Advice for Desolation Wilderness June 9 2017, Echo to Aloha

[cmon4day]

Thats your opinion. It's not like their going on a major expedition. Echo Lake to Aloha is very doable. Even in the snow. Accept the challenge. They may not make it to their destination, who knows. They will have to adapt to the conditions and make decisions. That is part of the backcountry experience. It's better to attempt and fail than not to attempt at all.

[Tom_H]

Just do it. Overcome and adapt. You've got the permit already, I say go for it.

You do not know what you are talking about. That tag that says Experience: N/A tells everything.

[rlown]

Her opinion is spot on if no snow experience.. Beat me to it Tom So was yours.

That old adage, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is just not a good place to start with 2 daughters and no snow experience. One thing that would work is if you go with someone with the experience for the expected conditions a couple of times..

[AlmostThere]

This is not someone you know well. It's someone posting on the internet. Saying that he has no experience. Taking his kids.

Do you want them to survive? Do you always take a guy and his kids white water rafting when they've never gotten in a boat, hand them a parachute and shove them out a plane with no instruction or tandem jumps, etc?

Do you want them to go up there, turn around early, waste a bunch of time and fuel and struggle and hate the experience?

This is supposed to be FUN. Not a Darwin award competition. If they had a guide service take them to do the heavy lifting, sure, why not? Someone to get them properly geared up, take precautions they don't know how to take yet, to help them have a great time -- that's totally different.

There are people in the world who just pick up what they think they need, go out and have adventures, live through it, come back and laugh. People who post questions requesting advice in forums are not those people. Be nice to them.

[maverick]

Thats your opinion. It's not like their going on a major expedition. Echo Lake to Aloha is very doable. Even in the snow. Accept the challenge. They may not make it to their destination, who knows. They will have to adapt to the conditions and make decisions. That is part of the backcountry experience. It's better to attempt and fail than not to attempt at all.

Sorry, but strongly disagree with this answer.
If you are going solo and want to risk you life, then so be it, but when you are taking a group of inexperienced backpackers/kids, you have the responsibility as a leader, parent in this case, to make the extremely conservative/safe decision, which is easy in this case, is to do with plan "B".
Aloha will still be there still in a couple of months, once the snow has thawed.

[SSSdave]

I think your interest in taking your 2 daughters out for an easy snow camping backpack is a useful idea in order to increase your skills levels in a safe way. However as to destination you need to think out of the box because usual summer backpacking destinations will just be buried in deep snow. The notion of the usual Sierra destinations... some alpine lake, is useless because they are all frozen. All that stuff Tom_H related is true as he is an authority. I used to backcountry ski at this time of year (actually plan to pick it up again next year) and what he said about frying your skin out in timberline areas that are all snow under a June sun is real.

Instead will suggest snow camping a short reasonably level distance from a parking lot along a major highway within national forest that is near the snow line where you will be walking over a mix of dry land and some snow to a destination where you can opt to camp atop snow or in a dry spot. This link shows current satellite views of the Sierra:

https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?p ... 9496450493

You can use the date control at bottom to find the last reasonably cloud free view and then use this acme mapper page link below to understand what you are looking at.

For example, one excellent place would be Hope Valley along SR88 that I can see is mostly melted out while surrounding areas are still snowy. That zone has considerable low gradient areas with forest just outside the meadow. Camping a bit in the forest is better because midday there will be shade so you can hide from the glaring sun. The only way to know where exactly to go would be to drive up there and look at what you can see visually and where parking roadside is possible. One place for sure is the California Snow Park lot just south on the Blue Lakes Road that is used by snowmobilers. All that area is national forest so you could go anywhere without any permits. I'll suggest just following up the West Fork of the Carson some distance far enough from the blocking gate that looks nice. And yes these stream side area partially in snow look wonderful so take your cameras.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=38.74548,-119.93688&z=15&t=T

Another zone from that same road would be up along little Red Lake Creek. You could hike south from the gate down the road and then at the creek vector west up through the low gradient forest along that stream. If either of these area are too melted out continue further west up the highway towards Red Lake.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/2017_Trip_C ... les-0.html

[rlown]

David's comments are good. Since we don't know where you live, it is hard to make alternate recommendations.

If you were thinking of Deso, Crystal Basin isn't that far away and can give access to Loon Lk and areas around. It gets plowed because its really a reservoir and power plants use the water.. Forget if its SMUD or PG&E.

Gets you and yours some snow practice..

[tim]

Or if you want to go to the Sierra for a quick 1-2 night trip, go to Paradise Valley in Kings Canyon. With the bridge out, you can't go beyond that, so permits should be in ample supply (I was intending to go in a couple of weeks time but had to change plans). It is clear of snow already and is beautiful early in the season (this is my trip with kids on Memorial Day 2013: http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... f=1&t=9327).

[AlmostThere]

Lake Eleanor and Kibbie Lake might also be decent options. But the dam gate is closed as the road is out. Snow is all gone, however. There are bear lockers at the designated campsites at Eleanor.

[rozim]

Well it was tempting to just do it (Desolation Wilderness) as it was chosen to be not too far from the car, but
as it was I'm glad we didn't go as it sounds like there was a mud slide on hwy 50 Friday morning when we would
have driven up and some drizzle, and then snow in parts of the Sierras over the weekend.

As it was, Henry Coe State Park worked out great - entered from the East Entrance and didn't see anyone on Sat
and did a nice series of I guess rolling hills which was a good warm up. Very pleasant temps. Thanks again for advice.

- Dave