Desolation Wilderness Backpacking Trip, August 2021
Dry River Bed
Given the way below average snowpack this past winter, it was no surprise to find the creeks dry. Luckily there were lots of lakes on this trip and most still had water, albeit with a well steeped primordial tea taste.
NOTE: There’s a map of our trip in the last slide.
Maud Lake and Rockbound Pass
Beautiful Maud Lake was the last lake before our 2000 foot climb up Rockbound Pass (the low point in the mountain range).
Yet Another Mylar Balloon
We frequently find mylar balloons on our trips; Rob is showing off one he spotted on our way up the pass. Maybe we’ll get lucky one of these days and find something really good attached to one of them (I heard a remarkable story about someone finding a $100 bill in a box attached to a downed mylar balloon)
Pushups on Rockbound Pass
Back in 2010 we picked up the tradition of doing “pushups on the pass” from a hiker we met on the John Muir Trail. We were intrigued by the challenge of doing something so bootcamp after already spending so much energy to climb the pass and we learned that getting to the top the pass is actually pretty energizing and it’s not a big deal (and this was our second take because I messed up the first one).
Wildflowers
Despite the drought, we still saw some wildflowers, including these that I rarely see.
Campsite at Leland Lakes
After a long day of hiking, we were rewarded with solitude and a beach sand campsite on Leland Lakes. We managed to avoid hazardous air quality conditions for most of the trip but the wildfire smoke from the Dixie fire still created a lot of upper atmosphere haze which caused the yellow moon and dirty looking sunset in this photo.
Reflection at Sunrise on Leland Lakes
I’m not a morning person except on backpacking trips when I will wake up at 5:30 am to enjoy the sunrise on smooth-as-glass lakes and to get out on the trail when the wildlife is active.
What Candy Bars did the Bear Eat?
We saw little wildlife during our trip however we did encounter bear scat in the trail twice, including this one with ingested plastic candy wrappers (I see what looks like a Hershey bar, can you identify the others?)
Lake or Meadow?
This was the only green meadow we saw, because it’s actually what’s left of McConnell Lake.
Routefinding Across Granite Slabs
The trail became indistinct during the middle of the day as we traveled over miles of granite slabs towards the Rubicon River; great to refresh our route-finding skills.
Relief in the Rubicon River
We were relieved to find water in the Rubicon River since it was 8-miles between lakes which meant carrying enough water for the day. It was also really hot (my thermometer said 98 in the shade) so we took the opportunity to do foot and body soakings.
Buck Island Reservoir
Our campsite for the night was on Buck Island Lake, actually one of several reservoirs in the area that are part of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s Upper American River Project. The Rubicon Jeep trail is on the other side of the lake from where we camped but we only heard a few jeeps go by and then had the lake to ourselves.
Frog in Our Tent
This cute little frog jumped into our tent in the morning while we were packing up our gear. The day before we met two Fish and Wildlife biologists who were looking for endangered yellow legged frogs at another lake (this frog wasn’t a yellow legged one).
Smoky Sunrise
The winds shifted overnight, and we woke up to a lot of haze from the Dixie Fire so we quickly hiked out the last 6 miles of the trip back to the trailhead.
Map of our Trip
Here’s the map of our route, showing our starting and ending trailheads as well as some of the way-points I mention in the photo essay. This was a shuttle trip: we left our car at the ending trailhead (Loon Lake) and got a ride to the starting trailhead (Wright’s Lake) With thanks to Rob’s brother for helping us with the shuttle!