Desolation Wilderness — Attraction in South Lake Tahoe

Desolation Valley is one of the most grand and diverse places in the Sierra Nevada, with epic geography, geology, and flora/fauna, however, it can be dangerous and you can get lost off unmaintained trails. It's a rugged place to hike, and you should plan well, and prepare well.

For example, It is very popular to clime horsetail falls to get right into one of the most beautiful spots in Desolation, which is at the base of mount Price, however, if you do too late in the day, you will loose sunlight and likely loose your way. I had a friend who needed to leave early from a trip we planned after realizing his ingrown toenail was getting too bad to make our original journey. We had hiked up horsetail falls the previous day, and made it to lake Aloha the second, but turned around. We hiked down horsetail falls that second day, and lost our light about half way down the major 1000 ft decent next to the waterfall. We had one working light, and our memories, but, we were following trail markers (stacked rocks) thinking they would be the safest rout. For some reason, there are certain areas that are marked as rock climbing zones with stacked rock tail markers... --- Before we knew it, because we followed trail markers, we were scaling down extremely dangerous rock faces that dropped 10-30 feet... in the dark... with one working light, and a half moon to help us see. In some cases and as my friend was passing out from the pain, I grabbed his light and scouted for a safe rout down like a sherpa, when there was often only a lesser of two evils. Our final rock face was one where we had to drop our backpacks 10 feet to a flat landing. I tried to guide my friend, after shaking him awake and giving one of many motivational speeches to keep moving. I used my shoulders and two hard to grip holds to help him down. We made it, and got back onto the main path. Relieved, we continued on into the valley bellow the waterfall, and because the whole area is so beaten down by people we lost the trail more than 40 times. It took us a whole extra hour to get to the road because of this.

On a positive note, I made a trip from Meeks Bay to Horsetails about 5 years ago with my dad. There was only one bad unmaintained path leading to Rockbound Lake. The rest was great. Beautiful scenery, people travelling from Mexico to Canada. Interesting animals, and completely devoid of human made noises besides planes overhead occasionally. We made it in 5 days hiking about 10 miles a day. I was proud of this in my youth, and intrigued some friends to go and see.

I want to note: I did not see a single park ranger the whole time both trips. I wish the government would make it possible to fund more wildlife restoration, hire more staff, and trail maintenance in this area, but in...

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