Trip · 3-day backpacking trip
For · Friends and intermediate backpackers
Vibe · Moderate and fun
Distance · 19.8 miles and 3,196 feet of elevation gain
Permits · Yes, self-register for a wilderness permit at a ranger station 1 to 5 days before your trip
Drive · 4 hours from SF
Ideal dates · June to September
Pets · Welcome on trails and campgrounds!
Nestled within the nearly 900,000-acre Stanislaus National Forest, Emigrant Wilderness offers its open-eyed wanderers a direct experience with many of the Sierra’s most impressive and memorable features. Its trails move between families of friendly granite giants, whom give way to awe, perspective and welcomed shade to those beneath them. Its pristine meadows and lakes ask only for your naked attention and immersion, and, in return, refresh, invigorate, and imbue those who give it that unique kind of Sierra serenity and joy.
Official Forest Service Website
Main image credit: Jonny Sandlund
In the mid-1800s, emigrant groups started venturing West, often traversing the wilderness of present-day Emigrant Wilderness, hence its name.
Native American tribes populated this area as early as 8,000 B.C., spending the Summer & early Autumn months hunting and foraging acorns in the area.
Hear those cow bells ringing? Parts of Emigrant Wilderness still have cattle grazing allotments
You won't be saving money, but you'll save space and weight with these camp sandals.
Clothes
Sleepover! This is a tent you can stand up in and have plenty of space for air mattresses, doggos, and more.
Shared Gear
A reliable, popular, and relatively affordable dual-burner camping stove that is fairly heavy, but performs well.
Kitchen
It's pricey, but the New York Times' Wirecutter recommended this attachment as a way for wheelchair users to navigate uneven terrain.
Essential Items
Instead of transporting stuff on your lap, use this storage bag to easily store items underneath your wheelchair.
Essential Items
Never dig around your pack to find some hand sanitizer. Instead, hang this one on the outside of your pack.
Personal Stuff
If you're an experienced backpacker, this is the lightest full-size, full-featured, frameless pack made.
Essential Items
Add a little magic to your experience by hanging these twinkling lights around your tent every night.
Shared Gear
Sometimes you just want a camp chair that gets the job done. Nothing glamorous or fancy. Well, this is it.
Shared Gear
The more you backpack the lighter your shelter becomes, and the lighter it is, the more expensive it can be.
Shared Gear
Camp underneath the stars and watch glorious sunrises in Joshua Tree National Park, the second largest national park in California.