A small lake	Above Spotted Fawn Lake

After lunch, we started the return journey to our camp. We went back a slightly different way, and ended up needing to negotiate a short downclimb to avoid a long backtrack, but this was accomplished without too much difficulty. It only took a few hours to get back after lunch, so we had plenty of time for another swim before dinner. Again, a very fun lake to swim around in. I found one island that had a campfire ring on it. Did someone bring a boat, swim all the firewood out there, or visit when the lake was frozen but somehow not covered in snow?

All 4 of us at Spotted Fawn Lake

Tricky downclimb

Pretty flowers

Dinner was a feast: homemade backpacking pesto chicken pasta with walnuts and sundried tomato, and blueberry orange tea cake (baked on the camp stove by Danny) for dessert. Unfortunately, I'd chosen to get freeze dried blueberries rather than dehydrated, and this didn't work so well for the recipe - the blueberries go on the bottom of the cake, and the lack of any moisture in the freeze dried ones caused the bottom to burn in the center. Still, dinner was very good.

After another beautiful (but cold) night, we got up early-ish to have a quick breakfast of oatmeal with fruits and nuts while packing up. We had 3 options for hiking out. We could follow along the edge of Many Island Lake and then bushwhack to Kibbie Lake, where we could pick up a trail back to Cherry Lake and the cars. This would be the shortest, but the most difficult. We could head up toward the trail we came in on, but take a less steep route. This would be the easiest, but the longest, adding an extra couple miles distance, plus a climb up and over the pass. And, of course, We could go back the way we came. We decided that with the slow travel yesterday, even without our packs, the bushwhacking probably wouldn't be a great option, especially since Kip and Glenn had a long drive back home. We also didn't really like the idea of climbing back up the steep area, so we took the longer but easier route.

On the way up to the trail, I did get a better look at a small lake, built into a ledge on the side of the steep area. There was a group camped there, and it looked like a fun spot. Also, after we crested the ridge and were just getting onto the trail, we got a good look at the granite slickrock area of Cherry Creek. That also looked like a fun area to explore at a later date. The hike up and over the pass was steep, though. At least it was on the way out when our packs were light. We stopped at the real Lookout Point for a brief lunch, and then continued on to the cars. On the way out, we met a ranger who actually checked our permit and verified that we had bear canisters. It seemed odd to see a ranger on such a low traffic trail. I think we got back to the cars around 2:30 or so, but I'm not sure. It was a beautiful area, and I'd definitely like to get back there again to see more of it.

Interesting lake on the cliffside

Trail through wildflowers

Panorama of Many Island Lake (big)

Panorama of Danny swimming in the lake (big)

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