TR-Social distance hiking to Keith's Dome. May 24, 2020

[brianA]

Normally I wouldn't write a TR about a regular day hike, but I've really missed all the trip reports, so I decided to share one. Social distance means drive yourself, stay six feet apart, and no sharing Cliff Bars. That's what we did on Memorial weekend. We started on the PCT at Echo Lake, and hiked out five plus miles (no water taxi). At the big Z in the trail above Tamarack Lake we started heading up, and diagonally north off trail. It was steep, but easy footing. Soon we were on top of Keith's Dome with spectacular views of Desolation, Tahoe, Mt. Tallac, and much more. We decided to head west off the mountain toward Lake Aloha. It was difficult, and dangerous because of the steepness, and loose rocks. We thought we were saving time, but it would have been just as quick to retrace our steps down to the trail. If you're concerned about snow in the area, check the snow depth chart online. I found it to be extremely accurate.

[SSSdave]

Because of the way Desolation wilderness permit zones are divided up per quotas, when the Aloha and American Lake zones are full as is common given the PCT, the low usage Triangle Lake zone as a first night stop that includes the dome is a strategy for getting close to Aloha that I've used twice however one needs to be clear about where the exact zone boundaries are on the topo.