Outdoors: Cherry Lake — paradise in Stanislaus forest
Deep in Stanislaus National Forest, Cherry Lake is full and the sky is clear. A pretty campground is nestled in forest near the lake’s shore. A launch ramp is available for small boats nearby and a wilderness trailhead into Yosemite is located on the far side of the lake.
As summer hits its stride, the setting at Cherry Lake is a testament to lakes in national forest across the Sierra, Cascade and ShastaSiskiyou ranges. They can provide the vacation answer where you can camp, boat, swim, fish and hike.
It feels like paradise compared to so many Augusts over the past 15 years, when low water and smoky skies have been a trademark.
Cherry Lake is located outside a wilderness boundary for Yosemite National Park, in the central Sierra north of Groveland. The lake is 95% full, and from a small boat on the lake, you can scan across the water and take in the highcountry granite of the Yosemite wilderness on the horizon.
Other lakes in the Tuolumne River watershed are in similar shape: Hetch Hetchy is at 100%, Lake Eleanor is 98%, and in the foothills, giant Don Pedro is 97% full. This is the payoff for a snowpack at the headwaters of the Tuolumne that measured 149% of normal for May 1, the last of the official snow course readings.
Lakes near, far
In Marin, the seven lakes are 93% full compared to an average storage for this week of 78%. In the East Bay, Los Vaqueros is 93% full and East Bay MUD lakes are at 90%. Near Napa, Lake Berryessa is at 92%.
Across the Sierra, the melt off of this year’s big snowpack has the watersheds flush with water.
The biggest transformation is near Tahoe and Truckee. Lake Tahoe is at 6,228.9 feet, or 3.9 feet above full pool. Near Truckee, Independence and Stampede are at 99% and 98%, respectively, and even Donner, often kept low, is at 95%. The hundreds of small, natural lakes in Desolation and Granite Chief wilderness areas are at their brims.
It’s like this across the board. The beauty and levels of the lakes in the Crystal Basin in Tahoe National Forest could blow your mind. Giant Union Valley is at 95%, Ice House is at 92% and Loon and Pleasant at 83% (but appear higher), and the rest of the smaller lakes in the area are near the brims.
In the Trinity Divide, Lakes Basin, Bowman Lakes and Carson Pass recreation areas — where more than a hundred small lakes are available — all the lakes are right to the top.
On to Cherry Lake
To reach Cherry Lake, you drive up into the Sierra foothills on Highway 120 past Groveland and then turn north into the interior of Stanislaus National Forest. Before the turnoff on 120, a Forest Service district office is available on the right for permits, fire restrictions and maps.
The drive in is like no other in California. The route spans about 20 miles, slow and curvy through the burn zone of 257,000acre Rim Fire, where you drive up a ridge and then down into the Tuolumne River Canyon. Miles of tree skeletons still stand. As you arrive to Cherry Lake, you’ll find that fire crews protected the forest and the campground near the lake, and it remains clean and green. The elevation is 4,700 feet, which makes for cool mornings, warm afternoons.
Through Labor Day Weekend, get a reservation at www.Recreation.gov. The campsites are nestled in pines for privacy, and excellent for small, selfcontained RVs (nothing over 22 feet) or tents.
The boat ramp is about a mile away. It’s a primitive ramp for small boats, kayaks and canoes.
Trout fishing can be good here, as long as you find the right depths; the fish are in the thermocline now, about 25 to 35 feet deep. The best bet is to troll Needlefish, Humdingers or Rapalas in the morning at the head of the lake, or when shade takes over the western shoreline of the lake in the early evening.
The best hiking is from a trailhead off a dirt road that crosses the dam and runs above the eastern shore of the lake. A trailhead here is signed for Lake Eleanor. It’s a short walk, less than a mile, over a hill and down to Eleanor (a trail loops around the lake, over the dam and to the far side). Much of this area burned in the Rim Fire, and yet the lake remains a jewel, and is far bigger than many expect.
Cherry Lake is one of hundreds of lakebased getaways where you can still salvage your summer.