We went on an overnight hike to Ropi Lake in Desolation Wilderness on Jun. 7th 2025.
Overnight camping in Desolation Wilderness requires a permit. The wilderness is divided into 45 zones - you can camp in any zone, but you must start your hike in the zone where your permit is valid. Permits for some zones are apparently very popular and are booked out months in advance. Bringing a 4-year-old on a backpacking trip, we wanted to keep the hike short. The trail to Ropi Lake is 3 miles one way. The Desolation Wilderness facebook group, and the AllTrails page for Ropi Lake, offered useful information about the trail conditions. Seeing that the trail was mostly snow-free, we decided to go for it.
We left the Bay Area at noon and stopped at KP International in Rancho Cordova for lunch and to stock up for dinner. Having followed the ultralight backpacking philosophy religiously in the 2010s, I am now moving away from the Mountain House and freeze-dried meals. From the wonderful grocery store, we picked up some frozen fish cakes, and wait for it, HaiDiLao self-heating hot pot. We drove another hour and a half on US50 to the Pyramid Peak trailhead, and started our hike at 4.
The route follows the Pyramid Creek all the way to Ropi Lake. The trail was easy to follow for the first mile. Afterwards we started scrambling on granite boulders, which gradually became larger and more challenging. It was a bit tricky to see the path climbing up. At certain point we decided that it would be better to continue further away from the creek, so as not to get stuck in a unclimbable section. It added a bit of distance, but the route was less technical. We reached the top of the waterfall at around 7:30, and started looking for a campsite. Nested in the trees, Avalanche Lake and Pitt Lake weren't the most appealing to us, so we kept going. We finally arrived at Ropi Lake at 8, and quickly set up camp and
