Desolation Wilderness — Eagle Lake to Velma
Desolation Wilderness (Emerald Bay) · near South Lake Tahoe · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Trail Running
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Distance
- 11 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,900 ft
- Best season
- July–October (snow-free)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- Free self-issue day-use permit at the trailhead for Desolation Wilderness. Overnight requires a reserved quota permit (Recreation.gov). Eagle Falls lot is tiny and fills at dawn.
What is here
- Features
- Granite-and-lake alpine wonderland · Above Emerald Bay · Technical, rocky high-country running · Velma Lakes & Dicks Pass beyond
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Trail Running detail
- Surface
- technical
- Intl tip
- Eagle Falls trailhead is right at Emerald Bay on Hwy 89 — combine with the Emerald Bay paddle (kayak guide) and the Vikingsholm. Parking is brutal; arrive very early or use the Bayview trailhead alternative. This is the same wilderness the Tahoe Rim Trail crosses.
The guide
The Desolation Wilderness above Emerald Bay is high-country trail running at its most sublime and demanding — a glaciated basin…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Desolation Wilderness — Eagle Lake to Velma — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.952, -120.116