Desolation Lake in the Wasatch

Scenery near the road caught in the early morning sunlight.

This past Saturday, I had the great opportunity to get out with some of my friends from church--Robert and Luke--and hit the hiking trail. Actually, it was my first time going hiking with these guys and it was fun. They are both part of our church hiking group and Robert is the head of it. I will definitely think of them as friends from now on. I had already been thinking of them as my brothers in Christ.

Our destination was going to be Desolation Lake in the Wasatch Mountains. It was a trail I had been up a couple of times before, at least to the lake. I had been on the trail several more times, but they were shorter hikes for whatever reason--one being a snowshoeing expedition in which there were time constraints and a point where we just needed to head back down. That however, is a story all its own.

Looking up the canyon that is part of the Desolation trail.

This time our hike began at 8 am. The weather was a bit cooler than normal for the time of year it was, and when we began I was wearing a jacket. I got to lead for a while. I was actually the oldest on this trip, though Robert who I think said he was 51, had only recently donated a kidney (within the past month). Still, I felt a little like I was the most out of shape of the lot. I'm in good shape though and I'm going to be 60 in just a couple of weeks, so the way I look at it, it's just great that I'm still out there doing it. Luke, who appeared to be in his thirties was having no trouble.

View to the south east.

After a couple of miles, we passed a fork in the trail, the one to the left leading to Dog Lake.
Before long it got to be too hot from the exertion to continue wearing my jacket. I took it off. Somewhere around that point, Robert took the lead and I took the rear. Robert's pace was a little too stiff for me and I fell back a bit, still hiking, but at a pace that I could keep going. Every so often Robert and Luke would stop and let me catch up.
A mile or so later, we got to another detour to Dog Lake and discussed perhaps taking that on the way down.
We got to the lake in about two hours and took a selfie.

From L to R: Luke, Robert, and Shane

The lake was Beautiful and we stood and gazed at it and the surrounding terrain for a few moments, Robert describing other trails in the area. Across the lake what looked like some kind of Scout group or something was fishing. When we met up with them later, we didn't have the heart to tell them that there's no fish in that lake. Kind of like the days when I was in Scouts and they took me on a snipe hunt.

Desolation Lake

The guys fishing can be seen to the right on the bare portion of the shoreline.

The clouds had begun gathering as we had neared the lake and as we stood there, the sky darkened and a cold breeze cut like a knife. We all ended up adding another layer and Robert put on his gloves. We headed back down the trail.
As we headed down, it began snowing. At first, just one or two flakes every five seconds or so, but soon it was coming down pretty good. It lessened up a bit as we descended, and I have no idea if there was any kind of accumulation. From my vantage point, it was a short squall that would end soon. Still it was amazing to see on the second day of summer.

Snow coming down in late June up here is a rarity.

We passed the detour to Dog Lake and decided with the weather the way it was, we maybe should just head down.
Talking about other possible adventures in the future, including climbing Kessler Peak, we reached the bottom less than four hours from when our hike began.

Kessler Peak

Good hikes with good people are some of the finest moments in life.