The Velmas Loop

[TollerMom]

I love nothing better than a new trail and don't you find early morning starts have the best color!? We hiked about 13 miles into Desolation Wilderness to the Velma's Loop (so named because of Lower Velma Lake, Middle Velma Lake, Upper Velma Lake). The trail began from the Bayview Campground at the mouth of Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe. We saw a total of about 12 lakes as we hiked around..in addition to Lake Tahoe we saw Cascade Lake, Fallen Leaf Lake, Granite Lake, Eagle Lake, Azure Lake, Snow Lake, Unnamed Pond, Upper Velma, Middle Velma, Fontanillis Lake and Dicks Lake.

Emerald Bay - our jewel with the tiny island that has a little stone tea house.

The views of Tahoe.

The first couple of miles were fairly steep switchbacks.

Desolation has some great granite formations.

..as well as some pretty cool dancing trees.

(We thought the Velma's would be the highlight of the trip...on the attached photo at the end of the post below).

...but of what a surprise when we saw Fontanillis Lake. So beautiful. Might be our favorite lake in the Sierras so far.

Fontanillis Lake

Fontanillis Lake

Dicks Peak

and a hike isn't complete with some 'trail groove' on the way home.

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Looks like an awesome hike!