Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

This is Part 2 of a 2-part trip report of a backpacking trip into the Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe, CA. I posted Part 1 last week, so if you didn't see it you might want to start there. Second morning--third day. We are camped in a gorgeous spot on the north shore of Aloha Lake and as usual I'm up for the sunrise. There's no array of pink clouds, but a general haze of smoke in the air gives the light an extra golden color. The moon, maybe one night past full, setting over the ridge. Morning camp. I typically heated my water and had breakfast early; K & L like to sleep a little later!  My oatmeal is in the white "cozy" (i.e. insulated bag used to keep food warm while it "cooks" by soaking in hot water). Fun with shadow patterns on the tent. The only on-trail part of our day was a return to Mosquito Pass. We left the trail at the pass, climbing along the ridge above Clyde Lake. Some of the bushes were starting to turn color--hoping that was ju...

I don't seem to be doing too well at blog posts just now--I don't have any books to review (I don't do a lot of thoughtful reading while hiking and traveling, and I've been sick and/or busy since getting home), so I guess I'm down to my weekly photo posts!  I'm making good progress through the pictures from my back-to-back trips into California's Sierra Nevada mountains, so we'll start today with the backpacking trip into the Desolation Wilderness.  I drove down to CA the last week of August, to collect my daughter and a friend for a 3-night backpack into the Desolation Wilderness (west of Lake Tahoe). This would be the friend's first backpacking trip. I'm referring to the girls as K and L, to preserve their privacy.  We started from the Twin Lakes TH at Wrights Lake a bit after noon, having waited out a rainstorm that actually ended as forecast. Inlet stream for Wrights Lake We meandered along the flats for a time, then climbed rather quickly to...

I'm back! I finished my CA adventures (about 1400 new photos to sort and edit) and have finished editing the August kayak photos. My previous reports on our trip with Kingfisher Expeditions are here and here . I take up the story with Day 4, after our night at Cedar Camp. We left off at bedtime with this view.   In the morning, the view had changed a little. Morning mists and low tide. Dead calm mornings made for good reflections. We paddled through the middle of the day, about 7 1/2 miles. At first it was misty. When crossing the larger passages, we tried to bunch up, side by side by side to be visible to any power boats going through. Most were courteous. Eventually the mists cleared, as we neared the Fox islet group, where we'd camp for our final 2 nights. Look closely for the bald eagle. Great hilarity ensued when our guide told us to head for "the bird-covered rock," and most of us heard, "the fir-covered rock." Since every bit of land we could see was...