Desolation Wilderness

Desolation Wilderness is absolutely beautiful! I hiked from Echo Lake, about 25 miles on the PCT, through Dick’s Pass and out on the Rubicon Trail in early August. From Echo Lake to Dick’s Pass you hike past about a dozen small lakes, and every one of them is stunning with crystal clear water. This part of the trail is accessible from Bay trail and other access points, so you’ll see some day hikers and overnight hikers and fishers around these lakes. There are plenty of nice places to camp, swim and fish in this stretch. The trail is well maintained and well marked, but it is rocky and rough on your feet. Most of the hike is fairly flat at around 7000 feet altitude. As you approach Dick’s Pass you get the most incredible panoramic views. Climbing Dick’s Pass with a backpack is tough, especially considering the altitude.
Over Dick’s Pass feels like a different ecosystem. From Dick’s Pass through the northwest side of DW is much less rocky and there are fewer lakes. It’s mostly shaded pine forest with dirt trail rather than rocky trail. The views are pretty, but less impressive. You pass about five lakes in the 15 miles from Dick’s Pass to Rubicon Staging area, which is mostly downhill hiking. When you reach Richardson Lake there’s a rough fire road that is part of Rubicon trail that takes you out the last few miles. There is a bit of 4×4 traffic on this road, but no regular truck could drive it.
The two places I camped — Dick’s Lake and Richardson Lake — were both spectacular, with camping areas near the trail, great views of the lake, clear water, and pine trees.
Even in late summer of a drought year there was plenty of water available along this whole 25 miles of the PCT, except that Phipps Creek was dried up. I saw no wildlife other than a few marmots around Dick’s Peak, and there were also very few mosquitoes throughout. My friends said they heard animals rummaging around our camp at night, but I don’t know whether they were bears, raccoons, or what, so be sure to store your food properly. Oh, parking at the Echo Lake end is pretty tight, but there is a nice little store there for food and supplies, and for $ 12 you can get a water taxi across Echo Lake.

If you’re in Tahoe, you need to make it to desolation. Even for beginners. There are trails that are very easy to navigate. (My 70+ year old grandfather can walk some of the trails. The further you hike, the more beauty you will see.

Loved this place and would definitely come back here next year. We went for two days backpacking trip to lake Lois. The trail was very well maintained and had decent amount of signs along the way. Came there on Saturday morning and found no parking at the entire parking lot. We should have checked that there is a wildflower guided walk every Saturday at 10am during summer time. We parked a bit down the road which added another mile to our trip but wasn’t too much of a problem. One thing to note: they don’t have bear boxes at the parking lot so plan not to leave anything scented in the car.

Getting here can be an arduous task but worth every bit of the effort. One of the ways to get here is by hiking the Mt Tallac peak. You will need a permit to hike the Desolation wilderness area and the permit is available for free at the trail head. You can read my review of the trail here:

One of my favorite areas to hike in the Tahoe area. Pristine wilderness, well maintained trails, breath taking views. Do it!
So far I have hiked Maggie’s Peak whose trailhead leads out the back of the campground across from the Inspiration Point vista. Great little campground. Really nice challenging hike, steep elevation hike w 360 views at the top.
Also hiked Mt Tallac, insanely beautiful hike w a tough scramble to the summit, even hiking part of this trail is worth your while.

great

I’ve done this hike 3 times. You just hike up along the waterfall. It’s a do-​it-​yourself trail so be prepared to stumble around a bit while going up.
Tips:
1. Hiking Up: You’re climbing in an area that has a mountain wall to your left and a waterfall to your right. Steer for the middle of the extremes. The more you climb towards the waterfall, the harder it is. The more you climb to the left, the easier; however, it takes longer.
2. Hiking down: It’s tempting to want to climb along the waterfall because you want to get down quicker. I’d recommend not climbing close to the waterfall. I did it last time, and its slippy and dangerous. You’ll often be on your butt a lot sliding down near vertical faces.
The water is FREEZING anytime of year. :)

This was a great hike, even though finding the trail wasn’t easy (or necessary some of the time). Beautiful creek and waterfall, amazing granite formations, lovely forest, and some fun rocks too!
We did the Horsetail Falls hike (or at least we meant to). The trail starts off clear, but quickly peters out. But less than a mile in (and fairly easy to find), you come upon a gently sloping waterfall area, which is very pretty. It’s not the massive one that’s Horsetail Falls, but it’d be a nice spot for a quick hike/​lunch.
Then, if you continue, there are large areas of granite which the trail seems to go through, but picking up the trail again on the other side is difficult. We ended up just walking along the granite (which is nice — it’s not bushwhacking) for a lot of the way, always heading towards the Falls. (The waterfall, by the way, was barely running when we went a few weeks ago. It sounds like spring and summer are the times to see it in full swing).
We did pick up the trail in places, which was helpful, but there are a lot of false paths that just lead to the creek you’re following. So just be aware of the direction you’re heading and where the creek is.
We didn’t really mind all this confusion. We had a lovely hike. The creek was beautiful. We made it to the base of the falls, climbed halfway up, then decided to head back. Continuing to the top looked do-​able from where we were (on the left side, if you’re facing the falls), but since we didn’t go all the way up, I can’t really speak to the difficulty.
The hike itself was of moderate difficulty (I thought), then climbing up next to the waterfall was challenging (not full on rock climbing, but definitely climbing up boulders, using hands and body). Not sure how far we went, but the whole thing took us about 3 or 4 hours (and we stopped for a mini-​picnic).

The scenery was GREAT. Beautiful.
I went backpacking here. Started at Echo Lake and Lake Aloha (6 miles each way, just 600 feet elevation gain) Easy backpacking. The second day, hiked from Lake Aloha to Clyde Lake, Heather Lake.
Water taxi is also available at Echo Lake (lower-​upper) $ 12/​each way. no round-​trip ticket. a bit expensive. runs 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Everything is pretty but one thing I didn’t like is that some non-​hardcore backpackers are selfish and violate rules. Probably this can’t be avoidable because it’s Lake Tahoe area.

This place puts you in the middle of mountains and a clear view of a waterfall off into the distance.
It has a great environment and common sights of running water with small waterfalls to boot.
Make sure to pay the parking fee, we got ticketed because we didn’t know that there was a fee.
The hike is really easy to do too, at least to a certain point.
At one point there is a sign that requires you to pay for a permit if you plan to backpack further on, which I will definitely do some day, the forest ahead looked so full of untold adventures.
To stand next to that waterfall at the top would be a blast, and it looked like you can hike alongside it up the mountain too.

My husband and I did an overnight backpack trip to Twin Lakes from Wright’s Lake. Unfortunately, the entrance to the area (and trailhead) was closed to the public due to «maintenance and fallen trees.» We had to park in the overflow parking area. This added an extra 30 minutes of walking just to get to the trailhead, though there was no sign of maintenance work that would have been interfered with by allowing hikers to park at the trailhead. I deducted a star due to this seemingly unnecessary inconvenience.
We obtained our required camping permit for the area online with ease. Dogs are allowed and we saw many during the trip, all off leash– as was ours. Great place to hike with your dog (s). Lots of fresh water along the way for them to drink and cool off in.
The sign (for Twin Lakes and Grouse Lake) at the wooden bridge can be easily overlooked, and we ended up doing a 20 minute loop due to missing it. The hike is a little steep at first (maybe 30 minutes), but nothing a reasonably fit person with good hiking shoes/​boots can’t handle. This time of year, there are streams coming down all over the place, so the trail is often full of water or muddy. You must cross the streams at several points, and you must do a river crossing to get to Island Lake once past Twin Lakes, if you choose to go check it out. We did not, which will be explained shortly. There are plenty of rock cairns along the way, as well as some rock «runways» to keep you on trail. Very appreciated, as otherwise, it would be easy to get off track.
The area is very scenic, very pristine, and all along the way there are natural steps and good footholds to ease the climb/​hiking. Both days we were there, the sky was clear and the weather warm. As we got closer to our destination, we needed to put on a fleece layer, though it was still comfortable.
There are lots of marmots and chipmunks running about… very cute. No sign of bigger critters (scat, etc.).
There are lots of little treats along the way: a rock path through a bog, which reminded me of the one Frodo and friends had to cross in LOTR, etc. We encountered very few people along our hike up, and none in the Twin Lakes area.
The worst thing about the trip was the ferocious wind blowing over the eastern peak, over the lakes, and down through the valley. This was by far the worst wind I have endured during a backpacking trip. We had to flee to the south side of the valley (where there was still some sun) and found a tiny, sunken patch of trees and upturned trunks to crouch down in. It was enough room for both of us to sit out of the main gusts. I put on the rest of the clothing I had brought (two pairs of long underwear, a thick sweater, and hat/gloves).This was in early June. This was not adequate. Once the sun went down, the wind and cold became very uncomfortable. I tried to wrap up in my sleeping bag outside, so we could watch the stars and sip some wine, but it was too much. We did catch a nice sunset and alpenglow… as well as a sky thick with fat stars… before jumping in the tent. No dinner, no wine. Tried to go to sleep, but even in my –0 down bag, I was shivering (we had to keep the rainfly flaps open (or they would have torn), so some wind was able to blow into the tent. A mostly sleepless night listening to the wind howl and hoping it would pass for the next day. Also, could be the wind or something blooming, but I had a fierce allergy attack in the night (sneezing, itchy puffy eyes, stopped up nose). The wind continued blustering through the early morning. By 8:30, it had calmed down and we got up to a beautiful day. The wind was still blowing in the bowl where Island Lake is, but was very calm around the Twin Lakes. We had a nice walk around the area and noticed that there were now several groups of hikers walking about. We headed up to Island Lake, but the wind was carrying on, so we headed back after laying on a rock in the sun for a while.
The descent is more difficult than the ascent due to momentum, heavy pack, and challengind terrain (on the steepest part).
Recommendations:
*Great early day trip for reasonably fit people (including active, fit children, if it’s just a day trip).
* Bring layers suitable for any season (summer– winter) including gloves, hat, and perhaps a scarf for your nose/​mouth if the wind is kicking.
*Great hiking/​camping with dogs (as long as they will stay with you and come when called).
*If you have allergies, bring an antihistimine.
*If you are backpacking, get your permit online as soon in advance as possible (we noticed they are booked for the next couple weekends).
*bring small tents (1 man or very small 2 man) — clear, soft spaces are very small.
*Extra socks in case yours get wet from stream/​river crossings.

Hilarious that it is even a possibility to give the desolation wilderness anything other than a 5 star rating. What could you say bad about this place? To beautiful? To much wildlife? Air is to clean? This is nature, untouched beauty, serene peace and breathtaking views! There is enough here to keep you forever exploring and never seeing it all! I love it out here!

Amazingly breathtaking beauty. Literally breathtaking hikes! Desolation is where I like to go when I’m having a «screw you, civilization!!» moment.
I like to start near Horsetail Falls. The hike can be a little crazy if you aren’t wearing the proper shoes (last time I went I was sliding too much and couldn’t get all the way to the top — so bummed!). There isn’t an obvious trail for much of the way and you have to keep an eye out for markers (stacks of rocks). There are lakes, waterfalls, creeks and rivers. The views are spectacular so don’t forget your camera.
I would NOT recommend much of it for Grandma unless she is super fit and able to handle wilderness– a virtual Artemis! The same goes for kids. Little guys can handle some of the easier places, but the hike to the lakes at the top can be pretty hairy and you might not want to risk it.
Finally, if you want to hike to the top of a mountain, smoke a cigarette (stunned you can even manage that!), eat some Fritos and drink a Gatorade that’s your business… but PACK IT OUT!

This is my favorite spot to hike in Tahoe. There is a trail for everyone, whether you’re a beginner or an avid hiker, your will surely find a trail that fits your skill level. The scenery in this area is beautiful. Depending on the season, you might be able to see some waterfalls cascading over some cliffs. Overall this place has everything a hiker can expect, like trails that lead to a secluded lakes, waterfalls, wild flowers, open trails that let’s you explore off the beaten path; there’s even a rock climbing area near the Eagle Falls Lake Trail. I highly recommend this place if you like the outdoors.

You can go from pines and furs to rocks and lakes. You can see trees older than most world countries. DW is a place of contrasts. You really need to do a long day or camp backcountry to appreciate it.

Beautiful place. Most inappropriately named wilderness ever.

Probably my most favorite place on earth that i’ve been to so far. I’m so lucky to live so near to such an incredible, quiet sanctuary, because Sacramento’s cool and all, but sometimes you’ve got to eschew the clusterf***, you know? It’s never been crowded and I’ve rarely passed more than a couple hikers when I’ve gone to the place I go– which I would never disclose publicly for fear of it becoming less desolate. So since I’m saying, «You’re on your own on this one,» I will at least recommend a good reference you can order online: «Sierra North: Backcountry Trips in California’s Sierra Nevada» by Kathy Morey and Mike White. It’s very extensive and full of fantastic places you can all spread out to. :)

Hands down one of the most unique beautiful places that I have backpacked and been. Some of the hiking was challenging but that was because we mostly hiked off trails but it was sooooooo worth it. The swimming was AMAZING. The lakes were crystal clear and there were a lot of big rocks to jump off of… so much fun. After a couple days we found good fishing spots which was fun too.
We were lucky because each place we camped we had the lake all to ourselves (we backpacked for a week and a half). The only company we had were curious chipmunks which were hilarious and entertaining. We also saw a couple of little harmless snakes and birds.
My spirituality was at such a high here. The wilderness is my church and It was so magical and healing to be there.
We explored most of the southern regions of Desolation but did not climb Pyramid Peak –which is on my to do list.
You will not regret backpacking here!

It’s been way too long since I’ve backpacked and about 1 year since I’ve gone camping so I decided to help plan a trip with my brother. He picked the site and I just came along, eager for getting out of the city and doing some hiking and camping.
We started mid afternoon at the Glen Alpine trail-​head and started our 4 mi. hike into Susie Lake, where we were required to stay the first night. Along the way, we ran into many day hikers coming back from various hikes, saw a bunch of pretty flowers and waterfalls. The hike was pretty strenuous (or maybe my pack was just a bit heavy for me and I hadn’t gotten used to the altitude yet), mostly up hill, gaining 1500 ft. of elevation. Since we were hiking at mid-​afternoon/​evening, the mosquitoes were swarming us, so don’t forget to apply over exposed and non-​exposed areas (because they will bite under clothes! I have 12 bites under my left shoulder sleeve as proof!).
Susie Lake was beautiful. Didn’t see too many campers during the July 4^th weekend. Nobody really listens to the rule of staying 200 ft. from the water or from the trail. We stayed on a slight hill because we figured the mosquitoes are closer to the water, but I think they’re just out no matter where you are.
The next day we did a day hike to Lake Aloha which was beautiful, but it was quite windy and blustery so we didn’t attempt to walk along the shoreline. We headed back to base-​camp at Lake Susie and just relaxed. We found a small lake with fresh water flowing in and filtered ourselves some water. The water at all the lakes were clean, clear and freezing!
On the way out we ran into more hikers: some with dogs (some without), some hikers with strollers and children and some bikers. Coming back was beautiful, seeing the mountains and flowers and butterflies that would fly by your feet.

This past August, four old pals of mine from growing up and I got organized for two nights in the Desolation Wilderness. It had been 7 years since we’d done this trip, and it did not disappoint.
Starting at the trailhead at the back of Emerald Bay off of Lake Tahoe, we trudged about 6 miles up the granite to the Velma Lakes where we pitched our tents and busted out the bladders of wine. (Franzia… who knew?)
We camped at the Velma Lakes, which is a spectacular spot and a relatively easy way to access the incredibly idyllic high Sierra. When I say relatively easy, I mean simple, as the hike itself is quite strenuous at 8,000 feet elevation with or without copious amounts of malt beverages in your pack.
The camping is epic, if a bit «hard» as essentially this is one gigantic slab of granite that is studded with hundreds-​of-​years-​old trees and high mountain lakes filled with snow-​melt.
This place is also fun for fly fisherman, which I’m not. I mean, I like the idea of fishing, and I really like to eat fish, but I’m hurting on the gear.
See you in 2014, boys!