Advice on Desolation cross-country itinerary (Wrights Lake TH)

[sleepydragon]

Hoping to get your advice on our plans for four days/three nights in Desolation — we have a permit for Twin 7/23-26.

My partner and I (two females) are experienced on-trail backpackers. We've also done some off-trail hiking and class 5 climbing in the Sierra, but mostly with day packs. We're trying to get more comfortable moving across cross-country terrain with our packs, and to prepare for a longer but similar (cross-country, then on-trail) loop out of Cottonwood Lakes TH a month later. Our main interests (aside from practice) are remoteness and barren alpine scenery.

Our current plan:

• Day 1: Hike in from Wrights Lake past Twin Lakes to Island Lake, set up camp and leave our packs. Scramble up Mount Price and traverse to Mount Agassiz. Return to Island Lake and sleep.
• Day 2: Hike cross-country directly over the ridge between Island Lake and Clyde Lake. Go over Mosquito Pass toward Lake Aloha, then navigate XC counterclockwise around the western/SW shore of Lake Aloha to Waca Lake. Set up camp and drop off packs. Scramble up Pyramid Peak, then return and sleep at Waca Lake.
• Day 3: Hike counterclockwise around Lake Aloha from Waca Lake to the dam, then hike on-trail to Heather Lake and set up camp. Dayhike to Mount Tallac and back, sleep at Heather Lake.
• Day 4: Hike on-trail over Mosquito Pass again, over Rockbound Pass, and back to Wrights Lake. Drive home.

CalTopo map: https://caltopo.com/m/1HE0N1P

Our main questions:

1. Island Lake - Clyde Lake "pass" with full packs: is this too hard for us? We'd prefer staying on class 2 without fear of small micro-navigational errors causing us to fall off a cliff. We can also scout it beforehand without packs, but not sure if that's excessively cautious. We read Wandering Daisy's thread on it here viewtopic.php?t=12778, but everyone here seems much more experienced than us
2. Is the cross-country travel around the western shore of Lake Aloha to Waca Lake reasonable? From the satellite imagery it doesn't look too bad, but we've never been to Lake Aloha.
3. Is it worth it to take the day ("Day 3") to do an out and back to Mount Tallac, or do you think that trail might be too busy/change the character of our experience?
4. Any other suggestions or advice (campsite selection, overall reasonableness) very welcome!!

Previous experience in the Sierra: 3 October nights Dusy Basin/Knapsack Pass/Palisade Basin out of South Lake, ~30 days climbing/off-trail hiking in Yosemite (mostly day trips/car camping though), 2 nights cross-country in Yosemite, ~10 nights in Desolation (mostly on-trail).

Thanks so much for your help!

[giantbrookie]

I think your route is perfectly reasonable given your experience. However, if you are going to do all the off trail stuff, it seems a shame to go off trail to reach trailed, popular places. I think you'd exploit the off trail experience more if you choose off trail campsite locations. The area north of the Island-Twin area is less traveled, for example, and has a lot of places that would make nice off trail campsites. If you want to follow the same approximate route a less traveled camp at Lake Aloha would be northward along the west shore. At Heather L. you might choose a campsite further west along the south shore.

[Wandering Daisy]

The south side of Aloha Lake is very complex and tricky depending on the water levels. I am not sure going around Aloha Lake is worth the effort. You could instead, add Halfmoon lake to your climb of Mt Tallac, or even do the day-hike on Day 2 if you did not go around Aloha. That would give you a bit more time to return, perhaps adding a few lakes north of Lois Lake. From Maud Lake you could x-c the lakes to the south and come back to Wrights Lake without that long loop to the west, which is less scenic. There is a nice trail for part of that route, after you x-c through the little lakes.

[sleepydragon]

Thanks so much for the thoughtful advice, this is super helpful!

I think your route is perfectly reasonable given your experience. However, if you are going to do all the off trail stuff, it seems a shame to go off trail to reach trailed, popular places. I think you'd exploit the off trail experience more if you choose off trail campsite locations.

That's a great point — and thanks for the specific campsites. Do you (or anyone else) have suggestions on where we might camp near Island L. that would be less popular? Our constraint is just that we have to stay in Twin zone for night 1.

The south side of Aloha Lake is very complex and tricky depending on the water levels. I am not sure going around Aloha Lake is worth the effort. You could instead, add Halfmoon lake to your climb of Mt Tallac, or even do the day-hike on Day 2 if you did not go around Aloha. That would give you a bit more time to return, perhaps adding a few lakes north of Lois Lake. From Maud Lake you could x-c the lakes to the south and come back to Wrights Lake without that long loop to the west, which is less scenic. There is a nice trail for part of that route, after you x-c through the little lakes.

Wandering Daisy, for the lakes south of Maud, do you mean Gertrude/Tyler, or the tiny lakes to their northwest (at the red arrow)?

That's really good to know about the south side of Aloha — we hadn't thought through the implications of it being a reservoir. Sad to miss Pyramid and Waca), but maybe we can try getting there from Agassiz on day 1.


Our revised itinerary trying to incorporate this feedback:

• Day 1: Hike on-trail Wrights Lake -> Island Lake and set up camp. Dayhike to climb Mount Price, traverse to Mount Agassiz and possibly to Pyramid Peak. Sleep at Island Lake.
• Day 2: Hike cross-country over the ridge between Island Lake and Clyde Lake, then on-trail to Heather Lake and set up camp. Dayhike to Mount Tallac and back. Sleep at southern shore of Heather Lake.
• Day 3: Hike on-trail Heather Lake -> Mosquito Pass -> Rockbound Pass -> Maud Lake, then hike cross-country to sleep somewhere in the Gertrude-Tyler basin — maybe at Tyler Lake?
• Day 4: Hike on-trail from Tyler/Gertrude back to Wrights Lake, or maybe XC over the ridge from Tyler back to Island and take Twin Lakes trail back. Drive home.

It's a little contrived to give us some chances to practice cross-country and get some miles/elevation gain in, so not sure it's the most sensible route — but looks like beautiful granite the whole way.

CalTopo: https://caltopo.com/m/MQRRJNA

[wildhiker]

After ascending the pass east of Island Lake, you don’t have to drop down to Clyde Lake and then climb back up to Mosquito Pass. Instead, from the pass, traverse the slope to the south of the pass until you reach a minor side ridge that takes you directly down to Mosquito Pass.

[balzaccom]

There is a campsite up above the waterfall feeding in to Island Lake that is sometimes used by local rangers, nicknamed Shangri La. Seems like a decent option to you. And if you are interested in the area south of Lake Aloha, see my TR just posted today.

[sleepydragon]

Thank you all for all your knowledge, this is perfect. I feel much more confident going into this trip now — can't wait.

Will try to take some good pix for a TR when we're back!