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|| Introduction || Trailheads |
|| Overview || Zone Quotas |
|| Regulations || Zone Map |
|| Use Permits || Fees |
Desolation Wilderness Area Overview
Campfires ─ Campfires are prohibited in Desolation Wilderness to reduce human-caused fires, impacts to vegetation from firewood collection, and to reduce the visual impacts of fire rings and surface scarring. Your Wilderness Permit is also your campfire permit for your gas camp stove while visiting the Desolation Wilderness.
Method of Travel ─ Travel is restricted to horseback or foot only. All means of mechanical transportation, including bicycles, carts, and snowmobiles, are prohibited in the wilderness. Wheelchairs are allowed. Stay on trails and do not shortcut switchbacks or create parallel ruts by walking alongside the trail.
Waste ─ Visitors are required to bury human waste 6 to 8 inches deep and at least 200 feet away from water, trails, and campsites. Toilet paper must be buried or packed out. Garbage must be packed out.
Group Size ─ Maximum group size is 12 people for both day and overnight use.
Pets ─ Domestic pets are allowed in the Desolation Wilderness at this time. You are responsible for their actions as well as their welfare. Pets should either be leashed or under direct voice control. Dogs can disturb other campers, get in fights with other dogs along the trail, and scare wildlife away. The Eldorado County leash laws will be enforced inside the Wilderness boundary where dogs off leash are an impediment or hazard to the safety of any person, or where dogs are harassing or molesting wildlife.
Stock ─ Livestock is limited to two livestock per person, or 12 livestock in one group. Do not hitch, tether, or hobble a horse or other saddle or pack animal within 200 feet of a water source or within 100 feet of a campsite.
MORE ABOUT DESOLATION WILDERNESS
|| Desolation Critters ─ Desolation Wilderness provides visitors with the opportunity to witness a diverse population of wildlife.
|| Desolation Geology ─ The granitic mountains of the Desolation are part of the massive Sierra batholith, the combined masses of granitic rock that have been uplifted by tectonic action to form the 400 mile long Sierra Nevada range.
|| Desolation History ─ The area now known as Desolation Wilderness has a long history of use by both Native Americans and European settlers.
|| Desolation Plant Life ─ As much of the ground surface in Desolation is bedrock granite, soils are limited. Plant life, however, has adapted and the flora is diverse.