#desolation wilderness

[iqwest]

Explore The Great Outdoors

Every day is a good day when its being spent in the Desolation Wilderness. The outdoor photo above is the march up the trail to Lake Aloha (heading up to it from Heather and Susie Lakes located just to the East of Lake Aloha and lower in elevation).

Lake Aloha

Here's the expansive view across the lake. You can't make it out, but to give some perspective, South Lake Tahoe sits in the far distance (under the "thunderhead" cumulonimbus cloud to the left in the photo). Trust me, pictures don't do this open space justice.

Hikers And Backpackers - Be Prepared!

If you've never been here before, it's a place you want to go. Whether you are a backpacker looking to stay overnight or a day hiker wanting to explore, rugged beauty will be found throughout the Desolation Wilderness in the expansive Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Keep in mind, if you haven't spent much time in the outdoors, these hikes can be moderate in intensity, so make sure you are prepared.

Water and snacks are a must. Bring close you can peel off and quickly throw back on.

Temperatures vary throughout the year and the one constant is that the weather is always changing. Afternoon thunderstorms are a regular occurrence during the summer (which can lead to strong winds, thunder, lightning, hail, and brief heavy rains).

It's not likely you'll find yourself getting snowed on during the summer months (when the trails are typically fully open and accessible after the spring snow melt), but these elevations are pushing 7,000 - 10,000 feet plus, so it can never be ruled out. By all means, you'll run into patches of snow. Fun for the kids as they don't expect to get treated to a snowball fight during the summer!

Backpacking With Your Companion!

Going with your best companion is a must too, but make sure the trails are dog friendly. Bring plenty of food and water for them too.

Even though water is everywhere (you don't need to worry about treating their water like we need to do ours!), there are desolate areas along these trails where you'll find they need a drink on the longer, hotter, days.

Best Backpacking Shoe

For the best footwear, I transitioned from traditional hiking boots to the Altra Lone Peak. It's labeled as a "running shoe", but I use them for day hikes and backpacking.

The open toe box lends towards a wider shoe up at our toes. Don't think it makes a big difference? It does! No more bruised pinky toe because your toes are so scrunched in that narrow hiking boot you've been wearing.

They're so light weight they relieve stress on your legs too, so there's more fuel in the tank when you get to where you're going and you feel better when you get there. I'm 48, so I feel it from time to time!

They grip. There's a ton of loose chunk rock in the Desolation Wilderness, along with a lot of granite slab, so the inner sole rock guard blunts the sharp edges with each step and the grippiness keeps you on your feet.

They're not waterproof and that's actually a feature! They don't trap water on your feet like a traditional waterproof hiking shoe will after you miscalculated the stream crossing and got water in them, so your feet don't stay waterlogged. They dry out remarkably quick, so with the right pair of wicking socks, there's no need to shy away or worry about any water you encounter. It's truly unreal and was totally unexpected.

The only "slight" negative with these backpacking shoes is that you don't get the ankle support found in high top hiking boots, so there are times you feel like you're going to slip out of your shoes. This is mostly mental. However, if you don't have strong ankles, work these new hiking boots in. Make the long treks in your traditional hiking boots and trade off to these for your day excursions. The Altra's break in quickly, but you want to make sure you can handle the change.

Again, there's more than a lot to like about Altra's hiking shoe! They've made all the difference in the world for me and I'm glad I learned about them after stumbling across Jessica "Dixie" Mills online.

To find out more about her backpacking journeys check out her blog at Homemade Wanderlust - she's got a wealth of knowledge when it comes to all things backpacking and has through-hiked the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), CDT (Continental Divide Trail), and the Appalachian Trail (just to name a few of her major accomplishments).

Cheers to exploring Lake Aloha and the great outdoors. It does wonders for the mind and body, so get out there!

#desolation wilderness #lake aloha #sierra nevada #backpacking #hiking #outdoors #outdoor photography #outdoor recreation #dog photos #altra

[spin4trout]

Susie Lake - Part 3

Last week on Wednesday, we went on another day hike, this time up to Half Moon Lake. On the way, we got a nice view of Susie Lake from a higher elevation.

When we got back to camp that afternoon, I did my last fishing of the trip, and caught two nice brook trout. The wind really whipped up in the evening to the point we estimated a steady 40 - 45 mph with gusts stronger than that. We turned in early because of the cold and wind, but it was tough to sleep when the whole tent kept shaking violently with every gust.

On Thursday, things settled down and we went on a final day hike to Gilmore Lake. In the afternoon back at Susie I just sat and took in the views instead of doing any more fishing. I wish it was a requirement for senators, congressmen, and others in government to spend time in beautiful places like this. Maybe there would be a little more acceptance of measures to preserve public lands and to protect the environment.

It was our last night in the wilderness and it was calm and reasonably warm so we stayed up for a while stargazing and attempting to get some good pictures of the sky. I managed to get the photo below of Sagittarius and the Milky Way, including the very center of our galaxy, despite fumbling with my camera controls in the dark.

I'd rate this backpacking trip as one of my best.

#trout #fishing #spinning #ultralight #desolation wilderness

[illbedancingwithmyself]

Shots of me by my literal biological 31 year old son on our Father’s day hike

#desolation wilderness #body dysmorphia is a bitch

[amygdalae]

the ritual is such a comfort movie for me. uh oh the lads are havin a row again. time for the creature

#the long shots of desolate wilderness and low ominous soundtrack are so soothign to me

[freetoppings]

Joke's over guys everybody go home

#the wonka palava was fun while it lasted i guess #whats with filmmaker's obsession with the Highlands? there's desolate wilderness in every country #give the city it's dues. give the actors their credit

[pleasantlydeparted]

Find your own way home.

#forest #desolate #you are not alone #pennsylvania #nature #wilderness #cryptid #this is where i post from #dark #mysterious #strange #photography #nature photography #my photgraphy

[pig-wings]

Currently in a thread of people on the Cape losing their marbles because ONE town canceled their 4th fireworks for the sake of the piping plovers

#A DESOLATE PLACE #a bunch of these people are probably 'RA RA AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL' types #and i find it ironic that their ideals of the grand american wilderness *cough* dont extend to their own native wildlife #anyway. dont read the comments. dont be like meeee #also protect and cherish your local wildlife

[daydreamycrustacean]

i have watched all of marble hornets (9 hours) in two days and I feel extremely normal rn

#found it extremely appealing due to my personal aesthetic of abandoned buildings+ wilderness + desolate urban hellscape #also kinda made me miss walking through the woods...its been so long... #but once classes are done im going camping (*^▽^*) so this soon will be me #*marble hornets clip of someone stumbling through the woods and coughing and having the worst time of their life*

[sbnkalny]

Jellyfish have drifted along on ocean currents and are able to repel attacks from all sides, shining with spray and clapping their THOUSAND little hands as we seized them to stop the canoe, leaping like a spirited horse, flew at top speed under the grey walls, negotiated safely the Sunken chain of the Fliegende Brucke ferry, turned The corner sharply to the left, and plunged on yellow foam into The wilderness of islands, sandbanks, and swamp-land beyond—the land of desolation on wings, and in the senate Obama and buried a dog.

#QUOTE #DAY 7 #Vaporwave is the blue square in the corner sharply to the left #and plunged on yellow foam into the wilderness of Islands #sandbanks #and swamp-land beyond—the land of desolation on wings #And in any case soon perishes: only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face #but more to music than young thug

[teethrotter]

i saw a grizzly bear today :)

#kansas boy goes to montana and immediately develops more love for it than he ever has for any other place #granted i am poor so i have not been to many places outside of kansas + missouri but oh my god #i am so in love here. colorado is a very close aecond but montana is just a whole different world to me #i got here yesterday and i knew immediately that i was going to get my shit rocked but god #i can't describe it. it really feels like fresh powerful romance #i have always dreamed of living in colorado ( if i am to remain in this god forsaken country ) but i think montana is surpassing it #obviously i am totally ignoring how i very much feel like i am going to be hate crimed at any second #and how overwhelmingly desolate + inhospitable the land is #but my god. i am in love wholly and entirely #there's no better way to describe it #teeth has a religious experience in montana without any cell service at any point #+ totally sober + being surrounded by untamed wilderness + miles and miles away from civilization #auuuuuvgghbbbhhhhhh #i am so exhausted i have been traveling for ages and am running purely on crazed sleep deprivation but #i'm in love and had to prattle about it somewhere i guess #i also have not been on social media like at all and i know it's just another way for me to self-isolate to the point of self-harm #but in this moment it has been very valuable and helpful #i will enjoy it while it lasts

[wildernesswonderquest87blog]

#ai #tv shows #wilderness #post-apocalyptic #fallout #aiart #survivor #games #desolation #exploration #digitalart #art

[iqwest]

Lake Aloha in the Desolation Wilderness. Rugged beauty!

#lake aloha #sierra #sierra nevada #desolation wilderness

[tom4jc]

Jeremiah 12:10 Destroyed Vineyard

Many rulers have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion underfoot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. Jeremiah 12:10 There are times in which people have taken over some land and destroyed it. Usually, it is destroyed in the process of building new roads, buildings or some other structure. Other times it is destroyed just by not taking care of it and…

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#being productive #Deception #desolate wilderness #destroyed land #Following God #Jeremiah 12:10 #Ruined Lives #Rulers #Sinful Lifestyle #Vineyard

[illbedancingwithmyself]

I’m digitizing the journal from my TRT hike. It’s clippy and cynical so feel free to ignore 

Days 4-6

Day 4 Benwood Creek to Gilmore Lake

  Had the site to myself, no late night neighbors. Took my time with the morning routine since I get up so early now and Colt won’t be at Echo Lake until 11-ish. I ran into two backpackers I had crossed the day before. We hiked through the surreal Caldor fire burn area. Surreal because you can tell that this trail was built more meandering than it needed to be to afford hikers more time in a formerly beautiful area, but now it’s totally scorched. I crossed highway 50 and started toward Echo Lake. I got ice cream and other goodies at the chalet. Colt met me and brought the goods. My feet felt instant relief. We hiked the first lake together, and caught up. With my feet and heart lighter, I continued up the exceptionally rocky path and eventually hit lake Aloha. Truly a long ass lake! I stopped at the end for a break. I had planned on camping at Susie Lake, but none of the sites looked good. I met two friendly hikers who were experiencing the same dilemma, and we all decided on Gilmore. I forgot what a pain in the ass the approach to Gilmore is. At least now I’m closer to Dick’s pass: my morning challenge. Lots of people and dogs at Gilmore, which I’ve come to prefer. I get so paranoid at night! Today was my first 15 mile day

Day 5 Gilmore Lake to Richardson Lake

  Richardson Lake, with a view of Sourdough hill. Dick’s Pass in the morning was shady and enjoyable. The views were amaaazing. I stopped more for picture taking than I did for catching my breath. It’s wild to think that at one point this was the hardest hike of my life, and now it’s just a majestic way to start my day. There were lots of sooty grouse (forest chickens!) on Dick’s pass for me to stare at while I made use of the okay reception. Dick’s lake was a joy to see again, and Fontinellis was just as beautiful as I had imagined. The Velmas area was also pretty (surprisingly wooded) despite me being freaked out about mountain lions. The rest of Desolation tho? Dry and lame except for a few stretches of enchanted forest. The forest seems so unhealthy here. Every other tree is dead or dying, and the forest floor is completely obscured by mossy dead trees and undergrowth. I might have been a little extra cynical because I was running extremely low on water during this dry stretch. The next time a map labels a body of water as “stagnant pond”, I’ll take it to heart and plan accordingly. I made camp at Richardson Lake, and took a dip in the tannic water fully clothed. I came here afraid of the small population of green Mojave rattlesnakes, but it was a giant crawdad that I fell victim to in that lake! Little bastard got me right on the toe. I haven’t seen or heard any of the trouble making motorists this lake is known for either.

   I’m really not sure if I’ll try to push for Tahoe City tomorrow or not. It would be 22 miles... in any case I’m looking forward to the Barker Pass toilets. My brain is so desperate for stimuli that sometimes the only entertainment it can muster is hurting my own feelings. I should really get a psych eval. The vocal stimming shit I get up to on the trail is also buckwild. I’m just so fucking bored on the monotonous stretches

Day 6 Richardson to Ward Creek

  The walk to Barker Pass was more depressingly unhealthy forest, but it slowly got better. After a trip to the pit toilet there were seas of mule ears and very nice vistas. The final push up to Granite Chief Wilderness had some crazy switchbacks, but it was doable. I met a nice pair and their husky at the top. I got a lil dehydrated and made a rash camp choice. It seemed established but now I realize it’s very close to the creek and trail. I washed up in the creek with an audience of trout, but it’s hard for me to enjoy myself when I have to worry about my gear and animals as a solo hiker. The water I scooped for my ramen dinner had visible tiny creepy crawlies in it, but I just boiled that shit. Full of worry that’s keeping me from enjoying the present, but excited for tomorrow.

#tahoe rim trail #backpacking #hiking #camping #tahoe #desolation wilderness

[homunculus-argument]

Fascinating to notice how often you can save yourself a lot of stress and grief by simply double-checking that you and other people mean the same thing when you're talking about things. My partner has often voiced his desire to get the fuck out of society and civilisation and move in the middle of nowhere to grow potatoes and hunt game for meat in a little red hut in the woods. I told him that alright, but just as a heads-up I'm pretty sure that while he would survive, I'd probably straight-up fucking die out there.

And today we were looking up woodland properties around the country, just to generally get some kind of a picture of what size the ones for sale are, and what kind of prices they're going in, and ended up finding an affordable one that'd be in the absolute dead centre middle of complete wilderness, and he remarked that yeah, that's too isolated. I was genuinely confused, too isolated? Wasn't he just specifically looking for the most desolate corner of backwoods where he could live without ever seeing society again, totally off-grid, returning to hunter-gatherer and not having anyone find his mummified corpse for decades if not centuries after he dies out there? After we die out there, that is.

He was baffled that I had honest-to-god thought that he had meant "absolute middle of nowhere out of reach of society of any kind" when he said he wants to get away from society. This whole time, he had meant "nice little rural place where people don't end up by accident (but still a reasonable drive's away from the nearest grocery store)", and not literally dead middle of nowhere. This whole time he had thought that when I said "okay but I will probably die", it meant that I would wither and die of misery like a näkki on dry land if he took me into a city smaller than 50,000 people. And this whole time I had thought that he really meant to take us we-will-literally-die-out-here Out There kind of out-of-society.

[woodsy-hoe]

13+19 for the ask game!

13. first thing you’re doing in the purge?

okay i would love to just loot at a major mall bc i’ve dreamt about it many times and just wanna feel that thrill right quick

19. the veggie you dislike the most?

i really want to like squash (most types) but the texture gives me the ick rip

#assuming no one would hassle me during the purge otherwise i’m camping in desolation wilderness for safety lolol #thanks for the asks pal <33 you’re the best! #asked and answered