09/27/03 Hiking Twin Lakes Trail (6.2 miles round trip):
Wright Lake is on the edge of the Desolation Wilderness. I drove down CA-89 along Lake Tahoe to the town of South Lake Tahoe. Desolation Wilderness lies west of CA-89. I passed that part by because I couldn't (quickly) find any dispersed camping and I saw several trailhead parking areas demanding $3 parking fees.
30's last night, 40's at the trailhead at 8am and 6950 feet. This is a 1200 foot trail and it did measure 8200 feet at the highest point.
I followed a loop trail a ways before the trail spit off for Twin Lakes and Grouse Lake Trails. Here the trail ascends through a granite boulder field. After a mile or so I entered the Desolation Wilderness and shortly after that came the fork for the Grouse Lake Trail.
I guess the wilderness gets its name from the terrain, all crumbling, cracked, broken, granite slick rock with not a whole lot of vegetation. Behind me I could see, or rather, couldn't see Napa Valley because of the smog; just a big gray mass. The radio has been reporting unhealthy air quality in the valley for the past several days.
I got to the first of the Twin Lakes in an hour 45 minutes or so. Very pretty nestled down in 700 foot granite walls. The trail quickly comes to a second lake which is Boomerang Lake, not the second Twin Lake. The second Twin Lake is off the right a few yards.
A couple more small ponds appear before Island Lake which is the end of the hike. The parking lot had been half full but I could only see two tents around the lakes. Everyone else must be up around Grouse Lake somewhere. I circled Island Lake, had lunch and started back. While having lunch the water was so flat and calm it was difficult to tell which was the islands, cliffs, etc and which was their reflection.