Spring Backpacking in the Desolation Wilderness: 2019

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares drop off like autumn leaves” — John Muir

What an apt quote for my weekend trip into the Desolation Wilderness. Breathtaking views, majestic mountains with a lot of snow, thunderstorms and finally the complete lack of communication with the rest of the world did indeed let the “cares drop off like autumn leaves”.

Planning for this trip started back in January with my backpacking enthusiast friend and I. A last minute turn of events resulted in a lucky and coincidental addition of an experienced mountaineer who practically grew up in the Desolation Wilderness. Our trip and experience was eye opening and absolutely mind blowing thanks our mountaineering buddy who showed us the true back country!

DAY 1:

We started our hike up to Grass Lake from the Glen Alpine trail head, immediately greeted by an abundance of water. Wading through the knee deep fast flowing Glen Alpine creek fed by melt waters, we left the civilized world behind and entered the wilderness. Though the Desolation Wilderness is the most used Wilderness in the nation on a per acre basis, there was not a human near Grass Lake and only a hand full of folks that we encountered throughout our stay in the wilderness. This was perhaps due to the high waters and persistent snow pack, however a very welcome experience of the pristine environment that we were in.

offshoot of Glen Alpine Creek flowing on the trail

entering the wilderness

water, water everywhere…

We encountered passing thunderstorms and hail as soon as we setup camp. After some local exploration around Grass Lake, we returned for a scrumptious dinner, and retired to bed over soft snow and star studded skies.

looking east at Grass Lake and our camp from a nearby ridge

billowing storm clouds overhead

North Indian menu for dinner- mattar paneer with roasted garlic naan

DAY 2:

After a good night’s sleep with a few waterfalls providing soothing white-noise, I woke up to the sweet sound of birds and chipmunks by my tent. While the night was relatively cool, the rising sun immediately warmed us up getting us ready for a balmy day ahead.

sunrise over Grass Lake at 5.30am — the perks of hiking near summer solstice, we had 18 hours of natural light

After a quick coffee and breakfast, we were ready to explore the depths of the wilderness. We had no planned goals or ambitions, the decision was to keep the campsite and day hike off-trail for as long as we could. Our off trail hike comprised of segments of class 2/easy class 3 scrambles and about 10 miles of walking and scrambling over fields of snow up to 10 feet deep. We did briefly merge with the PCT near Heather Lake, however it quickly disappeared under several feet of snow.

the initial scramble out of Grass Lake

Cracked Crag from above Grass Lake — the hope was to get to the other side of it and find Lake Aloha in the process of doing so

small ponds of snow melt were a common sight throughout, with temperatures getting as high as 70F

hiking through fields of snow using landmarks and approximate GPS location

looking back at Cracked Crag and the valley that we climbed through

glimpse of Susie Lake- we could have continued to it to find the PCT, however we took a shortcut over a ridge to Heather Lake

first view of the Crystal Range with Pyramid Peak (the highest point in Desolation Wilderness) on the left/south from frozen Lake Heather

crystal clear water at the mouth of the drainage stream of Lake Heather

looking east over Lake Heather with several gorgeous turquoise melt pools on its surface

edge on view of Cracked Crag before climbing over the ridge to Lake Aloha

with vast snow fields covering the slopes and the valleys, a few rare thawed spots such as these gave us a hint of the snow pack depth

a very pretty little melt pond with the ridge to Lake Aloha behind

first sight of towering granite peaks, cliffs and domes- characteristic features of the Sierra Nevada and the Desolation Wilderness

physical evidence that we were actually on the PCT- we happened to enter the Desolation Valley and the Lake Aloha basin at the junction of the PCT and the trail to Mosquito Pass

What a spectacular sight of the frozen Lake Aloha and the Crystal Range. We were at approximately 8,200ft with views of Pyramid Peak, Mount Agassiz and Mount Price towering to near 10,000ft above the western side of the Desolation Valley.

We decided to spend a few hours to take in breathtaking sight. After a light lunch, I took a soothing nap on the warm granite surface by the thawed portion of the lake. The epitome of bliss, I wish I could freeze time right there. Thoughts of the daily grind vanished and as John Muir stated, nature’s peace certainly flowed into me.

the vast Lake Aloha still frozen under ice and snow, the Desolation Valley and the Crystal Range- the dominant feature of the Desolation Wilderness

this panorama does not really warrant a description!

interesting high altitude vegetation, wind shaped trees and bristle cone pines grabbing on to rock faces at altitude where howling winds are very common

Like all else in life nothing is everlasting. We had to start our hike back to camp in order to have enough time to spare for cooking dinner and retiring to bed. Our hike back was on a slightly different, shorter route along the slopes of Cracked Crag, resulted in new sights and sounds.

left: sliding on my feet down snowy slopes, right: at least initially trying to follow our footsteps back by Heather Lake- the actual PCT was somewhere beneath the snow

transitioning from vast high elevation snow fields to mid elevation vegetation where creeks emerged from under the snow- of course we were careful to stay on the slopes to avoid snow bridges that could potentially collapse under our weight and fall into the raging waters

a hidden gem briefly peaking out of the snow showing us its beauty before disappearing back under the snow

Lower elevations where continuous snow ended giving way to beautiful meadows of Californian wild flowers and wonderfully aromatic mountain sagebrush

GPS track of our hike

By the time we returned to camp, the snow under our tents had partially thawed. We reconfigured, moved our tents to dirt, cooked another delicious meal before getting much deserved sleep.

South Indian menu on day 2- fresh dosas with sambar

a pleasant night at 40F under trees filtering in the lunar light from a near full moon

DAY 3

After a strenuous day 2, the plan was to sleep-in, eat a relaxing breakfast and head back to our car. I however was awake and fresh at the first light of dawn around 4.30am. I got precious alone time to reflect on the previous day, practice meditation, make myself a cup of tea and settle my mind into feeling grateful for all that planet Earth has given me and continues to give me.

one last look at the calm and still Grass Lake that was our home for the 48hrs that we spent in the Desolation Wilderness