We have almost 100 square miles of land, but realistically, people concentrate in probably a half a dozen areas,” Lane says. “The problem is, it’s not that big when you start putting people into fairly limited areas. Squeeze that traffic into a limited number of popular hiking and backpacking destinations, and Lane’s assessment of Desolation as perhaps the busiest wilderness area per square mile in the country is palpable. Some 130 of them, as large as 900 acres in size, lie within the wilderness boundary, making the area that much more enticing for human exploration-hence the high volume of foot traffic. The natural forming process didn’t skimp on lakes.

Once inside, evidence of Desolation’s glacial history abounds, from miles of smoothed, bald terrain-shorn to its granite shell-to bowl-shaped valleys and alpine lakes. Visitors to Emerald Bay-a bustling hotspot in summer months-can catch a tantalizing glimpse into the gaping mouth of Desolation, framed between the steep slopes of Jake’s and Maggies peaks, while those willing to break a sweat can venture into the belly of the wilderness area with a short hike up Eagle Falls Trail to Eagle Lake. The wilderness area contains a web of hiking trails, highlighted by the Pacific Crest Trail (and coinciding Tahoe Rim Trail) splitting it north to south.

It’s a taste of high country-a really nice section of the trail.”Īveraging 12.5 miles in length and 8 miles in width, Desolation Wilderness spreads out along the Sierra Crest above the southwest corner of Lake Tahoe, ranging in elevation from about 6,500 feet to 9,983 feet at Pyramid Peak’s summit. “In Desolation, you get these fantastic granite slabs and nicely colored rock terrain. “I would rank it highly,” says Jack “Found” Haskel, a through hiker and trail information specialist with the Pacific Crest Trail Association, comparing Desolation Wilderness with other sections of Pacific Crest Trail between Mexico and Canada. Yet, due to a strict zoning quota system and regulations enacted to preserve the land, Desolation remains a natural wonder deserving of acclaim by the most seasoned backcountry adventurers. Now, the nearly 64,000-acre jewel is desolate only in the treeless sense, as it ranks among the United States’ most traveled wilderness areas. Geological Survey mapmakers around the turn of the 20th century. You’d look around and all there was was this huge, stark canyon of glacial-polished rock,” says Don Lane, a veteran Forest Service ranger and longtime manager of Desolation Wilderness, speaking about U.S. In the case of Lake Tahoe’s prize slice of backcountry real estate, the designated expanse of scenic, jagged peaks, rock-coated valleys and lakes of gin-clear quality earned the moniker from its barren appearance-a land thin on the forests cloaking neighboring terrain, and without a human soul in sight. Popular wilderness ages well under the eye of devoted stewardsĭesolation is a relative term.

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