Lake Aloha
Most of my time spent outdoors is spent close to home, here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, but today I want to share with a trip a bit further afield, to Lake Aloha in the beautiful Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe! Originally, this trip wasn’t on our radar, and my wife and I were supposed to do a backpacking trip in the Pasayten Wilderness instead. As the trip approached, we realized that the wildfire situation wasn’t getting better, and that we would be likely in for a smoky adventure. Rather than spend a few precious kid-free days choking on wildfire smoke while carrying heavy packs, we instead opted to head to the Bay Area. There, we could visit some dear friends of ours, stay in the Fairmont, ride the cable cars, and do a day hike in an area neither of had been before!
Lake Aloha is on the southwestern corner of Lake Tahoe, in the Desolation Wilderness in California. It’s a couple of hour drive from the Bay Area, but very scenic. One very unique and cool feature of the trip was the approach: one could opt to hike in from a variety of trailheads, or instead one could take the water taxi! We opted for the water taxi, and shaved off a couple of miles in either direction, which made for a much more enjoyable experience. It was hot and we were at altitude, and we both appreciated the lift! From the boat dock, the trail to Lake Aloha follows the Pacific Crest Trail for most of the way, which I think is kind of fun (I’ve now been on the PCT in all three states).
The scenery in this area is really striking. It reminds me a bit of the Enchantments or some parts of the North Cascades, with lots of exposed granite slabs, but it’s distinctly different. There are beautiful and tall pine trees everywhere, and you’re also at a much higher altitude than anything similar in Washington. Lake Aloha is also really interesting, featuring a complex shoreline with lots of little islands and peninsulas everywhere to explore. And of course the views are spectacular! It’s definitely an area I’m going to have to revisit soon - as you can see from the pictures, we weren’t there during the best light, and so the pictures are kind of meh!
Two tips if you decide to go and aren’t from the area. First, take the water taxi, as it’s just a lot of fun and shaves off some miles, but check the dates and hours as they stop running around Labor Day. Second, maybe don’t drive up for the day from the Bay Area. We did it but it was a long day and a lot of driving. I think it’s probably much better to just stay in South Lake Tahoe or something.
The bow of the water taxi on our way across Echo Lake!
Upper and Lower Echo Lake seen backlit from the trail above the dock.
There are some fantastic homes along the shores of Echo Lake!
The trees along the trail were awesome.
Sunstar behind a really old and tall tree.
A typical Lake Aloha scene. Lots of polished granite, a beautiful lake, and some great shorelines to explore. Check out that boulder!
I think the red hillside in the distance is really interesting.
Lots of little islands an peninsulas to explore. This would be a great place for a packraft!
A super cool bendy tree through the window of the payphone hut, used to call for your return trip!
A sign pointing towards the hut.
The payphone hut.
Overall, we had a blast on this hike, despite the hot weather and the altitude. There’s a lot more to explore in the area too and we clearly only scratched the surface of what’s possible. My understanding is that the Desolation Wilderness is quite popular (it’s easy to see why), but that there are also lots of other places to go that aren’t as popular. In other words, we’ll have to go back!
Of course, no trip to the Bay Area is complete without a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, so here’s that photo. We were fortunate enough to get a room near the top of the Fairmont at the top of Nob Hill, with a spectacular view of the bay on a day with relatively little fog!