SEKI Wilderness Permit — Lodgepole — Pear & Emerald Lakes (Destination)

Lodgepole, Pear & Emerald Lakes (Destination): what makes it different

This is the permit for sleeping at Pear or Emerald Lake, the most popular overnight on the Lakes Trail from Wolverton. It cannot be reserved: the daily limit is the room at the two lakes, and you take your chances at the Lodgepole desk.^1,2

Getting to the start

You park at Wolverton and pick up the permit at the Lodgepole Visitor Center, which keeps quota-season hours of 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Recreation.gov says no reservations are available for this entry. The Park Service says walk-up permits start at 1:00 p.m. the day before and are issued by the desk at the right trailhead, with a no-show list after that.^1,2

The Wolverton lot has toilets and a shuttle stop. Two accounts give different lot heights, 7,400 feet in 2000 and 7,100 feet in 2013, so do not rely on either figure for pacing.^5,6,7

The first leg

The Park Service puts the Lakes Trail at 6 miles one way: Emerald Lake about 5 miles from the trailhead and Pear Lake about 6, where the trail ends. Recreation.gov also gives 5 miles to the first allowed camp, at Emerald Lake.^4,1

A 2000 report counted 12 miles round trip and about 2,500 feet of gain to Pear Lake. The trail splits near 8,100 feet into the Watchtower, cut into the cliff above Lodgepole, and the Hump, which tops out near 9,500 feet before dropping past Heather Lake to Emerald.⁶

A guide that loops the lakes gives 2.2 miles to the Watchtower junction, 2.3 miles on the Watchtower itself and 2.6 miles from Heather Lake to Pear Lake, with Pear at mile 6.9.⁸

Terrain and difficulty

Recreation.gov calls it moderately strenuous: forest, then glacier-carved subalpine basins, with high overnight and day use. The Park Service says the Watchtower is extremely dangerous in snow or ice and sends hikers to the Hump instead.^1,5

A 2013 overnight hiker took the Watchtower and warns of a big step down between two boulders with a sharp drop. The writer moved slowly with poles. The same hiker puts Emerald at 9,300 feet and the Emerald to Pear leg at about one mile with 400 feet of gain, while the 2000 report calls Pear half a mile past Emerald.^7,6

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Lodgepole, Pear & Emerald Lakes (Destination), overnight: 25 people a day. Recreation.gov prints up to 25 people a day, limited by room at the lakes, with at most 15 people at either Pear or Emerald Lake and none reservable. The live daily calendar is closed outside the quota season, so this is the division text, not a daily count.¹

Rules specific to this entry point

Camp only in designated sites at Pear and Emerald Lakes, and no more than three nights in total between the two. Heather and Aster Lakes are closed to camping, and so is the Marble Fork drainage below Emerald and Pear.^1,3

Portable animal-resistant food containers are required May 1 to October 31 at Pear and Emerald. No campfires, because the area is above 9,000 feet in the Kaweah drainage. Both lakes have outhouses for human waste only, and there is no overnight stock use.¹

Where it leads

Emerald Lake sits in a glacial cirque north of Alta Peak. Pear Lake is the end of the trail, with a granite waterslide at the south end that a guide says is fed by snowmelt.^6,8

The 2013 hiker found a good, clean water source in the Emerald camp area and Emerald site 10 set apart, with its own small lake. At Pear, site 2 had shade but sat in the afternoon wind path. A guide recommends Pear site 3 for seclusion and says all sites are first come, first served.^7,8

What trip reports say

On a Saturday in early August 2013, one hiker arrived about an hour early and got the last Emerald Lake opening. Another family was after the same permits. Emerald was busier than Pear, where the writer was alone for about four hours.⁷

A June 2000 trip in a heavy snow year found the Watchtower closed, so three hikers took the Hump and found Emerald Lake recently frozen, though one of them swam in it.⁶

A late May to early July visit is billed as the best window for flowers and weather, and the same guide warns to be ready for mosquitoes.⁸

When to go from here

Snow decides the route. In June 2000, after a heavy snow year, the Watchtower was still closed. The Park Service says to use the Hump whenever there is snow or ice on the Watchtower.^6,5

Because there is no reservation, the pressure is on summer weekends. The 2013 report suggests arriving early on a Saturday, and the Park Service walk-up window opens the afternoon before.^7,2

Compare with nearby entry points

• Pear & Emerald PT: Pass Through uses the same trail and desk but bars camping at Pear and Emerald. It gives 25 people a day with none reservable, and its first camp needs cross-country travel about 7 miles from Wolverton.¹
• Alta: Alta leaves the same lot and shares the first two miles, but 20 of its 25 daily spots can be reserved and its first camp, Panther Gap, is 3 miles out and dry. It also bars camping at Pear and Emerald on the first night.¹
• Twin Lakes: Twin Lakes leaves from Lodgepole or Wuksachi, is reservable (20 of 30), and has its first camp at Cahoon Meadow 3 miles out.¹

Sources

1. Sequoia and Kings Canyon Wilderness Permit, Pear & Emerald Lakes (Destination) division, Recreation.gov. Read 2026-10-15.
2. Wilderness Permits & Reservations, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
3. Minimum Impact Restrictions, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
4. Lakes Trailhead, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Wolverton Picnic Area, Trailhead, and Snowplay Area, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Emerald Lake, Stanford Exploration Project (Morgan Brown). Read 2026-10-15.
7. Emerald & Pear Lake, Sequoia National Park, August 3-5, 2013, Backcountry Post. Read 2026-10-15.
8. Sequoia National Park: Camp Lakeside in the Sierras, Backpacker. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Pear & Emerald permit