As our first overnight hike in the Desolation Wilderness this trip, we hiked on the Meeks Creek Trail from Lake Tahoe, climbing up to Lake Genevieve, then went a bit further to set up camp at Crag Lake, plus a side visit to Hidden Lake.
This was the first of several short backpacking excursions we planned to do within the Desolation Wilderness. Rather than a long, ten-day behemoth of a hike, we figured to take a few shorter trips, thereby exploring unique corners of the area. We already took a bigger trek back in 2018, and hiked through the central section. Now it was time to tie up loose ends. This first hike would be a warm-up, as it wasn’t too long and stayed at lower elevation.
We spent two days driving up to the Tahoe area from San Diego, and initially camped at a National Forest Campground right on Lake Tahoe, a short distance from the trailhead. That’s how we began hiking at such an early hour, all packed and eager to get into the forest.
When I planned the trip using USFS Topo Maps, I was hoping to drive a mile or two on a forest road toward our objective, but the reality was otherwise. The gate was locked. Vicki was less than amused, as it meant a longer hike, but felt better when I told her that it was mostly flat. She’s not big on that pesky “UP” word, you see. But we were going to climb the same amount, regardless of locked gates. So we shouldered our big backpacks and hiked along the closed forest road. Eventually, the main Tahoe-Yosemite Trail branched off and began to climb in earnest. We took our time, and the morning air was still cool. There were meadows and forests, plus a bonus view of Rubicon Peak. It would have been fun to climb, but Vicki’s lungs weren’t acclimated yet. Even in the unlikely chance that she was interested, it was still a No Go.
The trail followed Meeks Creek, and it was good to have the water nearby. When it deigned to be there. It wandered around quite a bit on its own. Meanwhile, the sun rose higher, and Vicki got warmer. We took a few extra breaks. Why not? We were in no rush, and didn’t really care where we camped, as long as it was fun.
After crossing the creek, the trail turned south and left the water. It was steep enough that Vicki ran out of gas. We must’ve woken up too early that morning, so she took a short nap next to the trail to recharge her energy. I sat and read a book on my Kindle. It was a pretty spot.
An hour or so later, we arrived at the first lake in the Meeks Creek chain, Lake Genevieve. We decided that this spot was worthy of a lunch break. And also a fishing break! I got out my Tenkara fly rod and attached the line. There were several good spots near the north end of the lake, free of reeds and hook-snagging branches. The only thing lacking were trout! Well, not edible-sized ones, at any rate. The biggest one I caught was a five-inch fingerling, which was rather sad, and that was one of the big ones. Clouds of smaller fry swarmed along behind my fly like kittens after a string. It was fun, in its own pathetic way.
We thought about camping right there, but decided against it after checking the map. The next lake was nearby, and maybe it would have some edible trout. So on we hiked. Crag Lake was less than fifteen minutes away. We decided that we liked this lake better, just for the views across the way, and continued on the trail with our eyes open for a promising campsite by the shore.
We found a spot near the far end and set up the tent. It was a perfect LNT campsite, in that many people had camped here before, so if we did it too then there wouldn’t be any significant environmental impacts. We sat on a log by the shore and simply enjoyed the view for a while.
Sadly, I had the same sad trout fishing experience at Crag Lake. There were only tiny ones near the shore, and my Tenkara setup was unable to cast very far. But this time I got my GoPro out and took a video of the tiny fish harassing and chasing my hook. They were cute. If you look close you might see them.
After that, it was time for dinner. Vicki boiled some water and we ate a freeze-dried meal on our favorite log by the lake. The sun went down behind the ridge to the west and the air got cold. We retreated to the tent and put on warmer layers.
We got out the map and tried to make a plan for tomorrow. Our biggest concern was that a rainstorm was due to arrive that afternoon, and it was predicted that the bad weather might last for several days. Yuck! It hadn’t looked like this when we left San Diego, or we would have waited. But here we were now. A short blast of light rain is fine, but days of it sound miserable and cold.
Our plan for this mini-trek was to hike in and stay two nights at a “Base Camp,” so that we could spend the middle day hiking and exploring around the area without the burden of our heavy backpacks. Then we would repeat this two-night scenario at other locations within the Desolation Wilderness. It meant that we carried less food and carried little or nothing a third of the time. Much different from our usual ten-day Summer Sierra Trek.
The new question was: Did we want to dayhike tomorrow up the valley only to get drenched by rain? Plus the joy of sleeping in a soggy tent that night? Followed by packing up our soaking wet gear the day after? It sounded rather grim. We were here for fun, after all, not a sufferfest. So we compromised by deciding to wake up early, do a short dayhike to Hidden Lake, then pack up everything and make it back to the safety of the car. We both thought that camping inside the car in the rain was vastly preferable to a tent.
We went to sleep after that, but I set my alarm to wake us up in the dark. We ate a fast no-cook breakfast and packed all of our big gear, leaving it inside the tent. When we ventured outside, the wind was blowing strong on the lake and it felt like a storm might arrive soon. We put some water, snack, and rain gear in my big backpack and used it as a dayhiking pack. Then we headed out on the trail.
Hidden Lake was less than a mile away, and about two hundred feet higher, so it didn’t take us long to arrive. We climbed up on the main trail, then dropped down into a basin to arrive at the shore. There was only one campsite there, and two men were packing up when we arrived. I was glad we hadn’t come here yesterday, as it would have been far too crowded. But the lake itself was pretty. I had my fly rod with me, but I didn’t see any trout rising on the surface of the water, so I didn’t bother trying this time. Plus, we wanted to get going before it rained.
Vicki, being Vicki, decided that she didn’t want to climb back up out of the basin to the main trail, only to drop back down to Crag Lake. We knew that there was a creek flowing from Hidden Lake to Crag Lake, and she opted to bushwhack along the creek to return to camp. There would be no more of that “UP” nonsense this morning. So we set off into the forest. I ran my CalTopo App (using my phone’s GPS) and away we went. There was no real way to get lost, since we were following the valley floor, but I like to be certain anyway. And we had quite a bit of fun. There was one side creek that crossed our route, and it proved to be full of thick brush. It was a challenge to find a path across it that wasn’t choked completely. We walked up and down, and finally chose the lesser of many evil paths. Getting back to the tent was easy after that. And we never did any excess climbing! Hooray for Vicki!
Back in camp, we took down the tent and finished packing our backpacks. It had already drizzled on us once, coming back from Hidden Lake, so we put on our waterproof pack covers and made sure our rain gear was handy. Then it was time to head downhill to the car, as fast as possible.
We didn’t stay long at Lake Genevieve as the wind was blowing strong and there were no trout anyway. Shortly afterward, it began raining. It was only a light rain, but if it kept up we knew that we’d be both wet and cold. So we stopped under a huge pine and paused to put on our rain gear.
After that, everything was fine. It could rain all it wanted. Luckily, it never got very heavy, and the drizzle came and went as we hiked down the trail. We crossed Meeks Creek on the big stepping stones and continued east toward Lake Tahoe and the trailhead. As our elevation dropped so did the rain’s intensity. I eventually took off my rain pants as they were too sweaty inside, and the rain was minimal. The jacket I left unzipped for airflow, and also to safely tuck my big DSLR camera under when the rain restarted.
It took a good part of the morning to finally reach the forest road where the Tahoe-Yosemite Trial met the Meeks Creek Trail. After that, it was flat and cruisey hiking, all the way to the car. Blue patches appeared between the clouds, but then closed in again. Rubicon Peak was misty due to raindrops in the air. So much different from yesterday.
Before we knew it, we were back at the trailhead. We put our gear in the car and gave each other High Fives. We had beaten the big rainstorm! Now all we had to do was find a place to car-camp, hopefully up near Wrights Lake. We knew that scoring a campsite might be harder than it looked, as it was Labor Day Weekend, a notoriously crowded time of year. But that was life. The back of the car would be our Home Sweet Home tonight, one way or another.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
Wrights Lake >> 
Up to “Desolation Wilderness September 2023”
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