Friday
We started late Friday night after arriving at the trailhead around sunset. We did some quick last-minute back adjustments and organized some of the weight across the packs.
The rough plan was just to get into Desolation Wilderness so we could camp inside the wilderness area. We found a nice spot to camp about one third of the way up Ralston Peak. Got to bed around midnight.
Saturday
Had a lazy morning the next day and made some oatmeal to eat. We could already see day hikers going up by the time we packed up the tent and got on our way.
Upper Horsetail Falls
The rest of the climb was pretty steep and hot. The Caldor Fire in 2021 had burned a lot of the trees in the area so there was little shade going up. Eventually we got onto the ridge that takes you up to Ralston Peak.
This is where we got our first glimpse of Desolation Wilderness. Could see all across the basin at Lake of the Woods, Lake Aloha, Mount Price and Pyramid Peak. You could also see all the way to Mount Tallac that I skied last year
on Easter.
The trail followed down the north face of this ridge that still was holding its snowpack. It was still pretty firm which was great for moving pretty fast across the trail. Only postholed through the snow once. We followed the ridge for a while till taking a left turn at a crossroads a few kilometers down. From here it was straight to Lake of the Woods where we would camp for our second night.
Around Lake of the Woods you need to camp in specified campsites when on the north, east or south shores. Since it was a holiday weekend mostly all those camp spots were packed with people. We opted to camp on the west shore which was a bit more fun to get to. The lake was high so we had to wade 10 feet through the water to get around a big rock formation. Although after that we were all alone with no sight of anyone else. There was also a little lake we could enjoy all to ourselves.
I tried cooking some lentils for the first time on my jetboil and it wasn’t ideal. I made the mistake of trying to cook the whole 1 pound bag which took way too long and was way too much food. A few years ago my friend Ajay gave me a compact set of spices which I had brought on this trip. The hole on the top was quite small so it took me about 15 minutes to whack enough curry spice out to taste it in the lentils. After eating three bowls of lentils I was more than full.
Once the sun went down the sky was full of stars. Even with a half moon the stars covered the sky. We debated for a while trying to find the North Star.
Sunday
Waking up with the sun today made it an earlier start. Today we left the tent at Lake of the Woods and went out to explore the surrounding area. Went up to check out Lake Aloha to have lunch. On our way over we saw some guys with skis going up to Mount Price. Looked like they day hiked in which would be a big objective. The snow looked like a ton of fun to ski though.
Here’s a view of the skin track
View of Mount Price from across Lake Aloha
Personally I think Lake Aloha got its name because it’s always waving. I was told that this is not a good joke but I disagree.
When we got back to camp, we cooked some of the freeze dried meals and then I decided to go for a quick swim. The water was very refreshing and crystal clear. After getting out I had to go find my down jacket though.
Lake I swam in
While cooking dinner we saw a Marmot
Monday
We hiked all the way back out.
Going back out through the burned forest that we originally walked through in the dark was really cool. The landscape was so open and bare because of the fire but there were already signs of the forest coming back. New small plants were growing and little trees were taking root. It was nice to see the car peek out through the burned trees in the distance. Changed quick and started to drive back to San Francisco. In good backpacking fashion we grabbed burritos on the way back. Originally we planned to go to Texas Roadhouse, which I have never been to, because it was Memorial Day. Somehow there was a 90 minute wait so we quickly scrapped that idea.
Photos
