"Weekend trip to Desolation Wilderness. After meeting up with my friends at Lake Aloha and setting up camp, we climbed Ralston Peak. On day 2, we went around the south side of the lake and climbed up the side of Pyramid until we reached the summit trail. We submitted Pyramid Peak and continued along the Crystal Range Traverse, we went over the sketchy class 3/4 area just below Pyramid and continued along the ridge to Peak 9686, Mt Agassiz, and Price. Then we descended down the saddle at sunset to connect up with the PCT and got back to camp at 11pm. The entire loop took about 12 hours." — timothylaurent • Jul 2, 2022

"Snowshoe trip via Rocky Canyon with continuous deep snow cover from car to summit. Conditions made for difficult hiking. The bottom third of the mountain was a breakable crust - a complete Sufferfest. Middle third was variable, but included long stretches of powdery drifts. Thankfully the top of the mountain was wind-scoured and firm. Caught my breath at the summit and was able to enjoy the views and sunshine. The snow was a sloppy mess on the descent. I really need to learn alpine touring..." — klotito • Feb 6, 2021

"Departed Falling Leaf Lake (Stanford Sierra Camp) at 3:30 AM, reaching the summit of Pyramid Peak at 8:30 AM via the "East" Ridge route. Rocks were frosty and slippery on the shaded side of the mountain. Backtracked and crossed the PCT to tag Kieths Dome. Went south to Ralston Peak, reaching the top at 12:30 PM, then over to Echo Peak at about 2:15. I attempted to follow the ridge to Indian Rock and Angora Peak, but my legs were wasted and it appeared to be more of a class 3 or 4 scramble than the "trail" denoted on Caltopo. I turned back and counted myself grateful for the sunny November day in my beloved Sierras." — TynanRammGranberg • Nov 1, 2018

"This is not a peak to be taken lightly...it kicks ass! The hike to the base of the peak, is through the green forest, along a nice creek. When you come out of this and look up, the peak seems like it's miles away. It's not, keep following the trail and the cairns, and you'll arrive at the pile of large stones. Once you hit this, you'll start the scramble up to the top. I didn't see any specific route, and made my way over the stones I could (being 5' 2", I'm selective on what to scramble up). Once you hit the top, enjoy the view and accomplishment. There are rock made walls that provide a bit of protection. One thing about this peak, altitude sickness may be a factor. It's non-stop UPHILL trail (no switchbacks here). Make sure to give yourself enough time, bring lots of water and snacks. Look at all the routes and plan accordingly. Having GPS (gaia) is helpful, but I really think everyones scramble to the top will be different. Going down isn't much different, hard on the knees. ps. if anyone see's a pair of grey pant legs, hit me up. Lost mine out of my pack when digging for some advil." — colleenmarie512 • Jul 4, 2018

"As soon as you get on the trail it is an uphill climb to the peak. The peak itself is a pile of boulders so be prepared to scramble, climb, and rock hop up to the summit. Nice views one you get to the top. " — runningvegan • Jul 4, 2018

"I took the Rocky Canyon Route. It was pretty steep hiking the whole way. The forecast showed strong winds moving in for the day but they weren't too bad until I hit the treeline, then they were horrendous! My legs were feeling every bit of the elevation gain and started cramping up around the same time I hit the treeline. The freezing 60 MPH crosswind made getting to the top that much harder, I could barely keep my balance trying to hop around the car sized boulders. I finally summited and took a rest behind the wind break to try and warm up. Up top it was howling!! I only stayed up top long enough to eat my lunch and take a couple pictures. I had gotten a late start and didn't want to get caught out in the dark. It was also freezing up top and I wanted to get out of the wind. I took the same route down and it seemed just as steep on the way back. I didn't see another person the whole day, and now I see why. I was the only one crazy enough to do the hike today!" — Sledhead29 • Oct 19, 2017

"Climbed up Rocky Creek trail on a hot day. Encountered snow around 8,500 feet but it was melted away about 0.4 miles from the summit. We diverted from the trail to avoid some steepness in the snow on the way up. T-shirt weather the whole way, even with the wind across 0.2 mile rock hopping to the top. Saw a family of marmots (3) while at the top and eating lunch. Easy stream crossing, but rocks were a little under water on the return, due to higher temperatures and more runoff later in the day." — TCH • Jul 8, 2017

"Hiked Pyramid Peak, 9,983’ via Rocky Canyon trail with SMC. 7 others made this trip. Great group of guys. Summit Post provides the details on getting to the trailhead and the trail information.Stats:Up times – 3.8 miles, 4100’ 3:59 hrs./mins.Total times – 7.5 miles, 7:49 hrs./min.Fantastic views from the top! Must do again hike!!! Fall trip with snow around the 7600’ level. hard packed so, no snow shoes required. This is a 22.7% grade up to the top in 3.8 miles. For those that are familiar with Mission Peak (Fremont) via Stanford it is 13.9% grade in 3 miles. However, this trail head starts at 5,488’ and Mission Peak’s trail head is 379’). It’s important they you get the beta on this trail from Summit Post to ensure you understand the route. Here’s the link: http://www.summitpost.org/pyramid-peak/151024 SAFETY COMMENT: WIDOW MAKER - THERE IS A HUGE TREE THAT IS JUST UPSTREAM AND WEST OF THE RIVER CROSSING THAT YOU MUST PASS UNDER. IT IS NOT SUPPORTED WITH ANY LARGE LIMBS. DO NOT SPEND ANY TIME UNDER IT. Garmin Adventure link from this trip: http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/mj3920/pyramid-peak-9-983/#.WCEGcXeZMQ8 " — mj3920 • Nov 4, 2016

"Overall 10.7 miles/~4400" in ~10 hr and 45 minutes with ~1 hr break on Pyramid Peak and 10 minutes in Lake Aloha. It should be able to finish in ~7 to 8 hours for experienced hikers. Started ~9:40am from Twin Bridge Parking Lot. It was a little scary to hike along I50 from parking lot to Rocky Canyon Trailhead for ~0.8 miles in ~20 minutes. 10:00am at Rocky Canyon entrance reached one sub-peak after ~4.1 miles or 3.3 miles on Rocky Canyon Trail. It is ~0.6 miles to Pyramid Peak which took me ~1 hr. Arrived Pyramid Peak at ~1:40am, ~4 hours for ~4.7 miles and ~4200". 360' views were presented. Started to head down to Lake Aloha after ~1 hour on Pyramid Peak at ~2:40pm. Looked easy to get down, but, it took us ~2 hours for ~1.5 miles to Lake Aloha at~4:40pm. Back to parking lot ~8:20pm, one hour after sunset." — keung • Sep 5, 2016

"Have been working hard on the new peakery... and by now peaks have gone to my brain. So made a last minute daytrip up to Tahoe to "cure" this sickness. My goal was to climb Pyramid, check out the Desolation Wilderness, and if everything came into place do a traverse of the Crystal Range over Agassiz and Mt Price. After early am departure from SF, by 8am had found the Rocky Creek Trail approach with no difficulty and minutes later was feeling my heartrate surge with the bit of altitude and steep route. Caught the first glimpse of Pyramid about an hour later at 8100 ft... didn't seem too much farther. From here, the trail climbed consistently up through open, moderate terrain before it disappeared in a final talus climb to the summit. All-in-all a very straightforward route. At the summit got my first glimpse of the rest of the Crystal Range... Agassiz and Mount Price. After getting some advice and time estimates from another hiker on the summit, decided to bail on a traverse because I didn't have enough time (that... and it looked like some brutal talus slogging). Next time will hopefully have more time to do a deeper foray into this incredible wilderness." — scott • Sep 18, 2015