Desolation: 6/6- 6/9
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:09 pm
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The Route
Day 1: Bayview TH to Middle Velma Lake + day hike: 6.1 miles, 2135 feet gain, 5 hours.
Several trailheads can access the Velma-4Q-Leland-Schmidell-Clyde-Aloha-Dicks lakes loop in Desolation Wilderness. The weather forecast was bad. From the weather radar for the preceding days, it seemed like the Velma Lakes area was being missed by the storms, so I decided to go in from the Eagle Lake trailhead. Permit in hand we were unable to get a parking spot due to all the day hikers, instead finding one of the last parking spots at the Bayview trailhead. So we did not get on the trail until 11:30. Thankfully it was a short hike into Middle Velma Lake, which was rather crowded. We set up and as threatening clouds built, took rain jackets and hiked to Upper Velma (which would have been a better location to camp) and then climbed the granite slabs to Fontanillis Lake. Rain began to fall as we returned on the trail. Back at camp, the weather cleared and stormed again and we called it a day at the early hour of 7:30PM. It rained considerably at night.
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Bayview Trail
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Middle Velma Lake
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Upper Velma Lake
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Fontanillis Lake
Day 2: Middle Velma Lake to Leland Lake + day hike: 8.6 miles, 1840 feet gain, 8.5 hours.
We were off at 7:30 AM following a fair maintained trail down to the Rubicon River, wading across at Camper Flat. Heading north we passed the signed Schmidell Lake trail junction and soon the Rubicon Trail was lost in a swamp. We crossed a pond on a log and followed sparse cairns, often traveling with no markers, until we finally intersected the poorly maintained trail to 4Q Lakes. Here we followed the main trail as it ended at an arm of one of the lakes. We then backtracked and tried another trail. No luck. Backtrack again and we swung well north around all the complex lakes and up onto a rocky ridge. Here we found “the trail”. It was fine for a while then as we dropped into thick timber it disappeared! I had done this trail the opposite direction two years ago and it was pretty obvious. This time nothing seemed to work. We crossed the creek and headed in the direction we thought would intersect the trail to Horseshoe Lake. Well, after two hours of agony in horrible brush and small cliffs I finally figured out that I had cut over too soon and was following the wrong creek- we were in the McConnel l Creek drainage. Bashing our way to the top of the ridge we then dropped to Horseshoe Lake. It was after noon so a day-hike all the way to Highland Lake was out of the question. We settled for the short hike to Zitella Lake. That bushwhack had taken its toll on our energy.
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Rubicon River at Camper Flat
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4Q Lakes
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Crossing the creek from 4Q Lakes (crossed too soon)
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Horseshoe Lake from ridge above Zitella Lake
Zitella Lake
The trail south to Leland Lake was obvious at first. We had to wade across the creek that tumbled down from cliffs into McConnell Lake. The wild flowers were thick! Then the trail disappeared into a swamp. We crossed a large creek, which I thought was the creek from Leland Lakes. Unfortunately it was just an over-swollen intermittent creek fed by snowmelt. I knew the “trail” followed the east bank of the creek from Leland Lake. Try as we may, we again bushwhacked upward finding no trail. Finally we ran into the “real” creek from Leland Lake, much smaller than the “fake” creek! By that time I was highly frustrated at messing up on a route that I had done easily just two years previously! Arriving absolutely beat, I found a nice campsite at the outlet of Lower Leland Lake. It was 4PM and I decided to fish as one of my major goals of the trip was to fish. Well, nowhere to be found were my flies. I had reel, rod but no files. Evidently they went missing somewhere along the route, probably falling out of the bag I failed to tie tight enough when we stopped at Horseshoe Lake. Lower Leland Lake was beautiful and I puttered around taking photos instead. After dinner I hiked up to Upper Leland lake to take photos, but really with my confidence bashed by the day, I needed to assure myself that there really was an Upper Leland Lake up there! The weather could not have been better- blue skies and a light breeze to keep the few mosquitoes down. In spite of my numerous goofs, it was a fine day. I even took a bath; it felt so good to be clean when I hopped into my sleeping bag.
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Flowers near McConnell Lake
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Camp at Lower Leland Lake
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Lower Leland Lake
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Upper Leland Lake
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Lower Leland Lake
The Route
Day 1: Bayview TH to Middle Velma Lake + day hike: 6.1 miles, 2135 feet gain, 5 hours.
Several trailheads can access the Velma-4Q-Leland-Schmidell-Clyde-Aloha-Dicks lakes loop in Desolation Wilderness. The weather forecast was bad. From the weather radar for the preceding days, it seemed like the Velma Lakes area was being missed by the storms, so I decided to go in from the Eagle Lake trailhead. Permit in hand we were unable to get a parking spot due to all the day hikers, instead finding one of the last parking spots at the Bayview trailhead. So we did not get on the trail until 11:30. Thankfully it was a short hike into Middle Velma Lake, which was rather crowded. We set up and as threatening clouds built, took rain jackets and hiked to Upper Velma (which would have been a better location to camp) and then climbed the granite slabs to Fontanillis Lake. Rain began to fall as we returned on the trail. Back at camp, the weather cleared and stormed again and we called it a day at the early hour of 7:30PM. It rained considerably at night.
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Bayview Trail
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Middle Velma Lake
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Upper Velma Lake
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Fontanillis Lake
Day 2: Middle Velma Lake to Leland Lake + day hike: 8.6 miles, 1840 feet gain, 8.5 hours.
We were off at 7:30 AM following a fair maintained trail down to the Rubicon River, wading across at Camper Flat. Heading north we passed the signed Schmidell Lake trail junction and soon the Rubicon Trail was lost in a swamp. We crossed a pond on a log and followed sparse cairns, often traveling with no markers, until we finally intersected the poorly maintained trail to 4Q Lakes. Here we followed the main trail as it ended at an arm of one of the lakes. We then backtracked and tried another trail. No luck. Backtrack again and we swung well north around all the complex lakes and up onto a rocky ridge. Here we found “the trail”. It was fine for a while then as we dropped into thick timber it disappeared! I had done this trail the opposite direction two years ago and it was pretty obvious. This time nothing seemed to work. We crossed the creek and headed in the direction we thought would intersect the trail to Horseshoe Lake. Well, after two hours of agony in horrible brush and small cliffs I finally figured out that I had cut over too soon and was following the wrong creek- we were in the McConnel l Creek drainage. Bashing our way to the top of the ridge we then dropped to Horseshoe Lake. It was after noon so a day-hike all the way to Highland Lake was out of the question. We settled for the short hike to Zitella Lake. That bushwhack had taken its toll on our energy.
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Rubicon River at Camper Flat
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4Q Lakes
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Crossing the creek from 4Q Lakes (crossed too soon)
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Horseshoe Lake from ridge above Zitella Lake
Zitella Lake
The trail south to Leland Lake was obvious at first. We had to wade across the creek that tumbled down from cliffs into McConnell Lake. The wild flowers were thick! Then the trail disappeared into a swamp. We crossed a large creek, which I thought was the creek from Leland Lakes. Unfortunately it was just an over-swollen intermittent creek fed by snowmelt. I knew the “trail” followed the east bank of the creek from Leland Lake. Try as we may, we again bushwhacked upward finding no trail. Finally we ran into the “real” creek from Leland Lake, much smaller than the “fake” creek! By that time I was highly frustrated at messing up on a route that I had done easily just two years previously! Arriving absolutely beat, I found a nice campsite at the outlet of Lower Leland Lake. It was 4PM and I decided to fish as one of my major goals of the trip was to fish. Well, nowhere to be found were my flies. I had reel, rod but no files. Evidently they went missing somewhere along the route, probably falling out of the bag I failed to tie tight enough when we stopped at Horseshoe Lake. Lower Leland Lake was beautiful and I puttered around taking photos instead. After dinner I hiked up to Upper Leland lake to take photos, but really with my confidence bashed by the day, I needed to assure myself that there really was an Upper Leland Lake up there! The weather could not have been better- blue skies and a light breeze to keep the few mosquitoes down. In spite of my numerous goofs, it was a fine day. I even took a bath; it felt so good to be clean when I hopped into my sleeping bag.
[rimg]http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg23 ... ited-1.jpg[/rimg]
Flowers near McConnell Lake
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Camp at Lower Leland Lake
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Lower Leland Lake
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Upper Leland Lake
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Lower Leland Lake