Desolation Wilderness 7/7 - 7/10

Arrived at Echo Lake about 11:30 PM Friday night with my wife and two random dudes from Craigslist.  Camped in the
parking lot with all the boat trailers and took the ferry across Echo Lakes in the morning.  Hiked about 6 miles into the sticks (about 1/3 of it snow-pack) and arrived at Heather Lake in the early afternoon.  Didn't take long to start hooking up in that lake, Brookies everywhere!  I was catching them on fire-tiger shad rap but the magic bait was a black/white tube jig.  There were a lot of minnow/small fish swimming around the shore and the big fish were eating them up.  One large brookie barfed up a minnow and another one had a huge ant in its mouth.  Most of the
brookies I caught in the 10-12" range, some a bit larger.  Also caught a few off the islands on the lake from my inflatable 'trail boat'.  Then I fished the tail waters of the lake where was so shallow you could see the bottom.  First cast of the tube jig next to a submerged fallen pine and I see a submarine following my jig.  Next thing I know I'm hooked into a fish twice as large as any other I had seen all weekend.  Get him up to
the surface and it's a brown trout maybe 18" long and a couple of pounds.  With no camera on me, I frantically wave my white hat in the air trying to attract the attention of my wife who is on the other side of the lake and who holds the camera.  20 minutes later and about pissing my pants trying to decide if i should just let the bastard go, a group of hikers roll by and they have a camera.  So I landed this bad boy and gave them my email address so they could send me the photos.  We stayed at Heather lake for 2 nights and hiked back to the car on Monday afternoon.  This trip was awesome! 

nice brown!

Amazing scenery and a nice brown!

Nice fish!

awesome pics, nice report.  thanks for sharing that.

Very Nice!   

Nice! Looks Cold.

Geee-oorgeous brookie and a nice brown.  I love it up there, haven't been in to long!

can someone tell me how i can get there? i want to do some camping this year and would like to hike as well. that place looks perfect! i am not real familiar with the mountains but would like to explore a bit.

john

can someone tell me how i can get there? i want to do some camping this year and would like to hike as well. that place looks perfect! i am not real familiar with the mountains but would like to explore a bit.

john

there are routes in to Desolation Wilderness from Echo Lake (right before or at the summit) off of Hwy 50 as well as near Emerald Bay and Fallen Leaf Lake.

A good first step is to call the ranger station in Lake Tahoe regarding permits as this area has restrictions on the number of hikers they allow in.

6Mhz - Great report and pictures!

That brown is probably the biggest fish in that lake.
Job well done!!!!!

IMO: BEST TYPE OF FISHING = high sierra lakes!  Fresh air, beautiful scenery, no motorized boats or jet skis, hardly anyone fishing, the whole lake to yourself.....(even better if it was possible to get a kayak up there )

Gerg = Nice report and pics! I miss the back country

Nice pics.  Nice brown.  lots of snow around Echo lake


I was up in the desolation wilderness this past weekend (7/7-7/9) also with my wife and another couple.  We camped at Wrights lake Friday night and headed out to Lyons lake from the Lyons creek trailhead on Sat morning. It sure was beautiful up there.  Lots of snow on the ground still up at the lake.  Fished Lyons creek hiking in and out as well as parts of Lyons Lake.  Caught couple dozen or so brooks and a few rainbows flyfishing.  Beautiful fish, biggest was maybe 10-11 inches out of the lake.  All released.  I just love getting out into the back woods.
 
Can't wait for next backcountry trip

Mike

Greg ,

Really nice looking place and nice fish!  You must have had a really swell Dad to get you so interested in the out-of-doors enough to hike that far for a weekend .  Not to mention a wife that is willing to follow you up there .

Hey...I hear one of the first fish you ever caught was a 6 pound carp!!!   How did that fight compare to the brownie?  How's the progress with that fly rod?  Still trying to flip those flies out there?   Don't give up.  I just caught three 4 pound corn trout the other night on my fly rod.

See you soon...Dad

Totally excellent report and photos--I love the third photo with the great lake colors and water texture!

Thanks for sharing info on an area many of us would love to visit and not many know too much about.  I'm headed for South Lake Tahoe a week from tomorrow to hang with the fam and may have to convince them to day-hike into one of these lakes for a little fishing and nature appreciation.