Mosquito school is over. Summer is here. The mosquitoes are ready to lay waste to the Sierra Nevada and from what I had heard, they were already having a party. A bloody party.
I hate mosquitoes! This is why I never go backpacking in the summer. But this is the year of the record snow pack, is it not? Maybe I could get one last backpacking trip in before the party got too ugly. The weather forecast looked very promising at the beginning of the week. Delta breeze. Cool temperatures. However, by the end of the week all that was gone. The heat was back. No wind. The mosquitoes were revving up for the weekend. Should I even go? I decided to continue my plan in hopes that they would not be too bad at the location I had chosen. I mean, how bad could it really be?
I started my hike at Kennedy Meadows at 7:30am. There were no mosquitoes. In fact, it was an absolutely beautiful, perfect day. My hike would be 17 miles with 3600 ft. elevation gain. Say that again, slowly. I knew there would be snow over the pass so I had brought my spikes. I did not think I would need them but it was a possibility. Better safe than sorry. The pass is called Mosquito Pass. I did not even know it was named this because it is not labeled on my map but a couple people mentioned it to me. It is probably a bad omen that it is named Mosquito Pass. There were no mosquitoes but there was quite a bit of snow. This makes the trekking very slow and tiring, as you know. By the time I got to Emigrant Lake I was dead tired. I still had to hike to the end of the lake, another 2.5 miles. The mosquitoes made their first appearance of the day as well.
I arrived at my camp below Emigrant Lake at 5PM. I totally overdid it on this day. I was so tired. Almost bonked. I thought that camping alongside the roaring creek below the waterfall would keep the mosquitoes away. It did not. There were a horrendous amount of buggers here. They would not leave me alone even as I was photographing down beside the waterfall. They were not really biting me because I had doused myself in bug spray but they were very annoying nonetheless. Argh. I hate mosquitoes! Also, I stupidly forgot my pan at home so I could not even cook my dinner. How did I manage to do such an idiotic thing? Well, I was so overtired that I was not even hungry so it was not a big deal on this first day. I just ate some trail mix for dinner and went to bed. It would be a much bigger problem for the second day, however. I would definitely need to eat something more substantial than trail mix.
Emigrant Lake Falls is 59 ft. high. It is a stunning cascade and a lot bigger than I expected. I got some nice colorful light above the falls as well. It is an awesome place to camp below this incredible waterfall but I could not enjoy it too much. I took my photos and went to bed.
