This trip over Labor Day weekend was almost a fail. We had originally planned to hike to Island Lake in Desolation Wilderness, hoping that the Burning Man exodus would mean there would be no issue getting a permit. Just to be sure, we called ahead to check and sure enough, permits were fully booked. We started looking for a Plan B, and decided to camp at Winnemucca Lake in Eldorado National Forest. We got to the ranger station thinking that there was no permit limit and as was our luck that day, were informed that it was also fully booked.
At this point, I will say that the rangers at that station were truly awesome. They were super helpful in suggesting multiple alternative places we could hike into and we ultimately decided on Emigrant Lake in the Mokelumne Wilderness for a couple reasons. The first being while a permit is required for dispersed camping in this area, there is no limit. Secondly, the trail mileage was such that we could hike directly to the lake even though it was pretty late in the day and spend both nights there rather than having to break camp after one night and move.
We left the ranger station and drove to the start of the trail, located at Caples Lake. It is a 4 mile hike in, with about half of it traversing the perimeter of Caples Lake. There is a bit of an ascent to get to Emigrant lake, but we arrived while there was still some daylight and looked for a good spot to set up camp. Unfortunately, there were more people camping at this spot then we would have liked, but we found a nice, secluded, and elevated spot on the southeast side of the lake. We quickly made dinner and did a little stargazing before turning in for the night.
