Cherry Creek 2024

Since George & I started plying the Emigrant backcountry we have walked/rode along the majority of the Huckleberry Trail from Kennedy Meadows to Huckleberry Lake. However, no trek is complete until you walk the last mile. Up to this point we had covered 26.5 direct miles over 34 years of short & long trips. Our plan this year was to connect the final 10.9 miles of this epic 37.4 mile trail thru the heart of the Emigrant Wilderness. Follow along!

First order of duty. Cover the shortest distance to get near the furtherest point we have trekked on the Huckleberry trail. Leaving from Kennedy Meadows is a long haul, so we opted to cut across the Emigrant from Aspen Meadows to Yellowhammer Lake and then decide the best cross country route. Two choices here. 1-Follow the outflow of Yellowhammer Lake -or- 2-up and over the ridge to the North Fork of Cherry Creek ending up at Lords Meadows. Either way would take some bushwhacking and there was enough literature to believe there was somewhat of a use trail via the ridge.

First rule of 'literature' on the web. Take it with a grain of salt and trust the locals. Our expert packer, Dane, told us he was not aware of any use trails past Yellowhammer and the old trail to Cow Meadow Lake was long gone (Fred Leighton days). Given what we knew and there was at least some chatter about trails up and over North Cherry Creek Ridge, we set out on option 2. Option 1 was shorter, however, George and I had attempted that route to get to Mercer in 2019 and ended up turning around due to thick underbrush. Off we went and with two solid mountaineers in our group, what could go wrong. And not much did. We cut over the ridge a little earlier than some maps indicated, shortening the distance but upping the degree of difficulty (angle mostly). The big issue was bushwhacking once we started down North Cherry Creek and it was relentless and tiring. Finally we made contact with Lords Meadows, however, the Huckleberry Trail on this section is in such poor shape it took all our energy and skills to find our way. We still had another 1.5 miles to go to Boundary Lake with a 700ft elevation gain and that was the deal breaker for me. I chose to stay the night and let George & Umair press on so they could attempt Nance Peak the next day. Off they went and I settled into a nice quiet evening and woke refreshed to catch up the next day.

I rose the next morning, broke camp, loaded my backpack to move the 1.5 miles to Boundary Lake. Just as I was getting ready to leave, down the trail come George & Umair with empty packs to lighten my load. I was prepared to make the trek but my spirits lifted when these heroes showed up. Seems all three of us were exhausted after the cross-country and needed a day of rest. We had the lake to ourselves and enjoyed a relaxing day while planning our next move to assure splitting up the next 12 miles to account for limited water sources.

Mercur Peak was one of the checkpoints for this trip for George to add to his SummitPost page (check it out, he is the Emigrant peak king). Conveniently along our planned route out, we huffed and puffed up over Styx Pass and found a good approach just a short way down the trail. Umair & George prepped themselves and off they went for a successful ascent. The back of the peak is a classic example of exfoliation in the Emigrant and there several prominent geological features in the area, xenolith swarms (North Fork Cherry Creek) & mafic formations (Cherry Creek Canyon). Next stop, camp three near a series of lakelets just off the trail. We nearly blew past them but caught ourselves in time. There was some scrambling to find a good campsite and we settled in for the night. As the lakelet was not named, I have dubbed it as Garter-Otter Lakelet in honor of the critters that we came across.

Well, as we studied the topo map our best guess was 8 miles to go, all downhill (a nice dream) along a well maintained trail with 1847 feet to descend. Lighter packs and this was going to be cake walk. And with a good water supply to start the day, enough to get us all the way without a fill up. Kibbie Ridge was awaiting! Off we went as the trail mildly ascended and descended as we approached Sachse Springs to top off our water supply. There was evidence of the fires that have swept thru Kibbie Ridge, with promising new growth and fallen trees blocking the trail. At first, more of a nuisance, but as we descended into denser forest cover the number of fallen tress and the size of those tress started to multiply exponentially. Compounding all of this was the condition of the trail, horrible! Over grown 4-5 feet high brush obscured the trail and it took a good amount of trail finding to stay on course as it slowed us down and stretched the 8 miles into 9.12, with an exhausting 5 mile stretch until we meet the Kibbie Lake trail split. We encountered over 30 downed trees with the majority requiring to walk around the fallen giants. At the split, since being dropped off @ Yellowhammer Lake, It was our first contact with fellow backpackers. Always fun to meet, greet and talk about where and from where we were headed, but also reminding us that for 5 days we had the place to ourselves. Priceless!