Sierra Nevada - Emigrant Wilderness

I have visited the Emigrant Wilderness numerous times starting in 1966.

1966 Deck Trek - August 28-September 4, 1966

In 1966, with Ed Myers, Bob Johnson, Tim McSweeney, Greg O'Leary and Kevin Twohey, I backpacked 58 miles on the annual "Deck Trek". We pretty much followed the planned trip itinerary. (See end of page)

Except for 3 windy days we had beautiful weather. No mosquitos due to dry weather. After starting the trip at the parking lot next to the highway, we discovered that there was an alternate trailhead we could have used that would shorten the hike. Sent Bob Johnson back to move the car. When we came out at the end we discovered that we had parked on private property and the owner charged us $6.00. The first night we camped on the Walker River.

Note: These pictures from the trip were scanned in 2006 from the original Kodachrome slides taken in 1966. Some deterioration occurred during that 40 years of storage so some pictures have blemishes that could not be repaired.
Pickle Meadows
Pickle Meadows
Secret Lake
Secret Lake

Roosevelt Lake - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Roosevelt Lake - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Forsyth Peak - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Forsyth Peak - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966

On the second day we moved to Fremont Lake - windy.

The gang at trail junction: Kevin Twohey, Tim McSweeney, Greg O'Leary, Ed Myers,  Bob Johnson - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
The gang at trail junction: Kevin Twohey, Tim McSweeney, Greg O'Leary, Ed Myers, Bob Johnson - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Ed Myers crossing the West Walker River - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Ed Myers crossing the West Walker River - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966

Fremont Lake - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Fremont Lake - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Ed Myers, Forsyth Peak, Tower Peak - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Ed Myers, Forsyth Peak, Tower Peak - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966

On a long third day we moved to camp below Middle Emigrant Lake. There was no wood at Middle Emigrant or Emigrant Meadow Lakes and we needed wood to cook. We crossed Emigrant Pass which was not marked. There is a mining road. There was a grave at the campsite and we had light snow for 3 minutes during the night.

Chain of Lakes - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Chain of Lakes - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Totem Pole at trail junction - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Totem Pole at trail junction - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966

Lower Long Lake - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Lower Long Lake - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Upper Long Lake - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Upper Long Lake - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966

Meadow near Emigrant Pass - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Meadow near Emigrant Pass - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Grizzly Peak - Tim McSweeney, Kevin Twohey, Greg O'Leary, Bob Johnson - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Grizzly Peak - Tim McSweeney, Kevin Twohey, Greg O'Leary, Bob Johnson
Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966

Grizzly Peak - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Grizzly Peak - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Greg O'Leary, Ed Myers, Bob Johnson, Tim McSweeney, Kevin Twohey consulting the map - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Greg O'Leary, Ed Myers, Bob Johnson, Tim McSweeney, Kevin Twohey consulting the map
Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966

The gang at trail junction - Don Deck, Tim McSweeney (about to stab him), Greg O'Leary, Kevin Twohey, Bob Johnson - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
The gang at trail junction - Don Deck, Tim McSweeney (about to stab him), Greg O'Leary, Kevin Twohey, Bob Johnson - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Bob Johnson and Kevin Twohey at Emigrant Pass - High Emigrant Lake in the background - Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966
Bob Johnson and Kevin Twohey at Emigrant Pass - High Emigrant Lake in the background
Hoover Wilderness - Aug 1966

Kevin Twohey looks at Emigrant Meadow Lake from Emigrant Pass - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Kevin Twohey looks at Emigrant Meadow Lake from Emigrant Pass
Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Grizzly Peak - Greg O'Leary leads Kevin Twohey, Tim McSweeney and Bob Johnson on the trail - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Grizzly Peak - Greg O'Leary leads Kevin Twohey, Tim McSweeney and Bob Johnson on the trail - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

On the trail to Emigrant Meadow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
On the trail to Emigrant Meadow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Emigrant Meadow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Emigrant Meadow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

On the fourth day we headed for Emigrant Lake and camped below its outlet. Along the way we found a smoldering fire in a large log and extinguished it .. apparently someone had built their campfire against the log and not put it fully out.

Middle Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Middle Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Black Bird Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Black Bird Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
View below Emigrant Lake from its outlet - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
View below Emigrant Lake from its outlet - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Camp scene below Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Camp scene below Emigrant Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Around the campfire at Emigrant Lake -- Ed Myers, Kevin Twohey with Playboy Magazine, Tim McSweeney, Greg O'Leary - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Around the campfire at Emigrant Lake -- Ed Myers, Kevin Twohey with Playboy Magazine, Tim McSweeney, Greg O'Leary - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Around the campfire at Emigrant Lake -- Ed Myers, Kevin Twohey with Playboy Magazine, Tim McSweeney, Greg O'Leary - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Around the campfire at Emigrant Lake -- Ed Myers, Kevin Twohey with Playboy Magazine, Tim McSweeney, Greg O'Leary - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Bob Johnson crossing North Fork Cherry Creek above Cow Meadow.  Boy Scout group was camped nearby - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Bob Johnson crossing North Fork Cherry Creek above Cow Meadow. Boy Scout group was camped nearby - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

The next day we moved on to Huckleberry Lake. We met a group of 50 Scouts and their leaders on a wilderness camp .. their fifth year, we learned while talking with the leader. Ed and Bob caught 5 nice sized trout in the lake on that evening.

Cow Meadow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Cow Meadow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Lertora Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Lertora Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

East Fork Cherry Creek - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
East Fork Cherry Creek - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Tim McSweeney, Bob Johnson, Greg O'Leary, Ed Myers, Kevin Twohey at campsite on Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Tim McSweeney, Bob Johnson, Greg O'Leary, Ed Myers, Kevin Twohey at campsite on Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Camp at Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Camp at Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Deer at Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Deer at Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Greg O'Leary and Bob Johnson with his catch of trout at Huckleberry Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Greg O'Leary and Bob Johnson with his catch of trout at Huckleberry Lake
Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
East Fork Cherry Creek - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
East Fork Cherry Creek - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Day six took us past an active tungsten mine to Snow lake where the inactive Montezuma Mine was for sale.

The following information adapted from Mineral Resources of the Emigrant Basin Primitive Area, California, 1970 (PDF) starting on page G58.

The Montezuma Mine property [at Snow Lake] consists of the Montezuma No. 1 and Montezuma No. 2 lode claims; both were located on August 24, 1942, by L. W. Osborn, W. H. Heitman, and associates. The claims are in sec. 24, T. 4 N., R 21 E., on the east side of Snow Lake. The claims are reached from the road to the Whittle property by a 1-mile long spur road that turns east at Summit Meadow.

The workings of the Montezuma mine, which were developed in the early 1950's by the locators, total approximately 215 linear feet of adit and drift and a shallow winze, all terminating in granitic rocks near the contacts with the roof-pendant rocks. In addition, several open cuts were excavated early in the history of the claims, apparently in an attempt to delineate mineralized zones.

Twelve tons of selected ore, averaging 1.6 to 2.7 percent W03 [Tungsten(VI) oxide] are reported to have been packed out by mules in 1951. Small quantities of tungsten concentrate were also produced and shipped from the workings and dumps on the claims in 1953 and 1954. Cut samples from the underground workings assayed from 0.01 percent to 0.05 percent W03. Three of the samples contained 0.01 percent Mo (molybdenum).

The Montezuma mine adit exposes the contact of roof-pendant rocks with granodiorite. Epidote-garnet tactite, containing fine to coarse grained scheelite and minor amounts of copper and molybdenum bearing minerals, is exposed here and there in this contact zone. Some of the scheelite is concentrated in layers parallel to the metamorphic banding in the rocks, but most of the ore mined consisted of scheelite disseminated throughout the host rock.

The largest body of tactite exposed in the adit is about 70 feet long. Scheelite-bearing tactite is also exposed in the small surface pits and open cuts, and several pods of tactite 1 to 5 feet long are exposed in the granodiorite and in hornfels 100 to 200 feet north of the main workings.

The future commercial success of the Montezuma mine is in large part dependent on the depth below the surface to which the roof-pendant rocks and, specifically, the tactite lenses persist. The bottom of the winze that is located about 50 feet inside the portal exposes granodiorite. This exposure leads H. K. Stager and D. C. Ross to believe that the pendant is a shallow body; diamond drilling in the floor of the adit also intersected granodiorite at a shallow depth. The occurrence of other xenoliths of metamorphic rocks at depth, however, is possible and even likely.

[NOTE: The Union Carbide Tungsten Mine on Pine Creek was the largest successful Tungsten mine in the world until the Chinese drove them out of business with lower prices. Union Carbide had developed a unique proprietary method for extracting the Tungsten from the ore which was why they were successful for so long. This Montezuma Mine was probably too small to financially operate successfully. It is likely that the claims have been abandoned.]
Horse Meadow - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Horse Meadow - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Forsyth Peak, Summit Meadow - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Forsyth Peak, Summit Meadow - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Summit Meadow - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Summit Meadow - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Montezuma Mine, Snow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Montezuma Mine, Snow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Snow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Snow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Swimming in Snow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Swimming in Snow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

The next day we backpacked to Bond Pass and climbed Bigelow Peak along the ridge from there. First part was an old mining road. Bigelow Peak has great views in many directions. We returned to Bond Pass and continued via Dorothy Lake and Dorothy Lake Pass to Harriet Lake for the night.

On September 3, 1966 myself, Kevin Twohey and Bob Johnson climbed 10,541' Bigelow Peak.

Bigelow Peak, named after Major John Bigelow, Jr., Ninth Cavalry, US Army, acting superintendent of Yosemite National Park in 1904, straddles the northwest boundary of Yosemite National Park and the southeast boundary of the Emigrant Wilderness Area.

It consists of colorful bands of metamorphic rock that is not commonly found in Yosemite. Bigelow Peak is comprised of mixed layers of granite, marble (metamorphosed limestone), quartzite (metamorphosed sand), gneiss and schist formed when the Sierra granite arose through the ancient sea-bottom alluvial rocks. Extensive tungsten-rich scheelite ore, called tactites, were discovered and mined briefly in this area, though all mining has stopped now.

The area around Bigelow Peak offers beautiful scenary with several nearby lakes, grassy meadows, stands of mixed pine and conifer trees and wild flowers during the summer. If approaching from the east, Grace Meadow is particularly beautiful and is worth visiting in and of itself. The standard route to the summit is mostly a class 2 scramble with a few easy class 3 sections. There are also several other peaks nearby that can be easily climbed during the same trip.
Tim McSweeney, Kevin Twohey, Bob Johnson and Greg O'Leary waking up at Snow Lake - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Tim McSweeney, Kevin Twohey, Bob Johnson and Greg O'Leary waking up at Snow Lake
Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
View on the way up Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
View on the way up Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Kevin Twohey and Bob Johnson on the way to Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Kevin Twohey and Bob Johnson on the way to Bigelow Peak
Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Dorothy Lake from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Dorothy Lake from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Forsyth Peak, Saurian Crest and Tower Peak from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Forsyth Peak, Saurian Crest and Tower Peak from Bigelow Peak
Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Bob Johnson and Kevin Twohey with Banner Peak, Mt. Ritter, Mt. Lyell, etc. from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Bob Johnson and Kevin Twohey with Banner Peak, Mt. Ritter, Mt. Lyell, etc. from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

Bigelow Lake from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Bigelow Lake from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Twin Lake from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966
Twin Lake from Bigelow Peak - Emigrant Wilderness - Aug 1966

On the eighty day we had a long hike out to the car. Drove to Bodie ghost town and then on to Bishop for a movie and supper.

On the final day we left Greg with Alan Sanford at Onion Valley and then drove home arriving about 6 p.m. after a great trip.

Route Map
Profile

 

Trip Itinerary - Page 1 of 2
Trip Itinerary - Page 2 of 2