Desolation Wilderness backpacking, day 1

We left Davis around 7:30am on Saturday, stopped by the ranger station to check out maps and plan our route, and we were on trail by 11am!

Hiking with a 30# pack is much slower than hiking with a little water and GORP. We only traveled about 5 miles, but certainly enjoyed the journey. Desolation Wilderness is like if you took one of those nice, open, rocky campsites from the BWCAW and extended it to an entire national park. Tons of lakes and rivers, lots of big grey sloping rocks, and patches of pine forest to soften things up.

We hiked up to a crest (8600 ft) and got a 360-degree view of the vicinity, and then headed down to Lake of the Woods. We found a good place to camp right as the thunderstorm started. We pitched our tent and jumped inside for a nap. We woke up just as the sun was setting, made a little dinner, but were soon driven inside again by the rain and wind.

101002 Desolation Wilderness Backpacking Trip