Desolation Wilderness Permit — Wrights Lake

Wrights Lake (trailhead area): what makes it different

Wrights Lake is a lake, campground and trailhead area in the Eldorado National Forest on the wilderness's west edge, not a Desolation zone. Two wilderness trailheads sit beside it, Twin Lakes and Rockbound, and a third, Lyons Creek, is on the road up. Your overnight permit names the zone you sleep in on night one, never this place.^4,2,1

Getting to the start

The Forest Service area page says Rockbound Trailhead and Twin Lakes Trailhead are by the lake, and Lyons Creek Trailhead is on the road that leads up to it. It also sends hikers to the Desolation Trails and Trailheads table for distances.⁴

The campground page gives the drive in four legs: 23 miles east of Placerville on Highway 50, 11 miles north on Ice House Road, 9 miles east on Forest Road 32, then 2 miles north on Forest Road 4. Its elevation is 7,000 feet. The trailhead pages count the last stretch differently, 27 miles on Wrights Lake Road for Twin Lakes and 24 for Rockbound, so go by the coordinates and signs.^5,6,7

A 2026 Explore.com feature says snow normally shuts the access road from around October to the start of June. That is a magazine estimate, not an agency date.⁹

The first leg

From Rockbound Trailhead the Forest Service lists Beauty Lake at 0.5 miles (easy), Gertrude and Tyler lakes at 4.2, Maude Lake at 4.7, Rockbound Pass at 6.4, Doris Lake at 6.6, Lake Lois at 7.6, Schmidell at 8.4 and Camper Flat at 10.2.³

From Twin Lakes Trailhead it lists Grouse Lake at 2.1 miles, Hemlock 2.6, Smith 3.0, Twin Lakes 3.0 and Island Lake 3.5. Lyons Trailhead lists Bloodsucker Lake at 2.9 miles, Sylvia 4.6 and Lyons Lake 5.0.³

Terrain and difficulty

A 2021 Live and Let Hike post describes the walk from the Wrights Lake lot as a graveled road northwest, then the Twin Lakes Trail, with a lakeshore connector that adds about a mile to the Twin Lakes trailhead.¹¹

A CalEXPLORnia guide calls Rockbound the harder of the two trails and says it rewards the long destinations. It rates Maude Lake moderate and everything from Gertrude and Tyler lakes out to the pass moderate to difficult.^10,3

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Wrights Lake (trailhead area), overnight, zone 32 Twin, the zone the Twin Lakes trail reaches: 20 people a day. The Forest Service table splits the 20 into 14 advance and 6 walk-in and prints no year. Recreation.gov's June to August 2026 calendar most often showed 14. From Rockbound the table gives zone 31 (Tyler) 8 people, zone 25 (Maude) 12 and zone 26 (Rockbound Pass) 6; Recreation.gov most often showed 6, 8 and 4 advance spaces for those. Wrights Lake itself has no quota.^1,8

Rules specific to this entry point

The campground page lists $36 for a single site and $72 for a double, and $10 for picnic area, day use and trailheads. It runs late June to October, forbids motors on the lake, and warns of bears, with bear boxes on site. For 2026 it says campgrounds are closed while trailheads and trailhead parking stay open, with closure expected around October 30.⁵

Both trailheads are day use only unless you hold a valid overnight wilderness permit, and the Forest Service says no entry to the wilderness is allowed without one. A 2018 backpacker paid no parking fee with an overnight permit, though the agency pages list the $10 charge.^6,7,12

Where it leads

Island Lake, the Twin Lakes pair and Boomerang Lake (zone 32) are the short backpacking trip from here, reached in 3.0 to 3.5 miles. Rockbound opens the deeper western country, including Rockbound Pass and Camper Flat.^3,8

Near the trailhead, Ted's Outdoor World describes a use trail to Enchanted Pools, a lower and upper pool on South Silver Creek less than a mile from the kiosk. It crosses the Grouse Lake drainage, which was hard to ford in the heavy runoff of 2011.¹³

What trip reports say

After a three-day trip in July 2018 the Backpackers Review writer rinsed off in Wrights Lake and relaxed at the shore before driving home. He also found a potable tap at the campground, which the trailhead lot lacked.¹²

The 2021 Live and Let Hike writer parked at the Wrights Lake lot and walked the shoreline trail to start the Twin Lakes route, because the trailhead lot is tiny.¹¹

On August 1, 2011, Ted Muller started from the trailhead kiosk the week the road opened. Streams ran high, and he picked a cross-country route to Twin Lakes rather than risk the dam crossing.¹³

When to go from here

The campground runs late June to October, which is also when the road is passable, so this is a summer entry. Explore.com's July 2026 piece calls the lake a swimming spot with sandy shallows. The 2018 Backpackers Review writer also advises bug spray for the Twin Lakes route.^5,9

Compare with nearby entry points

• Twin Lakes: Twin Lakes (zone 32) is the quota zone for the shortest wilderness walk from Wrights Lake: Twin Lakes at 3.0 miles and Island Lake at 3.5, sleeping 20 people a night.^3,1
• Rockbound Pass: Rockbound Pass (zone 26) sits 6.4 miles up the Rockbound Trail and sleeps only 6 people a night, so it is a goal for a planned trip, not a casual overnight.^3,1
• Lyons: Lyons (zone 43) is entered from the Lyons trailhead on the same access road and sleeps 15 people a night, with Lyons Lake 5.0 miles out.^4,3,1

Sources

1. Desolation Wilderness Overnight Quota, Eldorado National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
2. Desolation Wilderness Permits, Eldorado National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
3. Desolation Wilderness Trails & Trailheads, Eldorado National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
4. Wrights Lake Area, Eldorado National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Wrights Lake Campground, Eldorado National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Twin Lakes Trailhead, Eldorado National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
7. Rockbound Trailhead, Eldorado National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
8. Desolation Wilderness Permit, divisions 335, 336, 341, 342, Recreation.gov. Read 2026-10-15.
9. Forget Lake Tahoe, Camp & Hike In California's Underrated Destination In The Sierra Nevada, Explore.com. Read 2026-10-15.
10. Rockbound Trail: Guide to Hiking, Fees, Permits and Destinations, CalEXPLORnia. Read 2026-10-15.
11. Twin Lakes, Boomerang Lake, & Island Lake (Desolation Wilderness, CA), Live and Let Hike. Read 2026-10-15.
12. Twin Lakes and Island Lake, Desolation Wilderness (12 mile trek), Backpackers Review. Read 2026-10-15.
13. Enchanted Pools, Desolation Wilderness, Ted's Outdoor World. Read 2026-10-15.
14. Desolation Wilderness rules and regulations, Eldorado National Forest and Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Wrights Lake permit