Desolation Reclamation

Desolation Peak is one the most legendary hikes in the Pacific Northwest, which is why it was one of the first ones I was determined to get under my belt. When I stopped at the ranger station 12 years ago to pick up my permit he asked me, "Are you sure you're going to make it?" Well of course I was going to make it! He clearly does not appreciate my determination! 

"Desolation Decimation" tells the story of how I did not make it. Though, I waved the white flag because of rain, not because I pooped out. I've been certain all these years I would have proven that ranger wrong had the weather cooperated. Now that I've actually done it, I'm not so sure. 

Elevation gain is something I've worked so hard over the years to wrap my head around. I'm pretty sure it's a deep need to stay in denial that keeps me from fully comprehending beforehand the sheer agony of gaining 4,534 feet in 4.5 miles. My brain can't let me grasp it, or I'd never attempt it. 

I'm grateful. Sometimes denial is our friend. And even though I cursed in the air and almost started crying when I saw the trail continuing to go up when I thought I'd made it, I'm of course so pleased to have finally done it. And I know my friends are too - though they both agreed it's one of the hardest hikes they've done.

Below is the specific deets for anyone wanting to cross this off the list themselves (or those who are just entertained by my suffering, haha) and I'll end with my blessing of happy "redemption" trails!  

And new Sammie made it too! Her first trip! Old Sammy is hopefully enjoying his California life

 Trail Log:

Day 1) We had to make arrangements with the Marblemount Ranger Station to have them hold our permit past their usual "pick it up by 11am or you lose it" time because we wouldn't get there until after noon. It would have been really nice to start our hike earlier, but we were taking the Ross Lake boat taxi to get to the trailhead and the only time available was 2:20. They also rent boats - the little kind you can drive without a boaters license - and the resort lady had convinced me over the phone that we should just drive ourselves so we didn't have to worry about a time table. And we almost did...but ultimately none of us felt comfortable with it. It honestly probably would have taken us two hours because we would have been nervous and those boats can only go so fast. We opted to just go late - even a 3 pm start meant we should make the sunset in time. And we would have made the sunset, except our boat driver was a half hour late due to an emergency on the lake (tipped boat he needed to assist - no injures) but Alec pinned it for us, so we still were able to start hiking at 3:15. 

Hold on Sammie!

 

There is an unreliable water source about a mile before camp, and I opted to bank on it being there and only brought two liters with me. Thank God it was still running, because two liters is what you need just to make it to said water source. On a hot day like we had, and if you are camping like we were, you would need something like 6 liters at least. If you can carry that kind of weight, good for you, but I certainly can't!

 

Getting that water was the only time we stopped until we got to camp, and it was only long enough to fill our bottles and have a quick snack. That is a major factor in why we were so destroyed - that and the heat. 

Janet is behind me because Janet is DONE...but she made it happen like I knew she would

Doing 2 more miles after FINALLY finishing those 10 last grueling switchbacks to camp was unthinkable...but it was either that or get up SUPER early and do them in the morning. Our boat was coming to get us at 1:45, and I of course just had to change our pickup last minute to the Lightning Creek location and add 3 more miles to our last day.  

So as soon as those tents were up, we grabbed our dinner and headlamps and started again. It's only a mile to the lookout, and we don't have our heavy packs...how hard can it be? Denial is our friend. 

Hurry!! It's going down fast!

We were told to say hi to Jim the lookout guy, but he was nowhere to be found. I guess firewatchers need a break every once in awhile; but does he have to hike out every time? Anyway, it was kind of nice having the whole mountain to ourselves. We ate our dinners and took our pictures and finally relaxed for a few minutes. This is when it's worth all the pain. 6 miles for the day with that unrelenting 4.5K gain.

Heidi is faster than us and made it in time for the last ray

Going down was SO much easier!!

Day 2) We were all SO glad to not be setting our alarms and having a leisurely morning. From camp to the intersection with East Bank took us just two and half hours, and from there it was easy breezy to the Lightning Creek Stock camp in about another hour and a half. We were specifically told to pass the Lightning Creek boat ramp and head to this beach, but do they just pull right onto shore here?

Yep, that's exactly what they do, and they might even come early if they are ahead of schedule! (They will come back at your appointed time, so don't worry - but get there early if you can! We were thrilled to not have to wait as long as expected.) And don't forget, you still have that mile back to the parking lot after you get off the boat, and no matter how many times you've done it before, it will always feel endless. Close to 9 miles for the day with probably around 600 feet gain, mostly just from that last mile back to the car. 

My favorite burger and beer stop!

 

From Pear Lake to Lassen

People day hike to Pear Lake all the time, I mean 12 miles really isn't that far. But most likely that means missing the sunset or sunrise, and with backpacking you get to experience both!

But there are cons to backpacking...like having your brand new tent break as you set it up.

We did get it up with the help of some tape (see it to your left?)

Or having to worry about marmots chewing up your packs.

See our packs?

Though these are small prices to pay, in my opinion, and I'm glad my husband is pretty much in agreement. Pretty much...but not totally.  

So I am extremely grateful he lets me throw a backpack in our vacation schedule here and there, even though it's not exactly his thing. If we can make this road tripping/hiking/backpacking thing work, then retirement maybe won't be so bad. If we can ever get there - fingers crossed. 

For now, vacation time was up, and I had to drop off Ken at the Fresno airport and start the long drive home. Except this time I had three days instead of two because of the Juneteenth holiday. A slight diversion to Lasson National Park did not add that much driving time, and I had read you could car camp in the parking lot of the Kohm-Ya-Ma-Nee visitor center for free. I'd get there at 9:30pm if I didn't take any breaks. Ugh. But I had to go for it. 

Fortunately there are several campgrounds on that last stretch before the park entrance because I really needed to stop. I guess hiking for 4 hours and then driving for 8 is kind of my limit. 

Luckily I put an extra tent in the car since the other broke

Thanks to AllTrails (with all my free advertising, I wish they would sponsor me) I already knew that lingering snow was going to put the kibosh on any major hiking aspirations. Oh well, at least I could still put a sticker on my bottle.

Once back on I-5 after several sketchy farmland road connections (how did we ever survive without Google Maps?) I was feeling...I feel stupid to even say it...like I needed to hike. Seriously - what is wrong with me? And so (here comes another AllTrails commercial) I quickly put in "epic view hikes near me" and bam! Next exit, simple 4.6 mile up and back with great view of Mt Shasta just 10 minutes away. Heck yes!

What I didn't know was that I was driving through the second hottest city in California. But Lee filled me in at the top. I hope he finds this blog. 

When I got back to the car, I was...how do I put this...not right in the head. All I wanted was to grab the gallon of water in the back of the car and dump it all over me. But Reba (yes I name my cars) had other plans. Sometimes she decides not to open the hatchback - I think she was mad at me for leaving her in the hot sun. I tried to make her obey, but instead I just broke her. If you want to be entertained by the hysterical video I sent my husband, I included it on my YouTube. (I'm pretty much past being embarrassed by anything at this point in my life.) 

And no, the tape I used to put Reba back together did not hold. It got sorted out though, and I made it home alive. I hope you've enjoyed the long tale. Last "things to know" and trail deets below. Happy "sometimes one more is one too many" trails!

 Things To Know About Lassen National Park:

1) There are no bathrooms anywhere around the Kohm-Ya-Ma-Nee visitor center, but if you get there before they open, don't panic. The front doors into the vestibule are open 24/7, and that is where you will find bathrooms. There is also cell service inside, and that is the only place you will get it. 

2) The road going up into the park is AMAZING and so hiking to see views is really not necessary. I was pretty sad it was closed at the Bumpass Hell trailhead parking, but also grateful to have at least got to go that far. 

3) Once again, if windy roads with drops offs are not your thing, don't bother going. It's a proper road though - not like the forest road to Harts Pass or anything. (Washingtonians will know, haha) 

Hikes: 

1) Ridge Lakes Trail is found right at the Sulfur Works parking lot and is a 2 mile up and back with 987 feet elevation. I think I was just a few tenths of a mile away from the lake before I turned around. I felt bad for the backpackers that were hiking out that didn't make it to the lake either, though they did say they found a spot to put up their tent. 

2) Chamise Peak is found in the VERY hot city of Redding, California. At 4.6 miles with 698 feet gain it would make a very nice hike if it wasn't over 90 degrees.  

It does have some nice shade though

 

 

Pear Lake via Lakes Trail, Over the Hump and Out the Watchtower Trail

We left early from Princess Campground for one reason - we wanted to get a permit for Pear Lake for the following night. In all my research about this very coveted backpacking spot, I wasn't exactly sure at what time they would issue it; so we wanted to get to the Lodgepole Visitor Center as early as possible.

You see, the Lakes Trail is so popular and well known that you cannot reserve ahead of time; you can only do it if you are willing to risk getting a walk-up the day before. We had a reservation to camp at the Lodgepole Campground that night (which I only got because I put in an alert for a cancellation months ago and was lucky enough to get one) and then we planned to backpack at Pear Lake the following night. No plan B in place - we needed that permit. 

Ken gazing up at the Watchtower

After my experience trying to get a walk-up for part of the Wonderland Trail, I was fully expecting we may need to wait in line for an hour to insure we had first dibs. I was pretty certain I had read you could get the permit at 10am, so we arrived at 9am after the hour long drive to Sequoia National Park. And wouldn't you know it - somebody was already in line! But turns out he was just picking up his already issued permit for another trail, so when it was my turn the Ranger informed me they give out next day permits at 1pm...10am is for same day. Those are ones they release because somebody was a no show. 

Thankfully we didn't need to worry about trying to get a same day, because the "quota chart" looked to have plenty of spots open - so we just needed to think of what to do until 1pm. Time to be tourists again!

General Grant was a big tree, but General Sherman is the BIGGEST tree. We were skeptical and expecting a mad house; I mean how many people can they fit around a tree, even if it is largest in the world? Though I must say, the experience turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable. It's a half mile of beautifully paved trail down to the tree, so everyone gets nicely dispersed.  Plus a bear sighting on our drive out was a fun surprise. (Again, all the videos are stuck together on my YouTube) 

Perspective

So once we had permit in hand and camp set up, we decided to check out Tokopah Falls Hike (four miles long and just 600 ft gain) which was only a 5 minute walk from our site. This is where we figure we must have lost Sammy, because we haven't seen him since.

Did he just decide he liked California better? Was he mad at me because I almost got him killed? (That video is also included in the YouTube mash up.)  Did our camping neighbors abduct him to be a pet for their dolls? I guess we'll never know. I'm pretty bummed of course, but I have to believe he's living his best life and hasn't been disemboweled by a sloth hungry dog.

Hopefully he is making the dolls happy, and they got him his own tent

Next day we were all packed up and ready to go at 9:30am. It's only a 10 minute drive to the Wolverton parking lot where you begin, so we were getting a pretty early start for a mere 6 mile day. Except I knew almost all the 3K gain for this hike would happen going in, so it was not going to be easy. 

Top of the Hump

I'm glad we saved the Watchtower for the next day, but in hindsight I understand that that way in is not as hard. Turns out the "hump" is named that for a reason. I know it's bad when I have to start counting my steps to keep moving; though totally worth it for this... 

Heather Lake

Aster Lake

Emerald Lake

And the grand finale: Pear Lake!!

No wonder these permits are so desirable! How lucky are we? I'll try to finish this whole thing up next post. Until then, happy "some places are worth waiting in line for" trails!