Desolation Wilderness

The Desolation Wilderness is a 63,690 acre (258 km²) federally protected wilderness area located along the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, just southwest of Lake Tahoe in El Dorado County, California, United States. It is a popular backpacking destination, with much barren rocky terrain at the edge of the tree line: it has extensive areas of bare granite. Lake Aloha is a feature of the wilderness area, with shallow, clear waters sittin... more

The Desolation Wilderness is a 63,690 acre (258 km²) federally protected wilderness area located along the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, just southwest of Lake Tahoe in El Dorado County, California, United States. It is a popular backpacking destination, with much barren rocky terrain at the edge of the tree line: it has extensive areas of bare granite. Lake Aloha is a feature of the wilderness area, with shallow, clear waters sitting in a wide granite basin carved by glaciers in the last ice age. The Crystal Range is within the wilderness with Pyramid Peak as the highest point in the range and in the wilderness at 9,987 feet elevation. Among the many waterfalls within the wilderness, Horsetail Falls is one of the most renowned. Originally set aside as the Desolation Valley Primitive Area in 1931 with an area of 64,000 acres. In 1969, it became the Desolation Wilderness. It is within the Eldorado National Forest and is managed by the US Forest Service. The national... less