You know this place from scrapbooks found in that aging cabin on the shore of South Lake Tahoe. These are the moments captured in guidebooks left on the shelves of local cafes in rural Sierra Nevada towns. Depictions of old time ladies and gentlemen standing iron clad with steel frame packs atop a granite basin peering down into deep turquoise lakes scattered with sparse pine and gnarled juniper.
Desolation Wilderness is a 63,960-acre federally protected wilderness area in the Eldorado National Forest. A stunning lanscape split by crest of the Sierra Nevada, just west of Lake Tahoe. It's the kind of place where you create memories that will be passed down to your children and your children’s children. A place we must protect.
For our five day backpacking trip, our group consisted of four friends brought together by a passion for climbing with a desire to explore the High Sierra without the burden of ropes and heavy hardware. What we ditched in ropes, we made up for with film, cameras, and tasty food packs.
Beautiful views, dark skies for stargazing, and the promise of dynamic mountainous terrain punctuated by freshwater lakes at every turn. Desolation Wilderness truly is the path to Valhalla.
