TR: Desolation Wilderness, Red/Silver > Lelands > Highland > Tells Peak, 6/24-26

[dlopilato]

June 24-26, 2022
Van Vleck Trailhead > Leland Lakes over Red/Silver Pass > Highland Lake > Van Vleck over Tells Peak

First time, long time. I did a solo trip that started on the Red Peak Trail from the Van Vleck Trailhead and headed over the pass between Red and Silver Peaks, above Lake No. 3. I then partially completed the McConnel Lakes loop going CW, before exiting over Tells Peak and down the Highland trail back to Van Vleck. This was my first attempt at cross-country passes. I'd read a few posts on here about both passes and studied the map. Other than a hiccup on Day 1 it was a lot of fun and rewarding!

Day 1, June 24
The way into the wilderness up Red Peak is not super interesting until you approach Lake No. 3, but there is a deepish creek crossing as you begin to ascend to the lake. It was slow moving and reached my knees. As I approached the lake, I met a couple of people who had gone up the Red/Silver saddle and they advised to keep right at the peak before the descent to avoid a boulder field.

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Being dense, I went left until I could circumnavigate the steep snow fields in the middle, closer to Silver. I'll never know why! This led me as promised to a massive boulder field interspersed with snow drifts compromised from running streams and two-three hours of cursing my own hubris. It was arduous but doable by stepping carefully with even footing. Anyway, don't do what I did—if you do keep right, it looks like a lot of Class 2 scree and some more easily traversable slopes below.

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I made it to the lower Leland lake around 4 and set up camp at an excellent site above the outlet where the upper lake drains down the slope. It has a nice view of Red and Silver as well as the lake. This is pretty much right where the snowline was settled that weekend. It’s probably gone or non-significant at this point but there was a decent snowpack still up there.

Temps were pleasant and bugs were tolerable, light wind but nothing crazy. I ate rice and beans and watched the sunset. It was a lovely evening after a hard descent, and I had the lake all to myself.

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Day 2
I had planned to hike the loop CCW through Schmidell and the 4 Q's, but didn't want to mess with the snow line after my descent the previous day, and decided to head CW toward McConnel Lake, where very little snow remained. The trail between the Lelands and McConnel was soggy but easy enough to follow, as it parallels the Lelands' drainage most of the way. The only difficult part for me was catching the trail on the west side of McConnel. McConnel Lake was basically a mosquito-ridden marsh, I would recommend against planning to camp there. The Lelands and Horseshoe are much prettier. Anyway, you want to be on the side of the lake closer to McConnel peak if you wish to stay on trail. Creek crossing here moving swiftly but I was able to hop over rocks. Plenty of the trail was still underwater. It's easily manageable but your feet may get wet.

I spotted one marmot on this stretch of trail—otherwise I saw few animals other than birds and insects on this trip.

I had really nice views of the Crystal Range basically this whole way so it is a very nice route, with two fairly large waterfalls crashing down its slopes. Horseshoe Lake is the next waypoint, there are a few good places to stop and rest, but I couldn't find a good route to the actual lake that didn't require a lot of bushwhacking. Perhaps if you split off from the trail before approaching the lake you could find a nice rocky spot on the southeastern side. I set up on a big boulder in some manzanita to eat lunch. Bugs present but tolerable to me. Tortillas and freeze dried guac on the menu. Large ants investigating my presence, but friendly.

From here, I headed to the marked Camper Flat junction, which is where you would meet this portion of the trail if you chose to go CCW from the Lelands. I considered what my trip might have been if I'd toughed out the snow, regretting my choice slightly. I crossed path with a group who had done that route with a couple of dogs, so it seemed pretty doable, although they reported some sketchy snow bridges that I personally would not have attempted given how soft and slushy things were getting.

But I still had some on- and off-trail miles to get to my destination. I quit worrying and headed up the granite slope. This is a fun and easy (although hot) ascent generously marked by trail ducks, and with great views. I had no problem following the trail. I turned around halfway to admire the peaks and noticed some dark thunderheads coming into the basin. They were a ways off so I kept moving.

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Lake Zitella is your spot if you want a backcountry "beach" on this route. There is a cool peninsula of granite that juts out into the lake, and you can hop along it to a small island that actually has some trees for privacy, and a nice long granite ramp to rest on. I changed out of my hiking clothes and took a refreshing dip. (The Chekhov short story "Gooseberries" came to mind, when Ivan Ivanich takes a swim in the rain.) Afterward I lay on the warm rock and relaxed in the sun for fifteen or twenty minutes, while the storm clouds continued their advance. I realized if I had taken the CCW route, I would probably have been slogging through some gray rain, as it looked to be over the Lelands from what I could tell. I was now thankful to have gone CW and made the time to just sit and enjoy the lake and sun.

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I planned to go cross-country from Zitella to Highland Lake. I'd read some trip reports about this route and knew it was not marked. So I changed back into my hiking clothes and headed toward the trail. Then those clouds started to thunder. I dropped my pack and scoped out the way up toward Highland: looked rocky and exposed. I opted to stop for a while and monitor the storm instead. I set up my tent, put my stuff under it, and walked with my map to the clearest view of the ascent that I could find, which would lead me over a modest saddle, down into the Highland drainage area, then to the base of cliffs below Tells and McConnel. I plotted a route from here that stuck to the left side of the saddle, then stayed around 7700 feet as it contoured around the ridge below McConnel.

After waiting to see if the storm would hit, it seemed to be drifting pretty west of me, so I packed up and started moving. It was a pretty straightforward climb, a little brushy but easy to get around and find granite stairs . If you take this route, you definitely do not want to drop down into the saddle too soon, you will descend well below the unnamed lake under Highland if you do and have to make up all that extra elevation gain in deadfall and brush. I stuck to my contour, and just where the snowline started to converge with my path I found a gently sloping granite ramp that led down to the long cascading waterfall below Highland.

This really is a beautiful and complex watershed, and it gives you a view of the whole drainage basin below. It would be a great lunch stop, but alas—the clouds were getting closer and the thunder had returned! I could see a line of storm cells hugging the Sierra crest way off in the distance—not exactly comforting given my exposed location but impressive nonetheless.

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So I kept moving, and things got a little more technical on the way up to the lake. You have to cross the stream at some point, and it can be done without getting wet, but you have to exercise a lot of caution. The water is very swift here, and it's channeled in pretty deep in the granite. Once I crossed, I rose up to Highland Lake just in time for a few drops of rain to spit out of the sky. Fortunately, the storm never materialized. There was a group set up on the bench south of the lake, so I went around the east side and found a sheltered spot above the lake. Fairly exhausted at this point, I set up my tent and took an afternoon nap.

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Recharged a bit, I got up and followed the lake with my map until I could see Tells Peak, which I would be climbing tomorrow. It was pretty daunting from below and the route I had picked out on my map seemed doable but… dicey. I kept walking until I found a couple of trail ducks and followed them around a few talus piles. The trail they marked went out toward a ridge that ascended under Tells peak more to the east than I had considered. This looked promising; I made a mental note.

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I cooked dinner that night away from camp, looking out over the Highland drainage. The storms had finally blown out and two rainbows formed faintly in the far distance. Pesto noodles with sundried tomatoes. After I returned to camp, I noticed a group had taken a floaty out into the water and swam the whole way across the lake. Brilliant! I figured it was very cold but it looked like a fun time. Maybe I’ll pack a lightweight pool floaty on my next trip.

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Day 3
Next morning, I was up early and broke camp by seven, somewhat anxious about the thousand-foot ascent. It looks pretty intimidating from below. I found the use trail I’d discovered the evening prior and stuck to it, given my limited route-finding experience. It was comforting to have this neolithic social media, kind of like you have a friend with you, though I know a lot of users personally don't care for them. It contoured around east a fair bit, but it stayed out of the brush and brought me past several flowing water sources as I slowly climbed above the basin.

It’s strange how fast time passes when you’re doing this kind of work. Before I knew it, I was well above Highland Lake and approaching Tells. About halfway up, it gets pretty steep but it always felt safe. There was an impressive amount of snow lingering above a tarn some 500 feet below the peak, where the route crosses a sheltered north-northeast slope, but most of it could be circumnavigated except for one 20-foot stretch that I trudged through straight up. I put on miro-spikes for this section but doubt it was really necessary. Nothing but scree underneath anyhow.

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Above that, loose scree and an easy couple hundred feet led me to the false peak just south of Tells. The Highland trail runs between these two peaks, and the slightly lower sister peak has the better views. I hung out up here for a few minutes, hopped around the boulders to Tells proper, and signed the summit register.

After this satisfying rest, which provides good views of the Rubicon river and reservoir and a portion of Lake Tahoe itself, I picked up the Highland trail and started my long descent. I lost the trail a few times, but aimed for Forni Lake and eventually found my way down. The Highland trail experienced some significant wind a few years back, and it is still very rough exiting from Forni. I missed the trail junction and backtracked, returned, backtracked a few times. The reroute is fairly south of where the trail junction is marked on the map, just FYI. The obvious trail that hooks around the bottom of the lake will eventually lead you to the new Highland route, but it does take some attention to pick it out from the fallen trees.

Highland is very steep. So steep, I would recommend not ascending this trail. It’s quite exposed and I passed a fisher who was trudging up toward the lake. It did not look fun.

Below Forni, I was treated to a beautiful mile-long stretch of meadow in full bloom. There were sunflowers as far as I could see with pastel lupin scattered throughout. The narrow trail is packed down firmly from horse traffic through the tall green shoots. It’s quite lovely!

Beyond this, however, you’re back on forest road. The trail does deviate fairly significantly from the map—it seems they’ve re-routed for restoration purposes. Anyhow, it is very easy to follow, but the mileage is a bit longer, so just keep trucking. I made it back to my car at Van Vleck around noon, tired but satisfied. I had a burger for lunch in Placerville and made it home around 4.

All in all, it was a fascinating and challenging trip! I may go back over Red/Silver and head out toward Schmidell somewhere soon.

[windknot]

Nifty route! Thanks for sharing. I was in the same general area that weekend (a much more pedestrian overnighter to Lois Lake via Rockbound Pass) and eyed those same storm clouds with apprehension, but we thankfully never got much rain either.

The second leg of your loop brings back fond memories of my visit to Highland ten years ago via that same route south of Tells Peak. I remember great views from that pass -- your photos corroborate this.

[balzaccom]

Great report--and great route as well. I'll be doing a bunch of volunteer work in Desolation this summer. Really looking forward to it.

Thanks for posting this...and the great photos.