Desolation Wilderness...August 2006

Lake of the Woods, Desolation Wilderness.


Spent a fine four days in the Sierra Aug 8-11. Did some hiking up in the mountains. On the 9th I hiked a loop trail near Mt. Rose that had fine views of Lake Tahoe to the west and Carson Valley a mile below to the east. On Aug 10 I did 8 miles in the Desolation Wilderness to Lake of the Woods, Lake Aloha, and Tamarack Lake. Found fine slabs of granite for vegging at the first two spots. It was a fine scene...blue skies, bright sun, crystalline air, majestic mountains, and serenity after a good workout. The granite of the High Sierra has always been attractive to me; rugged, scenic, but with fine opportunities for laying out.


West end of Echo Lake.

Another neat aspect of the excursion was the boat ride across Echo Lake. To save two and a half miles each way on the hike, you can take a water taxi across Echo Lake to the trailhead. This gives you a fine boat ride across a large mountain lake past many innovative wilderness cabins lining the lakeshore. One was even on an island...talk about a wonderful, secluded spot! It would be cool to rent a cabin for a few days sometime in the summer.

This was the longest high mountain hike I've taken in several years...about 1200 feet elevation gain along with the 8 miles. It was similar to the treks I did in the Colorado Rockies 20 to 25 years ago. Very cool! Spending two nights at Tahoes elevation beforehand helped a lot, as did drinking a bottle of Fume Blanc the previous evening. Well, maybe. At any rate I had a feeling of accomplishment...it wasn't a bad effort for an old sloat!