R08 TR: Desolation 6/2014
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:41 pm
This past weekend a friend and I each got a get-away-from-family-and-young-kids pass so we headed to Desolation for a nice little backpack. I have no pics to share unfortunately (not in the habit of ever taking any) but there's some beautiful country out there right now. A bit of snow, everything is spring green, and its not too hot and dusty yet. There's bugs, but its not the worst it could be.
We headed in at Eagle Falls TH about 5:30 or so Friday afternoon and hoofed it to Middle Velma lake for the night. We found a decent enough spot considering we rolled in close to dusk. The mosquitoes were there, but not terrible. Annoying enough to warrant repellant though. The coyotes gave us some night time excitement as they killed a rabbit or something -- best wildlife moment of the trip.
Next morning we decided to hike up to Fontanillas lake for the view and scramble down the outlet back to Velma (and then on with trip). It was awesome. Tons of flowing water, and really, quite a bit of snow up there. Lakes are unfrozen though. The peaks are still pretty white, enough so that we heard a report by a guy we met of a snowboarder he passed on the way in. The guy was hoofing it in with his board to get a run or two off one of the peaks. After making our way down the outlet, and having to find a crossing at the bottom, we headed up towards Phipps Pass and ultimately to Stony Ridge for the night. It was a nice hike, with intermittent patches of snow and some bugs here and there. Wanted to check out Phipps Lake but didn't get a chance. At Stony RIdge we found a decent campsite up above the trail on a nice little table and proceeded to drink the two beers I lugged in while relaxing next to a waterfall. Its all in the little moments. Which also made the skeeters that greeted us later toward sundown more tolerable. They were pretty bad that evening, why did the wind have to die down!?
Next morning was cool and windy and the bugs were nowhere to be found. After packing up, we headed toward Meeks Bay TH, enjoying the down down down of the trail. I hate losing elevation, always such a hard fought win, but it was nice to just cruise that morning. Until the almost never-ending flat sandy last mile or so before getting to the TH. I thought I was on a treadmill for a while. But it ended, and we hitched a ride almost immediately and got back to our car at Eagle Falls.
Fun trip, a good early starter to work out the kinks and blow the lungs up.
We headed in at Eagle Falls TH about 5:30 or so Friday afternoon and hoofed it to Middle Velma lake for the night. We found a decent enough spot considering we rolled in close to dusk. The mosquitoes were there, but not terrible. Annoying enough to warrant repellant though. The coyotes gave us some night time excitement as they killed a rabbit or something -- best wildlife moment of the trip.
Next morning we decided to hike up to Fontanillas lake for the view and scramble down the outlet back to Velma (and then on with trip). It was awesome. Tons of flowing water, and really, quite a bit of snow up there. Lakes are unfrozen though. The peaks are still pretty white, enough so that we heard a report by a guy we met of a snowboarder he passed on the way in. The guy was hoofing it in with his board to get a run or two off one of the peaks. After making our way down the outlet, and having to find a crossing at the bottom, we headed up towards Phipps Pass and ultimately to Stony Ridge for the night. It was a nice hike, with intermittent patches of snow and some bugs here and there. Wanted to check out Phipps Lake but didn't get a chance. At Stony RIdge we found a decent campsite up above the trail on a nice little table and proceeded to drink the two beers I lugged in while relaxing next to a waterfall. Its all in the little moments. Which also made the skeeters that greeted us later toward sundown more tolerable. They were pretty bad that evening, why did the wind have to die down!?
Next morning was cool and windy and the bugs were nowhere to be found. After packing up, we headed toward Meeks Bay TH, enjoying the down down down of the trail. I hate losing elevation, always such a hard fought win, but it was nice to just cruise that morning. Until the almost never-ending flat sandy last mile or so before getting to the TH. I thought I was on a treadmill for a while. But it ended, and we hitched a ride almost immediately and got back to our car at Eagle Falls.
Fun trip, a good early starter to work out the kinks and blow the lungs up.
