Desolation Wilderness Early Season Hiking
Connected a few trails when hiking in desolation at the very end of April and wanted to share some recent conditions. Started at Ralston Peak, went down to Tamarak Lake and the Echo Lakes area, and exited out Horsetail Falls via Lake of the Woods. Was planning on hiking more of the area but the snow really slows things down.
For current conditions, it’s really dependent on the exact area of Desolation you are in. Some spots are totally snow free, and in some other areas, you’re post holing up to your knees.
For Ralston Peak, it’s definitely helpful to have microspikes right now, but the snow was never very deep. The Echo Lakes section and the trail to Tamarak Lake were snow free and really nice.
Lake of the Woods and other areas further into Desolation were pretty snowy. Lake of the woods was still frozen over (not sure how thick) and had lots of snow along the shore. Wouldn’t recommend visiting this area for a while. From the top of Ralston Peak, it looked like other sections like Lake Aloha were still frozen over as well.