Desolation

[Paul Wagner]

I’ve just come back from another trip to Desolation Wilderness as a volunteer, doing the usual stuff: restoring illegal campsites, destroying fire rings, and talking to hikers about their plans and conditions. If you’re interested in the full report, complete with a few nice photos, I’ve posted it here:

https://www.backpackthesierra.com/post/we-re-back

But I also had an interesting interaction with a group of hikers. Here’s the scene: Two miles in from the trailhead, they were hiking towards Lake Aloha, and I was hiking on my way out. We greeted each other on the trail, and they told me about their plans. They offered to show me their permit, but I told them that was unnecessary–I’m a volunteer with zero authority to enforce anything at all–but thanked them for getting the permit, and wearing it on the outside of their pack. And they told me that there was one more member of their party, a “straggler,” that I would meet on my way out.

Fair enough.

I did meet a lot of people on the trail out: through hikers on their way from Yosemite, backpackers on their way to Aloha, dayhikers on extensive loop trails, or simply out for a short hike, and even a trail runner jogging up the steepest section of the trail. But even though I asked, I never did meet that straggler.

It’s enough to make someone start thinking about writing a mystery novel set in the Sierra…The Case of the Strangled Straggler.

[jscott]

Death Says Aloha, perhaps.

[Terran Terran]

Deserted in the Desolation? Shame on them.

[Jerry Adams]

Is that okay to hike ahead of a straggler?

I’ve noticed that thru hikers do this routinely.  People hike together, then one will hike ahead and meet up later.

Some groups always stay together.  If someone straggles then the others will wait.

If I’m hiking with someone that’s faster, I encourage them to go ahead.  Maybe they can get to a good area and explore it before I get there.

I remember someone posting that they got split up with the other person they were hiking with and didn’t find each other for a couple days.

If someone was ahead of me, they could briefly explore a side trail, I could walk by them and not know they were there, then the other person could wait for me to catch up but actually I’d be ahead of them…

[Paul Wagner]

Jerry–Yep, there werew some side trails that might have been in play here.  On the other hand, the straggler might have just decided to bag the whole thing and go home.

[Terran Terran]

Group think. It can get a less experienced participant into a dangerous situation. If you start as a group, you end up as a group. At least that’s the way I learned.

[jscott]

I like folks hiking at their own pace. BUT: I’ve heard tales of one person disappearing, and now the group is left wondering what to do as night falls. I think there has to be a clear agreement at the start what protocols will exist. Maybe the first day is most crucial for this, as folks become familiar with their cohorts and their styles of hiking. bailing without telling anyone is…not acceptable. etc. etc.

[Terran Terran]

I don’t care about protocols unless dealing with highly experienced participants. Even then , things happen. If someone is straggling, they’re hurting, trying to catch up. Prearranged or not. Possible altitude sickness, dehydration. When you go with a group, the group is important, not your goals.

[Jerry Adams]

I agree, usually, it makes sense to wait.

But, if I’m just slower, then my partner can just go ahead.  Agree to meet up at a destination ahead.  I’ve been both the slower person, and the faster person.

 

[Paul Wagner]

Terran Terran: Of course, it’s alays possible that the straggler in a group is a photographer, or a birder, who takes more time on the trail but eventually gets to the destination. I’ve hjiked with both, and often left them behind, knowing that they will catch up.  At least, that’s the plan!

[AK Granola]

Which campsites in Desolation are illegal? Also, are all fires illegal? I traveled through there on the TRT, and I don’t really remember any directions as to either, but I don’t have campfires when I backpack anyway (anywhere).

[Paul Wagner]

Campsites are required to be 100 feet from water.  Anything closer is illegal.  And campfires have been illegal in Desolation Wilderness since 1990.  All signs at every trailhead mention this, as does every permit issued by the Eldorado National Forest.

If you have a PCT permit, you might not get that information–I don’t know–but you are required to know it, the same way you are required to know that Yosemite requires bear cans. (So does Desolation.)

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