We drove up to Wright’s Lake near Kyburz, CA. We were lucky to find parking in the Twin Lakes parking lot - a lot of backpackers and overnighters park there.
The first thing I noticed was the elevation, it was not the worst, but noticeable.
We began our hike by walking over this bridge - even though it was not the trail to Twin Lakes, we just wanted to cross the bridge.
The mosquitos were terrible, but I put some “bug juice” on and they seemed to leave me alone after that.
We hiked through a lot of granite and piles of rocks, as well as fields of wild flowers. The terrain changed many times throughout our journey to the lakes. The weather was hot, but there was a breeze that would sneak up on us every now and then, reviving our sweating skin for a moment.
Next, we entered Desolation Wilderness and it appeared to be just as desolate as you’d expect, but picturesque and beautiful as well. We saw quite a few butterflies, some lizards and a bird or two along the way.
We had to walk through streams of water that followed the pattern of the trail and there was a couple of wet “boggy” areas that seemed prime for mosquitos, but the “bug juice” continued to thwart them.
Eventually we made it to the top of the rocky granite and then traversed along until we started seeing tents set up - some right on the trail and others in the distance. I was surprised at how uninhibited people were having their lives on display as we hiked through. I wanted to add right here that everyone we met along the way, including the campers, were very friendly and jovial. It was fun meeting people and chatting for a moment about their destinations and plans.
We make it Lower Twin Lake and found a shady spot to eat lunch (sandwiches). We brought plenty of water, so we each took a long drink after eating. When I put my water away, I saw creature watching me that looked too large to be a squirrel, but too small to be a raccoon. I took a couple of photos of it, then I asked Sue what it was. “That’s a marmot!” She declared with excitement and she immediately began to talk to it, asking how it was doing and all that. He seemed friendly enough, as though he was accustomed to humans and, we feared, he was also expecting us to give him some food. However, when he realized he wasn’t getting any free eats, he started gnawing at something in the bushes.
After dabbing on some more sunscreen, we decided to hike to the next lake. We walked around looking for the trail, but encountered a raging stream that we needed to cross. A couple setting up a tent told us the place to go and we did it, but discovered that the trail was too overgrown and after trying several times, we decided to go back the way we had come.
We had to walk back through a few campsites, and on our second trip through, they mostly ignored us and we found our way back into Desolation Wilderness.
The journey back to the car seemed to take less time (possibly because it was mostly downhill). We encountered quite a few people heading out to the lakes, which was interesting because it was after noon. I guess a lot of them just got a late start. Or else they spent the morning at Wright’s Lake and decided to take a hike.
Well, that’s it. It was quite fun and we’ll definitely be back there soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment