Desolation Wilderness Loop

It’s September 1, and we just finished a three day, 30 mile, loop out of Tuolumne Meadows.  Now we are on another trip into the Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe.  

We started our hike from the Bayview trailhead.  It quickly goes up in elevation and you are treated to some lovely views of Lake Tahoe.   There are a few day hikers going up the trail, and quite a few backpackers coming down.  

We stop at Granite Lake and I go for my first morning swim.   It’s a smaller sized lake and not terribly cold.   I love the feeling of being cocooned by the cold water and enchanted by the view of evergreens and granite.  Cooled off we head up the trail quickly and come to another small, unnamed lake.   Mark urges me to try and swim in every lake today, so I strip down to my undies once again, and take a longer swim across this shallow, reed lined, warmish lake.  Dick Lake is our next stop and it is icy cold.   It’s surrounded by rising granite and it’s a much larger lake.   Brilliant light sparkles dance across its surface from the breeze.   Brr!   I don’t last long in these waters.   

Our permit has us camping here tonight, but it’s not even noon and someone is itching to hike, so we break the law, a bit, and decide to hike on to the mighty sounding Rubicon River.   We pass close to Middle Velma and while I don’t actually swim, I do wade in to gather up some water to filter.  

It’s a dry and dusty hike across to the Rubicon River and we both are disappointed that it is just a tiny trickle.   Maybe we should have stayed in the lake region.   Oh well, we made the most of it and hiked on to our ten mile stopping point.   We have to bushwhack a bit to find a flat spot to camp and be close enough to gather water.  We idled away the rest of the afternoon playing cards and frolicking in the “mighty” river.   

It is overcast and cool which makes for quick hiking up the river valley to Mosquito Pass and then subsequently to Lake Aloha.   Lake Aloha has what looks like thousands of little granite islands.   We stop along its shores and, of course,  take another swim.  It is cold and there is a cold breeze, so while the swim is fairly short, we linger over lunch.  

We are back in the area of lakes, so we soon pass by Heather and Suzie Lakes.   I swim once more in Suzie and go way out in the middle of the large lake.  It’s bliss.  We stop for the night at the beautiful Gilmore Lake, right before Dick’s Pass.   This makes about another 10 mile day.  

When thunder starts rumbling we both dive for cover in our tent just as the sky lets loose.   Dense rain and hail fall for  a couple hours as nature puts on a show for us.   Lightening, thunder, hail and rain resound.  Our tent site turns out to be a bit of a pond.  Oops!  Luckily, our tent is watertight and it just feels a bit like laying on a waterbed.   It’s kind of fun.   We cook dinner under our vestibule and enjoy each other’s company while all hell breaks loose outside.  

Crystal clear air greets us in the morning and we enjoy our cups of coffee lakeside watching the sunrise.  We can see where all the rainfall had turned into rivulets and piled up evergreen needles and other debris.  It had been quite a storm.  

Our hike up Dick’s Pass is beautiful and we share in a companionable silence. We stop here and there to smile at each other in wonder and enjoy the views.   This is very beautiful country and we are very grateful to be here now.   

We hike past Dick’s Lake, and I skip swimming as I’m in a state of hiking bliss.  Back down the trail past the unnamed lake also without a swim.   Our last lake is Granite and we both dive into its waters and enjoy our mountain high before continuing down the trail to our truck.