Getting There

To reach Granite Lake in Desolation Wilderness, start at the Bayview trailhead near Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe. If the campground is open, you might be able to park close to the trail as there are a few spots up next to the actual trailhead. The trailhead serves the Granite Lake route and the Cascade Falls trail. If the campground is closed, park on the dirt near the gate, on the highway. This can be a busy area during peak season so expect to see a lot of people.

Looking at Granite lake from the north side

The Hike

The hike is a short and steep venture winding through shaded woods. The trail switches back a few times before you reach the wilderness boundary and soon after that, Emerald Bay comes into view offering picturesque scenery. After you climb the long, northbound switch and cross into Desolation Wilderness, the trail mellows out as you approach the lake through shady forest. After one mile of hiking you will drop down into the Granite Lake bowl. Although short, the incline may be challenging for unseasoned hikers. If you bring kids, take a lot of breaks and you'll be fine.

Camping spots are best found on the southwest side of the lake, away from visitors and day hikers. There is plenty of room to pitch a tent on flat ground on this side.

The trailhead at the far west side, Bayview Campground

On the trail before you head west towards Granite Lake

Snow on the trail soon after the Wilderness boundary

The Fishing

When I reached the lake I wanted to get away from the north side of the lake where the trail meets the water. People tend to flock to a few spots on the north side directly after arriving at the lake. I decided to head around the east side of the lake, through trees and over deadfall, across the outlet creek which required some log crossings - nothing serious. I settled on the southeast corner where I set up a tent and had an open space to myself, away from the day hikers. I had only 2 groups come by my campsite. Even though I had set up a tent and was readied for an overnight stay, I chose to leave by early evening as the fishing was slow and the fish were wary.

I tossed out a nightcrawler upon arrival but, like many heavily trafficked areas in Desolation Wilderness, the fish weren't falling for that old trick. I wondered if the lake had been fished out due to pressure but I put that theory to rest after seeing schools of Brook Trout fry zipping around the shallows close to shore. Soon I began to see an aggressive trout plucking insects from the surface near the outlet and I set up my fly rod and readied myself for some fly fishing. I made my way over to some protruding rocks near the outlet and began casting a green humpy with a hare's ear dropper. At first my well-placed casts garnered no attention but eventually I had an interested fish take a whack at my humpy. I missed the hookup but didn't give up.

Granite Lake, Desolation Wilderness, near the outlet

I noticed a remarkable event: a Flying Carpenter Ant fallout occured leaving dozens of stranded insects scattered across the outlet area. After casting to a what appeared to be a sizable trout for a while, he eventually gave a hard strike on my humpy and ant dropper and the hookup was a success.

I felt the strength and weight of the fish on my 5 weight rod and the fight was on! After only a few moments of fighting, this Brookie broke my line, making off with my humpy and dropper. It was hard to tell if I would get another shot at a fish in this spot but I gave it a great number of casts as the casting location was prime, allowing me to fan cast over a large area. It dawned on me that there were only two fish working the outlet and I had probably dealt with both if them at this point. I decided to wait for sundown, hoping for a good midge hatch. Sundown came, and I saw no more rises, although I sent a great number of casts, I saw no ripples or otherwise. I packed up and hit the trail out. On the way out I hit prime photograph time on Emerald Bay, a thousand feet below.

Granite Lake, Desolation Wilderness

The hillside is covered in snow.

The east side, outlet area

Looking at Granite lake from the north side

The approach to Granite Lake, sundown

The snowbound shores of Granite Lake

The view of Emerald Bay on the hike out