Nice ending to the series. The current weather makes me want to go back even more. Looking at the trip from a different perspective.. dang I look pretty fly with the matching navy blue and yellow on my pack, shoes, and sun hoodie. Fashion > Function 😂 Happy Holidays!
@@Tenkara_Retiree 🤣 I' glad to hear that. 😁 As do I. 🤣🤣 I decided to keep my singing in regardless of how bad it it. 😅😅 Funny thing is my friend recorded 4 different versions for me. One sounds like Duran Duran mixed with Kajagoogoo. 😅
Thanks for the views. The footage from your camp down to the cabin finally shows me the attractions of this area I never managed to visit. Those big campsites with the grills left behind etc. are horse-packer sites. Did they look much used? Kennedy Meadow packstation horsemen used to make a practice of cleaning up the horse poop around their campsites. Do they still?
Hi Jim, as always, glad you appreciate it. I can only presume they're used given the gear that was left and the fact that it looked pretty new. No horse poop that I remember seeing. It was all cow and that campsite was pretty clean overall. Why did you never visit this area? Not remote enough or simply not in the path of other places?
@@highcountrychronicles The latter. We were going long itineraries and wanting to string destinations together. Kennedy Lake is a one-off. There's nowhere to go except back out or up to Lost Lake if that trail still works (probably), or crosscountry up toward Sonora Pass -- nowhere you particularly want to get to. And since you're pretty much committed to starting there as your first night from the trailhead, you're hauling a full load, which for us was 12-17 days. You could exit that way, but it puts you into the most distant and least handy of the major Emigrant trailheads. It was a loser from every angle. But if I was going out to Kennedy Meadow from Emigrant Lake or Emigrant Lake basin again, and not in a hurry, I'd be tempted to do it via Lost Lake and Kennedy Lake as an alternative to the Brown Bear Pass trail, which is pretty much without attractions. Kennedy is the only major lake in the Emigrant Wildernesswe didn't visit or camp -- we camped 40 named and 2 unnamed lakes in it and visited nearly all the rest. Missing Lewis Lake looks like a flub. Ouch. We checked out and decided not to camp (for various reasons) Kole, Leighton, Blackbird, Shallow, Gem and Jewelry, Iceland and adjacent lakelets, which don't count because they're uncampable anyways -- like Pinto, Olive, David Starr Jordan, Pruitt. We never checked out the Bear Lake near Camp Lake (to be distinguished from the Bear Lake over the Yosemite border near Haystack). But nearly all the lakes in the Emigrant reward a visit and a stay, with very few real clunkers, many surprises and a half dozen and more keepers worth repeated visits.
@@jimpowell6789 I figured as much. A lot of those you mentioned are better as short destination trips. You could go to High Emigrant from Kennedy, I've thought of doing this in the past as I've had to spend the night on the bluff above the lake before (www.highcountryflyfisher.com/pages/chronEW5.htm) but certainly not a direct route by any means. I quite enjoyed Lewis and was thinking just yesterday that I need to go back. Maybe an extended trip below Granite Dome, visiting each lake for a couple of days. Which begs the question, did you ever run into any Golden Trout in your travels? I know you don't fish much but there are always others around...
@@highcountrychronicles Except on a solo trip one year I always had fishing company. And no, we never saw Golden Trout either in the southern west-face Ritter Range or north between Matterhorn Canyon and Sonora Pass. My triple Pisces friend Greg, comrade of a thousand trail miles, would have been avid to hear about the Golden up on Granite Dome. We dayhiked up to Iceland and also checked out Ridge and Sardella but not close enough to spot fish. We were more intent on getting over Upper Relief pass and into the area beyond -- Toe Jam, Leopold and Granite -- not much for fishing but luscious terrain for poking around. The trout in upper Matterhorn Canyon look to be a variant of some kind -- maybe of Paiute Trout? They're nearly orange. But not big enough for the pan.
I noticed that in the footage of you using your big knife to hack a fire size log off that bough, there was a edit in the middle when the video jumps from near the beginning of the job to near the end. I would like to hwe how long it actually took you to hack through just that one log and how your arm felt afterward.
@@jimpowell6789 Haha. I was wondering if you were going to say something. 🤣 Yeah, it's not a knife video so I wasn't going to bore people anymore than necessary with extended knife cutting. (Especially on an hour plus long video.) That video is here: ua-cam.com/video/e6CegIuD1m8/v-deo.htmlsi=_tLs2xqJSDAjCATk My guess is it was about 5 - 6 minutes. It turned out to be a pretty tough piece of wood and took longer than expected. Not as efficient as a saw or axe to be sure but I don't carry those. I wasn't too tired. I tend to let the knife do the work and don't put a lot of strength into the chop. Especially when the wood turns out to be harder than I expect. It takes longer but I don't blow out my arm and with bad rotator cuffs, it works for me.
@@highcountrychronicles To have much of a fire, though, you'ld need several of those logs. Lodgepole is full of sap, which makes it tough as f**k and burn smokey as tar -- until it's lain on the ground for three seasons. After that you can break it up by hand, and after four or five seasons it's useless. A place like Kennedy Lake, that evidently sees many campers and big parties, isn't going to provide much fuel unless you wander well away from the campsites. We gave up on campfires, except occasionally if we were in a place with plentiful good fuel and big fish and potatoes to bake. We brought sufficient layers to be able to sit up comfortably late into the night -- but we were never up there in October. (October is for the Ventana).
@ Yeah, I just like to have a fire sometime during the season. Either early or late. No need for it other than it was soothing. Interesting. There was plenty of fallen timber around. Pretty amazing given the number of campsites in the area.
@@highcountrychronicles Old style fire-wood making: See at 12:17 of this UA-cam video: Silent Hiking in Sequoia-Kings Backcountry, California | Tablelands Loop.
@@jimpowell6789 🤣🤣🤣 Why possibly injure my already bad back when I've brought a tool with me. 🤣🤣🤣 I'm willing to bet I've got 35 years on her... 🤣 I could also fish like she does at 11:20 but.... why? 🤣🤣🤣
@@alansonneman9098 Hi, have you watched the previous video? I did need it. That said, I also don't "need" a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad or a half dozen other things, yet I "choose" to carry them. I've been planning to make a 3pc rod in this configuration and haven't had the time. I'm pretty particular about my rod actions. Thanks for watching.
@@highcountrychronicles "Need" is a function of purposes. If you want to stay alive with a minimum pack weight on short trips, you don't need much. If you want to stay out for weeks at a time and not beat yourself into the ground, stay comfortable and energized, your pack weight will get heavier. I never would have carried crocks, or that huge knife. But I did bring a Vesuvio espresso pot and wool pants and a heavy polar fleece parka so I could sit out till midnight stargazing and marveling.
Yes but you would have way more fun with the espresso pot than I ever would with the knife. Have a pot with lunch and see what it does to your afternoon..
Awesome video of your hike into the back country.really would like to see you eat some of those fish you catch.
Thanks. I don't eat fish usually. Just don't like the taste of trout. Maybe next year one of the other guys will eat some. 😀
Nice ending to the series. The current weather makes me want to go back even more.
Looking at the trip from a different perspective.. dang I look pretty fly with the matching navy blue and yellow on my pack, shoes, and sun hoodie. Fashion > Function 😂
Happy Holidays!
😆😆😆 I'll admit, that one photo of you walking through the small meadow outside the camp site is pretty good. LOL.
I find myself humming your theme song 😗 😂
@@Tenkara_Retiree 🤣 I' glad to hear that. 😁
As do I. 🤣🤣 I decided to keep my singing in regardless of how bad it it. 😅😅 Funny thing is my friend recorded 4 different versions for me. One sounds like Duran Duran mixed with Kajagoogoo. 😅
Thanks for the views. The footage from your camp down to the cabin finally shows me the attractions of this area I never managed to visit. Those big campsites with the grills left behind etc. are horse-packer sites. Did they look much used? Kennedy Meadow packstation horsemen used to make a practice of cleaning up the horse poop around their campsites. Do they still?
Hi Jim, as always, glad you appreciate it. I can only presume they're used given the gear that was left and the fact that it looked pretty new. No horse poop that I remember seeing. It was all cow and that campsite was pretty clean overall.
Why did you never visit this area? Not remote enough or simply not in the path of other places?
@@highcountrychronicles The latter. We were going long itineraries and wanting to string destinations together. Kennedy Lake is a one-off. There's nowhere to go except back out or up to Lost Lake if that trail still works (probably), or crosscountry up toward Sonora Pass -- nowhere you particularly want to get to. And since you're pretty much committed to starting there as your first night from the trailhead, you're hauling a full load, which for us was 12-17 days. You could exit that way, but it puts you into the most distant and least handy of the major Emigrant trailheads. It was a loser from every angle. But if I was going out to Kennedy Meadow from Emigrant Lake or Emigrant Lake basin again, and not in a hurry, I'd be tempted to do it via Lost Lake and Kennedy Lake as an alternative to the Brown Bear Pass trail, which is pretty much without attractions.
Kennedy is the only major lake in the Emigrant Wildernesswe didn't visit or camp -- we camped 40 named and 2 unnamed lakes in it and visited nearly all the rest. Missing Lewis Lake looks like a flub. Ouch. We checked out and decided not to camp (for various reasons) Kole, Leighton, Blackbird, Shallow, Gem and Jewelry, Iceland and adjacent lakelets, which don't count because they're uncampable anyways -- like Pinto, Olive, David Starr Jordan, Pruitt. We never checked out the Bear Lake near Camp Lake (to be distinguished from the Bear Lake over the Yosemite border near Haystack). But nearly all the lakes in the Emigrant reward a visit and a stay, with very few real clunkers, many surprises and a half dozen and more keepers worth repeated visits.
@@jimpowell6789 I figured as much. A lot of those you mentioned are better as short destination trips. You could go to High Emigrant from Kennedy, I've thought of doing this in the past as I've had to spend the night on the bluff above the lake before (www.highcountryflyfisher.com/pages/chronEW5.htm) but certainly not a direct route by any means.
I quite enjoyed Lewis and was thinking just yesterday that I need to go back. Maybe an extended trip below Granite Dome, visiting each lake for a couple of days.
Which begs the question, did you ever run into any Golden Trout in your travels? I know you don't fish much but there are always others around...
@@highcountrychronicles Except on a solo trip one year I always had fishing company. And no, we never saw Golden Trout either in the southern west-face Ritter Range or north between Matterhorn Canyon and Sonora Pass. My triple Pisces friend Greg, comrade of a thousand trail miles, would have been avid to hear about the Golden up on Granite Dome. We dayhiked up to Iceland and also checked out Ridge and Sardella but not close enough to spot fish. We were more intent on getting over Upper Relief pass and into the area beyond -- Toe Jam, Leopold and Granite -- not much for fishing but luscious terrain for poking around. The trout in upper Matterhorn Canyon look to be a variant of some kind -- maybe of Paiute Trout? They're nearly orange. But not big enough for the pan.
I noticed that in the footage of you using your big knife to hack a fire size log off that bough, there was a edit in the middle when the video jumps from near the beginning of the job to near the end. I would like to hwe how long it actually took you to hack through just that one log and how your arm felt afterward.
@@jimpowell6789 Haha. I was wondering if you were going to say something. 🤣
Yeah, it's not a knife video so I wasn't going to bore people anymore than necessary with extended knife cutting. (Especially on an hour plus long video.) That video is here: ua-cam.com/video/e6CegIuD1m8/v-deo.htmlsi=_tLs2xqJSDAjCATk
My guess is it was about 5 - 6 minutes. It turned out to be a pretty tough piece of wood and took longer than expected. Not as efficient as a saw or axe to be sure but I don't carry those.
I wasn't too tired. I tend to let the knife do the work and don't put a lot of strength into the chop. Especially when the wood turns out to be harder than I expect. It takes longer but I don't blow out my arm and with bad rotator cuffs, it works for me.
@@highcountrychronicles To have much of a fire, though, you'ld need several of those logs. Lodgepole is full of sap, which makes it tough as f**k and burn smokey as tar -- until it's lain on the ground for three seasons. After that you can break it up by hand, and after four or five seasons it's useless. A place like Kennedy Lake, that evidently sees many campers and big parties, isn't going to provide much fuel unless you wander well away from the campsites. We gave up on campfires, except occasionally if we were in a place with plentiful good fuel and big fish and potatoes to bake. We brought sufficient layers to be able to sit up comfortably late into the night -- but we were never up there in October. (October is for the Ventana).
@ Yeah, I just like to have a fire sometime during the season. Either early or late. No need for it other than it was soothing.
Interesting. There was plenty of fallen timber around. Pretty amazing given the number of campsites in the area.
@@highcountrychronicles Old style fire-wood making: See at 12:17 of this UA-cam video: Silent Hiking in Sequoia-Kings Backcountry, California | Tablelands Loop.
@@jimpowell6789 🤣🤣🤣 Why possibly injure my already bad back when I've brought a tool with me. 🤣🤣🤣 I'm willing to bet I've got 35 years on her... 🤣 I could also fish like she does at 11:20 but.... why? 🤣🤣🤣
so why not get a 3 or 4 piece pack rod? Also what's with the big knife, you don't need it.
@@alansonneman9098 Hi, have you watched the previous video? I did need it.
That said, I also don't "need" a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad or a half dozen other things, yet I "choose" to carry them.
I've been planning to make a 3pc rod in this configuration and haven't had the time. I'm pretty particular about my rod actions.
Thanks for watching.
@@highcountrychronicles "Need" is a function of purposes. If you want to stay alive with a minimum pack weight on short trips, you don't need much. If you want to stay out for weeks at a time and not beat yourself into the ground, stay comfortable and energized, your pack weight will get heavier. I never would have carried crocks, or that huge knife. But I did bring a Vesuvio espresso pot and wool pants and a heavy polar fleece parka so I could sit out till midnight stargazing and marveling.
@ Exactly. I would never choose to bring an espresso pot. 😅
To each his own and to his own his enjoyment. 😁
Yes but you would have way more fun with the espresso pot than I ever would with the knife. Have a pot with lunch and see what it does to your afternoon..
@@jimpowell6789 😅 If I could make a nice pot of Nepali Chai then maybe.... 😅😅