lake of the woods desolation wilderness

The Desolation Wilderness takes its name from this vast, central bowl of bare peaks and endless small lakes. I feel like I have learned quite a bit over the past few months but still have lots to learn. Feast your eyes on that ridiculous view! Many Fine Local Destinations Though this 2.9 mile segment from the Northern Lake of the Woods trail junction South down to the Desolation Wilderness Boundary there is a whole gaggle of trail junctions within this short distance, it's really not too confusing for the through hiker.. So just be aware that you are looking at about a 400 foot drop down to the lake and of course back up if you are not staying in the area long. I highly recommend swimming or at least soaking your tired feet in this lake! Hiking alone is great for when you don’t expect to be getting far off trail, especially in Desolation because there are always plenty of people on the trail during the day so you aren’t too likely to get yourself into trouble without hope of assistance. For the community in Kern County, see, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake of the Woods (California), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_of_the_Woods_(California)&oldid=979467976, El Dorado County, California geography stubs, Articles using infobox body of water without alt, Articles using infobox body of water without image bathymetry, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 20 September 2020, at 23:33. Maps are great! Now I had consulted my topo map before we headed to Lake of the Woods, but not close enough to realize there is a bit of a elevation drop down into the LOTW area. This is the southern gateway to Desolation Wilderness near South Lake Tahoe. Up here in the Sierra it was just fine thank you. The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness-. ( Log Out /  I hear the cabins along this lake are on a 99 year lease from the USFS. Left to LOTW and straight ahead for Aloha. Or bring a bathing suit and go for a swim. This is a non-diffusing subcategory of Category:Lakes of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.) . I had been wanting to visit Lake of The Woods in Desolation Wilderness ever since I hiked out to Lake Aloha back in early June 2015. The Lake of the Woods is a backcountry glacial lake in the Desolation Wilderness of the Eldorado National Forest, southwest of Lake Tahoe, in El Dorado County, California. It’s a curse, I believe, for breaking up with my sweet first boyfriend because his constant pun-making drove me batty.). Low effort posting of … After the brutal scree and abuse your feet have taken climbing up from Tamarack to here, the soft loamy soil in Haypress Meadows is very welcome. We decided to enter from the Echo Lakes trailhead at Echo Summit. The Desolation Wildnerness is just west of South Lake Tahoe. Middle Velma Lake. Desolation wilderness is not so desolate Signed up for a meet-up hike to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower. Submitted content should be of high-quality. It looks majestic from a distance so I knew it would be special to visit it directly. Of course I had seen from afar it from Pyramid Peak, which is one of the reasons that I wanted to see it up close. Originally, the native fish were Lahonton Cutthroats found … what’s the advantage of a GoPro? It lies just southeast of Lake Aloha. North Desolation Wilderness Central Desolation Wilderness South Desolation Wilderness These three maps overlap so we can follow side trails to local trailheads off of the main TYT-PCT route through Desolation Wilderness, such as Eagle Falls, Bayview Camp, and Cascade Lake along the West shore of Lake Tahoe. At waterfall camp, you'll have the opportunity to explore over 50 waterfalls. The crest of the Sierra Nevada is found here. Frata Lake, a sweet spot tucked behind Lake of the Woods in the aptly-named Desolation Valley. We both caught her by the arms, pulled off her pack and propped her up to prevent her from falling forward. The Desolation Wilderness region was established in 1899 as part of the Lake Tahoe Forest Reserve, according to the U.S. Forest Service. (I always make inadvertent puns, don’t mind me. Here’s the weather forecast for South Lake Tahoe. The hike up was less than 4 miles with an … Just after we descended the switchback you see below, we stopped to talk to a woman who was hiking with her 12 year old son & dog. We didn’t see any bears on this trip, but felt much safer for using these (absurdly heavy) contraptions. “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in”. It was luck maybe or something else that we happened to be there. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. As we explored, we realized that the Desolation Valley gradually flows down from Lake Aloha to the far end of Lake of the Woods. Change ). From any of the Echo Lakes trailheads follow the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) into the … Welcome to the; Lakes of Desolation Wilderness; Home; About; Lakes; Notes Lakes and reservoirs located in the Desolation Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. The Desolation Wilderness consists of 63,000 acres with over one hundred small- to medium-sized lakes within a subalpine environment of granitic peaks and glacially formed valleys. Don’t forget to look up! We came across a large group right around this area. We absolutely loved the Haypress Meadows area. The next several images are all from Haypress Meadows. The trees are especially incredible around here and the terrain is just gorgeous. Water color is just ridiculously beautiful here. Find an alpine lake, remove your socks and shoes and stick your feet in the water for a while. After Crag Lake, the trail starts going up again over some rocky terrain and another creek to make the final 1.5 mile push to Stony Ridge Lake. This gives you some idea of the elevation on the way out. El Dorado County's Desolation Wilderness in California is a federally protected wilderness area with many waterfalls and alpine lakes.Lake of the Woods is one of them. Explore to find your campsite. She woke up a short time later (her son was very distraught obviously) and looked at us with no recognition initially of who we were or why we were holding her up. Of course I had seen from afar it from Pyramid Peak, which is one of the reasons that I wanted to see it up close. After you leave the Upper Echo Lake area and right around Lake Tamarack is where the trail really starts to kick up. During the winter months, most of the trailheads are covered by snow and are not accessible. From Highland Creek to the junction of 4-Qs / McConnell Loop, there are two trees, 21" & 33" dbh. My first backpacking trip as a birthday gift from my wonderful husband. So on this trip a buddy of mine expressed an interest in trying a hike with me so we made plans to start at Echo Lakes and see where the day would take us. In summer, the snow melts to reveal bare rock and dirt. You stop to take photos with your ‘real’ camera now and then so you’ve got all the angles covered, so to speak. It looks majestic from a distance so I knew it would be special to visit it directly. And what goes down must come up. The Eagle Falls Trailhead is off Hwy 89 at the end of Emerald Bay. Once past the Middle Velma Lake backpackers will climb roughly 200 feet before being rewarded with a stretch of 10 miles of wilderness forest to the West of Phipps Peak, which gradually descends out of Desolation Wilderness and back into the Eldorado and Tahoe National forests by Richardson Lake and headed to the famed Barker Pass and the Granite Chief Wilderness … Hikers at Lake Aloha, Desolation Wilderness Lake of the Woods and Ropi Lake Trail Bear left at 4.0 miles, continue southeast by going left at a trail fork at 4.6 miles, and then reach, at 4.9 miles, the north shore of aptly named Lake of the Woods, which rivals Lake Aloha in popularity because of its numerous campsites. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Tallac, Bayview, Eagle Lake and Meeks Bay. Crystal and Aiden, if you are out there and reading this, I hope you are well. If you choose not to take the water taxi, add 5 miles to the overall trip. Meek's Creek Trailhead is at the north end of the wilderness area along Hwy 89 at Meek's Bay. Talk about a great feeling and a really good way to give your feet a break mid-hike. The Lake of the Woods is a backcountry glacial lake in the Desolation Wilderness of the Eldorado National Forest, southwest of Lake Tahoe, in El Dorado County, California. I have a new tradition/tip for my hikes. You can shave off a few hiking miles by starting at one of the Echo Lakes trailheads that are accessible via water taxi service. Most of the following images were taken on the trip back but they roughly follow the route of the hike on the way to Lake of the Woods. Crag Lake, Desolation Wilderness. I saved the best tree for last. Like most lakes in Desolation Wilderness, American Lake is accessible from a variety of trailheads depending on where you want to start, desired mileage, and elevation gain/loss. Desolation Wilderness is accessed through 13 trailheads: Loon Lake, Van Vleck, Rockbound, Twin Lakes, Lyons Creek, Pyramid Creek, Ralston Peak, Echo Lake, Glen Alpine, Mt. Somewhat misleading because this is from a GoPro and it has a lot of distortion on the edges. The jet stream trails were especially nice. Endless small lakes idea of the Lake Tahoe Forest Reserve, according to Creek! The most heavily used `` Wilderness '' areas within the U.S right now California is on fire everywhere, in... Haypress Meadows your WordPress.com account had an atonic seizure on this trip, but felt much safer for using (., if you ’ re packing into Desolation Wilderness a sweet spot tucked behind Lake of the Woods first. Caught her by the arms, pulled off her pack and propped her up to her. Here was as you probably have figured out by now, I typically hike alone be found in the Desolation. 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