Pyramid Peak

Pyramid Peak is the tallest peak in the Desolation Wilderness at 9,984 feet.

One of the things I love about hiking is seeing how different areas connect together. Previously, we had summited Mount Tallac and saw the the snow-covered Lake Aloha. We then went to Lake Aloha, and looked up at impressive Pyramid Peak. This time, we would summit Pyramid Peak, and see everything for miles around.

Finally breaking through treeline.

The unmaintained trail starts right off of Highway 50, near a small town called Strawberry. And much like hikes in Rogers Pass, it gets right down to business with switchbacks and unrelenting uphills.

We thought these might be baby pine cones?

I had forgotten what it was like to be in an area with bugs. Mixed in with the mosquitoes and horse flies, however, were moths and hover flies and bumble bees! I had never seen so many bumble bees before in one place.

The start of the scrambly part.

Once we got above treeline, the bugs finally dissipated a little, and we got to play in a slope of refrigerator-sized blocks. It was quite fun!

Some very human-acclimated yellow-bellied marmots.

From the summit, we could see pretty much every area we knew of. There were numerous lakes and peaks, and they all felt very reachable (because they were!).

Lake Aloha, with Mount Tallac behind.

On the way back down, we refreshed ourselves in some streams running from snowmelt (there's still snow at the end of July!) as the temps had risen considerably while we were above treeline.

Lover's Leap! We saw many parties climbing.

What's next? I'm not sure. There are a number of peaks, all within close proximity of our place. Stay tuned!