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Desolation Wilderness Meeks Bay trailhead 2 Days Total Miles- 12.4 Vertical (6300'- 8340') It would be a one night trip out of the Meeks bay trailhead on the shores of lake Tahoe. I have been to every corner of Desolation wilderness, but had not seen much of the northern section. For the first mile or so I was able to ride my bike along the dirt road, I found a good tree to lock it to where the trail started. From the topo is was easy to tell that the area is much lower in elevation, I thought that for an early season trip the trail might be free of snow. I was wrong, as I hiked up the trail there was more and more snow. By the time I got to the lake that I wanted to stay at, I was hiking through snowfields and using my trekking poles as an ice ax to get up a pass. I had to return to a lower elevation and ended up camping at the peaceful Hidden Lake. The next morning I tried a bit of fly fishing, but no luck.
As I began to pass the 5 lakes on the way to Rubicon lake there was more and more snow on the trail and I started to get a bit worried. Then looking at the topo map I knew my destination (Rubicon Lake) was at the top of one last ridge. Now I had a problem. There was about 3 feet of snow now on this steep slope. I had now lost the trail and decided to head straight up. I had to use my trekking poles as an ice ax for the steep sections. Once I got to Rubicon Lake their was no way that I was going to camp here due to the high snowpack. I then thought about how Hidden Lake looked nice on the way up. I headed back down to make camp.
The hike out brought me through a meadow with many flowers. I got back to my bike and it was an easy down hill stroll back to my truck. This lower elevation of Desolation was not nearly as scenic as the southern end. I was anxious to get a backpacking trip in before leaving to Europe for the summer, but it was a bit early season. It still felt great to get out of Reno and breath some fresh Sierra air. |
