Popular Trips in Desolation Wilderness
I drove up to Tahoe at 4am with Loren, David, and Thomas for this 2-day backpacking trip. We started at Glen Alpine and hiked 2 very steep miles along a very poorly maintained trail. So poorly maintained that we lost the trail and had to scramble up the rocks and through the thick brush. Then it started to pour and we heard thunder, things couldn't be much worse. Eventually, the skies cleared,...
Emerald Bay, Velma Lakes & Tallac - Desolation Wilderness Area
South Lake Tahoe, California, United States
18.0 miles
18.0 miles
Starting at Eagle Falls near South Tahoe, my med school friends Ben (now in EM at Stanford) and Joe (now in EM at UCSF) joined me for a loop backpack trip through Desolation Wilderness. We traveled along the PCT for part, sleeping at the Middle Velma Lake the first night and Gilmore Lake the second night. Easy peaks on this route are Dicks Peak just off of Dicks Pass and Mt Tallac....
Short, easy hike from the parking lot to the lake.
Short hike to Angora lake. It was pretty steep the whole way, but the swim in the lake was definitely worth it.
Hike from Stanford Sierra camp up to Susie lake. The hike was hot so we prepared for a swim at the top. Unfortunately, when we got to the top it started to rain and it got cold, we we just headed back down. Maybe next time...
This was my first trip into Desolation Wilderness and it was exactly what I had hoped.... except for the beginning when I forced to park in the "overflow" parking and walk a mile on asphalt to get to the trailhead. Wrights Lake is packed with people and it was a little unnerving until I hit the trail. They soon thinned out as the trail ascended and I saw only a few other...
This was a 13 mile hike round trip but I only geo-tagged the walk from one lake That was the portion that was most scenic anyway. I was going to photograph the trail on the walk back but I dropped the iPhone into the Lyon's Creek waterfall as I attempted to take a picture of it. The iPhone slid down the rocks and wedged in between two rocks about a foot under...
This was the final hike of the Folsom Lake Hiking class. We completed 7 hikes throughout California's Gold Country and the northern Sierra wilderness. Students received 1 college credit for physical education. At the end of the class we had to turn in a log of our nutrition intake on those hiking days plus our thoughts about the class. I attended every class and published a journal that rivaled some financial reports sent...
Being one of my first hardcore backpacking trips, it was quite a wake-up call as to what things are truly necessary. Most important thing: high calorie fuel!Views were spectacular. I'm writing this description after having done many more hikes, and thinking back; these views of desolation were among the best.This was a 3 day 2 night venture with plenty of leisure time, and great for any beginner or novice.
Snowshoeing up beautiful Eagle Creek Canyon for a day of Ice Climbing
