Chewing Gum Lake

Day 1

Aaron and Emily set off for Emigrant Wilderness for Emily’s first backpacking trip! Joining them was Jordan and Veda, also on their first backpacking trip, and James, trying out his new backpacking gear for the first time after getting hooked from going to Redwoods National Park. The crew left bright and early starting at 6 AM to try to reach Emigrant Wilderness and start hiking by 10. After a quick stop at Mickey’s D to fuel up for their big hike, they headed onwards to the Summit Ranger Station to pick up their permits. 

After picking up their permits, the crew headed out to the Gianelli trailhead. Following Google Maps, they turned off onto Forest Route 4N34 for around 4 miles of unpaved dirt road. The group was feeling a little skeptical as the road got rougher but they continued on. Halfway through their traversal in James’ Accord it became clear that Google Maps had led them astray when they ran into a full scale logging operation blocking the middle of the path. Unable to go around they were forced to backtrack and eventually found signs for Gianelli that took them down the correct path. 

Finally making it to the trailhead, the crew unpacked and did a pack check. Emily’s pack came in at 15lbs, Veda’s was 25, Aaron and James both had 27, and Jordan came in heaviest at 30lbs. With that they hit the trail and headed off towards Chewing Gum Lake! After about a mile of hiking, they reached their first scenic viewpoint. Aaron and Emily stopped to get some pics for the trip report while James broke out the gummy bears 🤤. While they were at Gummy Bear Vista, a friendly dog named Lucy went zooming by. Chatting with Lucy’s owners they learned that Chewing Gum Lake had been full of mosquitoes two weeks prior when Lucy’s owners had gone. Uh oh. 

Moving on from Gummy Bear Vista, they hiked about another mile when they reached Burst Rock which offered a good view of the Stanislaus water course. After about another half mile they reached Lake Powell and decided to stop for lunch. The crew was able to find a nice shady spot overlooking the lake and the packs were quickly dropped as the turkey sandwiches were busted out. 

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Over halfway to Chewing Gum, there remained one more hill in the way before the rest was all downhill or flat. Following the mantra “No stop till top” they pushed ahead to the peak. Relieved to be done with the uphill, Emily led the way down and they arrived at the turn off to Chewing Gum Lake.  

After the turn off they made their way through a beautiful meadow filled with wildflowers. Aaron thought it would make for good frolicking but the rest of the group was ready to get to camp. The group arrived at the lake and then scouted for a good campsite. Chewing Gum Lake was fairly sizable and there were lots of other groups already there. It took a full trip around before they were able to find a nice spot on the north side of the lake. 

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The crew set up camp and then Emily and Veda braved the water snakes to go swimming while James tried out his new water filter. The lake turned out to be rather muddy and not that great for swimming so they ended up just chilling on some rocks. For dinner they had pad thai and chilli mashed potatoes. As dusk started to approach they were relieved to find that reports of mosquitoes had been greatly exaggerated and they only saw one. Post dinner, they played a round of Zombie Flux that ultimately ended up in a draw. Jordan bravely left the tent and risked being bitten by the sole mosquito to bring back gummy bears for a late night snack.

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Day 2

Aaron and James decided to take a side trip to Meadow Lake while the rest of the group decided to hang out at camp. To get to Meadow Lake they had to make a big climb over a hill. On the way they were passed by another friendly dog that tried to herd them with the rest of their group. After cresting the hill, they found the turn off towards the lake. It was there that they quickly lost the trail. Luckily the lake was big and it was a straight shot away so all they had to do was follow in that general direction. 

Meadow Lake was beautiful. Surrounded on the sides by granite, it was a lot larger than Chewing Gum and looked quite a bit deeper. There was also a surprising number of frogs. Aaron and James hung out for a while taking in the view and eating some snacks before heading back. 

Aaron and James made it back to camp, reuniting with the group, just in time for a lunch of pizza tortillas. They decided to head back to Lake Powell for the night to have a shorter final day and to find a less crowded camping area. They hadn’t seen any groups at the lake the previous day and figured there wouldn’t be that many since it was fairly close to the trailhead. 

Upon reaching Powell, they found that it was actually quite full with lots of groups having kids with them. It took them a while to find a spot but ultimately they were able to get a nice flat spot with good water access. The swimming at Powell was better than Chewing Gum and there was a little island out in the middle of the lake that they went out to. For dinner they had miso udon with salmon with some majestic chipmunks scampering about the rocks above their campsite. After dinner they broke out the mahjong cards, where Aaron won multiple games by taking  Emily’s cards. They ended the night with some stargazing as the Milky Way came out.

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Day 3

The group woke up on the final day ready to get going and head off for home. Aaron, Emily, James, and Jordan found a nice rock right on the edge of the lake to have breakfast. The group then began to pack up and Veda had to be bribed to get up and out of the tent with the promise of boba on the way back.

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Looking at the map as they left Powell, James declared that the rest of the way back would be flat. It was not flat. After making it back to Burst Rock, Emily led the way back to the car and they reached the trailhead uneventfully. With that they headed out and stopped off at the Pinecrest General Store on the way back for some victory Gatorade. A successful first trip!