2003 Desolation Wilderness Backpacking Trip - Day 3
(Saturday, 30 August, 2003)

I slept much better on Friday night, probably just becoming more accustomed to tent life, and woke up a bit before 8. Our breakfast of hummus, cheese, and pitas was not terribly appealing. The hummus was too dry, even though I prepared it according to its instructions, and it was just wrong-tasting first thing in the morning. It would maybe be an alright lunch, but I don't think we'll be repeating this one. We packed up camp (much to Sarah's chagrin, but none too soon, as the local critters were starting to take note of our plastic bags), hefted our packs, and hit the trail at around 9:20.

We re-traced our steps along Lake Aloha, which was now bathed in a flattering morning light and looked just lovely. At the north end, we took a short break. I think one of the best pieces of advice I read in Jardine's book is to take a 5 minute break every hour whether or not you feel you need it. Today I would be our time-nazi, enforcing a 60 minute maximum of uninterrupted hiking.

After our break, we hiked back along the uneven rocky trail by Heather and Susie Lakes, and took another break at Susie Lake to snack and adjust our gear. I saw some Seep-spring monkeyflowers and Large-flowered Brickelbush that I'd somehow missed on the way in. The latter was an especially odd-looking flower, with its nodding ends.

When we passed the junction with the Half Moon Lake trail, we started seeing more people on the trail, mainly day hikers, most likely en route to nearby Mt. Tallac. It was an exposed (and warm!) climb of 400 feet over 0.6 miles to the PCT junction right by Gilmore Lake, but the views compensated for the temperature. We took one final break here to tape up some pre-blisters, and shortly arrived at lovely Gilmore Lake.

We dropped our packs at the first good-looking campsite on the southwest side of the lake (We didn't want to camp on the southeast side, as the Mt. Tallac trail goes right by there). After walking around for a short bit, we determined that the first site was indeed the best, and proceeded to set up camp. Our site was well-appointed indeed, complete with a gravel-lined walkway to the lake, strategically-arranged rocks and logs to make cooking and sitting around easier, and even a nail in a tree to hang my water bag from. Soon after we set up, Ranger Rick (yes, that really was his name!) came by and checked our permits. He was an affable fellow and we talked to him for a little bit until another backpacker went by and we trotted after them to check their permit.

After changing into camp clothes and relaxing a little bit, we walked around the other side of the lake to check it out, and sat on a log, dipping our tired feet into the frigid waters. Contrary to my expectations, our doing this did not result in hordes of dead fish rising to the surface :) There were only two other groups here (this would soon change). As we ate our lunch of chicken salad tortilla roll-ups (tasty!), we heard the scream indicative of someone jumping into a Sierra snowmelt lake. It was tempting to do the same, but the water was about 10°F too cold. We found ourselves with little to do - the only reasonably close day hike was Mt. Tallac, which was our planned hike for the following morning. Dick's Pass and Half Moon Lake both looked like they entailed more climbing than we really wanted to do after several hours of backpacking. We passed the time by rearranging the kitchen rocks, filtering water, stretching, and even a little bit of relaxing.

More people trickled in as the afternoon wore on, and we soon had neighbors within 30 feet on two sides. Not that that's the end of the world, but it wasn't nearly as solitary-feeling as our camp by Lake Aloha was. We prepared an excellent dinner of pasta with dried vegetables in a parmesan, garlic, onion, and bacon-bit sauce - defintely a repeat dish! After dinner, we sat by the lake, enjoying the early evening glow on the surrounding hills, then made dessert, a backpacker's "chocolate mousse pie." Yeah right - more like a sub-par instant chocolate pudding with bread dust on top. I think instant pudding would have been at least as satisfying, and far cheaper. With nothing else left to do, and fading light, we went to bed at the ungodly-early hour of 7:30pm.

 

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• Day 1 - Glen Alpine to near American Lake
• Day 2 - Dayhiking Lake of the Woods, Ropi Lake, Toem Lake, Desolation Lake, "Fun Lake," Channel Lake, and American Lake
• Day 3 - near American Lake to Gilmore Lake
• Day 4 - Gilmore Lake to Glen Alpine
• Pack list