3 night trip advice in desolation wilderness.

[Lumbergh21]

I'll give my 2 cents worth. I am also a lurker, but I will try to post a trip report from 2016 now that it is the winter, and I've got lots of time on my hands. I did a short 3 day (only one full day), 2 night hike in the Desolation Wilderness at the very beginning of June this year. I was entered in the America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride Century (100 mile ride) on the weekend and figured that I would go for a short trip to Lake Aloha and elsewhere before the ride. I left Echo Lake around 1:00 PM and hit the first snow about 1,000 feet below Haypress Meadow. This meant no trail to follow, but that was actually a pretty good thing once I got over my "need to follow the trail" attitude. Lake Aloha is big and pretty easy to find without a trail. The snow at Haypress Meadow was 4 to 5 feet deep but easy to walk on. There was still 2 feet of snow at Lake Aloha, but I was still able to find a bare patch of ground that wasn't flooded near the north end, just pass Lake LeConte. I stayed away from the lake shore during my hike, as the lake was covered in snow and ice and I didn't want to accidentally end up in it because I misjudged exactly where the ground ended and the water began. I know that sounds kind of bad, but it was actually pretty wonderful. I was warm in my tent and warm enough out of it. The views were beautiful. It was quite nice to make my own trail through the snow to the lake, and there was only one other group of people at Lake Aloha, all the way down near the southern end (I met them the next morning while I explored my way down to Lake of the Wilderness and beyond). In short, it was easy hiking on the smooth consolidated snow, the air was fresh and crisp, and the views of snow shrouded peaks were beautiful. If the weather is clear, and it isn't an abnormally late or high snowfall year, I would give it a shot. Don't get freaked out by not having a trail and having to follow a map, and don't forget, you can always turn around if it feels like too much for you or your wife. I think Lake Aloha is only like 6 miles from Echo Lake, and You'll probably know sooner than that if the hike isn't for you.

The bike ride that Saturday was pretty good too. ;-)