Lyons Lake and Mount Price

I am ever so slowly coming back down to earth after a relaxing and refreshing long weekend in the woods. We spent two nights camping at Lyons Lake in Desolation Wilderness and had a wonderful time exploring Mount Price and Sylvia Lake (very briefly).

With a relatively gentle hike, stunning views and a pristine lake to cool off in, this is a perfect beginner-level backpacking trip!

Lyons Lake from above

	Lyons Lake	Mount Price
Distance	8km one way from Lyons Creek Trailhead	~4 km one way from Lyons Lake
Difficulty	Easy for 7km Moderate for 1km	Strenuous because of our chosen route. (i.e. class 3 scrambling). A more moderate route is possible
Scenery	Awesome, 9/10	Equally Awesome, 9/10
Elevation	2557m	3038m
Elevation Gain	~550m (from trailhead)	~600m (from Lyons Lake)

Before You Go

Permits	Both day hikers and overnight campers need permits for trails leaving from Lyons Creek Trailhead. Day hikers can fill one in at the trailhead, but overnight permits must be reserved ahead of time here.
Bear Boxes	There are no bear boxes at the trailhead. I'm not sure if this means the bears in the area are less savvy than the Yosemite bears (who can and will break into cars to get to food and scented toiletries), but we preferred not to find out!
Directions	Lyons Creek Trailhead is 6 km from Highway 50 along Wright's Lake Road and clearly sign posted. The turn off for Wright's Lake is between Kyburz CA and Twin Bridges CA on Highway 50. This is the approximate location of the trailhead.

Lyons Creek Trailhead

Sylvia Lake

Wildflowers on the trail to Sylvia Lake

To get to both Lyons Lake and Mount Price, follow the trail to Sylvia Lake, then take the Lyons Lake turn off near the 7km mark.

The trail does have a few stream crossings, but with the drought, all but two of them were dry, and water levels were low.

The trail is pretty flat all the way to Sylvia Lake, making it popular with day hikers. If backpacking at Lyons Lake, it is a detour, but a short and flat one. If you have bug spray, the lake would make a great lunch spot!

Unfortunately for us, I had forgotten the bug repellant, so we were far too busy swatting to really enjoy the scenery. In fact, we high-tailed it out of there so quickly that we didn't even get a picture of the lake!

Lyons Lake

Lyons Lake after crossing the small dam

Although Sylvia Lake is the more popular destination, I think Lyons Lake actually has better views, a nicer shoreline, more sun and fewer mosquitoes.

But it comes at a price: a short, steep set of switchbacks on rocky terrain with very little tree cover. I found it more challenging to go down this section with a heavy pack than to go up. But overall it was only 30 minutes of pain that is quickly forgotten when Lyons Lake comes into view.

Lyons Lake is actually split in two by a small dam. If you cross the dam, you'll find a couple of really nice spots to pitch your tent on the other side. There is also a gently sloping rock shore that is perfect for wading into the water.

Mount Price

There doesn't seem to be a clearly defined trail from Lyons Lake to Mount Price. Or if there is one, we just didn't find it. There is a sloping route to the base that looked pretty moderate. We didn't go this way as we chose some rock scrambling instead, but those looking to make a beeline for the summit could shave off an hour or two of up and down by taking the more direct route to the summit.

"Pride Rock" from summit of Mount Price

You can take a girl out of Canada...

We actually began the day by going in search of a small waterfall that we had heard about from some other hikers. The waterfall was more of a stream, but it was still really beautiful and we followed it all the way up to the ridge line where we were rewarded with some great views of Smith Lake. From here, we decided to continue on to the top of Mount Price by scrambling over the big granite boulders.

Views from the top of "Pride Rock" (not sure of the peak's real name)

The views from the top of Mount Price were amazing. You don't realize how many little lakes there are in the area until you get a birds eye view of them! After a pleasant lunch at the summit, we explored "Pride Rock" as well. If you wanted to, you could also continue on to Pyramid Peak, but we opted out in favour of a leisurely swim back at camp.