2 posts tagged “aloha lake”

With the 52,000 acre Moonlight Fire raging north of Lake Tahoe, we’ve had hazy skies all week.  While forecasts have optimistically noted that the smoke would soon leave the basin, it has not, leaving us with hazy skies more reminiscent of Los Angeles than Lake Tahoe.

Regardless, the dog and I went hiking today, since the double whammy of Sunday and post-Labor Day meant far fewer people at the Glen Alpine trailhead.  In the interest of Princess Wubber’s need for regular water, I selected a trail that would pass by 5 lakes – Half Moon, Susie, Heather, Aloha and Clyde.  The latter is a favorite of mine, though it’s pretty far in, nearly 2 miles past Aloha over Mosquito Pass.  But its relative distance means that in addition to deep azure waters surrounded by granite cliffs you get a lake to yourself, making the slog totally worth it.

The hazy sky gave all the lakes a steelier sheen than we usually see, and for some reason (global warming?) there were excessive clouds of buzzing gnats at Half Moon and the north end of Susie, something I’ve not seen before. 

However, the water was refreshing, the dog sampled sticks of varying sizes to complement her lake swims, and the few people we did encounter were pretty nice. 

Total mileage – 19.7 miles over a leisurely eight hours.  Both the dog and I are pretty tired right now – she more than me though.

After such a long ride on Saturday, a leisurely hike in Desolation Wilderness was the call, and the trail to Aloha Lake from the Lily Lake/Glen Alpine trailhead by Fallen Leaf Lake provided the perfect combination of lakes, moderate climbing and scenery.

We didn't bring the camera, thinking that the wildflowers wouldn't be out if full force after such a dry year, but we were wrong.  Terribly wrong.  My cellphone doesn't do the colors justice at all.   The best flowers we saw were between Heather Lake and Aloha Lake, along the stream that's usually still flowing at this time of year.   I guess that's one benefit of a drought year?

It's about 6 miles to Aloha Lake, passing Susie and Heather lakes en route.  It was unusually windless on the trail up, which meant that swimming in Aloha didn't require braving headwinds and choppy waves.  We arrived early enough to have the lake to ourselves, and the dog and I splashed around on the north-eastern shore while N delicately got his feet wet.

This being our 'taper' day, we did not continue on to Clyde Lake, another favorite, as that would require another 2 miles up and over Mosquito Pass.  So we descended, still wet from the swim, as the sun rose higher and hotter.   While we saw a few poor souls who started late struggling on the climb in the heat of the day, it was not as busy as we've come to expect mid-summer.  All told, a great hike, topped off with finding our car parked in the shade.