Waterhouse Lake Hike, Emigrant Wilderness

I was super excited that Herring Creek Road was finally open and I could get up to the Waterhouse Lake trail head. I've been eyeing it all summer. Since I drove my Honda Fit, I stopped about a mile and a half out from the trail head when the ruts on the unpaved road got too severe for my comfort. Selena and I walked up to the trail head and went from there. Round trip from the trail head is about 4 miles. Our total trip with the extra walk was probably around 8 miles.



The first mile of the trail was great- easy to see, pretty flowers, great pine smell in the air. After that, we arrived at the granite valley. (see pic below) At this point, it's off trail to the lake.... and we never quite got there. Total bummer, even though the views were great. We followed the right side stream (and rock cairns) too much and never got to the lake, which was more to the right. You can't see the lake from the top of the valley, and I hadn't looked closely enough at my map. (Plus, my guidebook told me to follow the cairns... and I did... grrr...) All in all, I really should have looked a little closer. I probably would have tried to go find it again, but I didn't want to explore too much with just us girls, and Selena was looking pretty tired on the way back. When we passed the Summit Ranger Station on our way home, I stopped to ask about it and the very helpful lady in there pointed out the error of my ways on the map.

Gotta love the auto-timed snapshots at the end of the hike. This meadow at the trail head is really so pretty, pictures don't do it justice!
I do plan on taking a higher-clearance car up there to shorten the hike and spend my energy finding the lake sometime, because I think it would be pretty secluded. We only passed two hikers on the whole trip, and two at the trail head. (By the way, I should probably call them kayakers because there were carrying boats) I'm sure it's a great place, so next time I'm dragging my husband with me and we're gonna find Waterhouse Lake!