My wife and I spent two nights in Desolation Wilderness over Labor Day weekend. We rented a car and drove there on the Saturday before Labor Day. The drive took four hours, and we started hiking around 4:30.
Granite Lake was two kilometres from the trailhead. We camped there for the first night.
On the second day, we made our way to Upper Velma Lake, probably seven kilometres.
The campsites were not super cold. It was super windy and loud. We tried a new sleep setup for the trip, the Zenbivy Double Sleeping System. It was great: warm and roomy, but it took up more pack space. We also got a new bear canister for the trip. We had more food than we needed, so we probably could have packed lighter.
On the last day, we went all the way back.
The drive back to San Francisco took about four hours. I would have preferred a shorter drive; the flat stretches around Sacramento were a little boring.
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