Reddit reviews Desolation Wilderness Trail Map: Waterproof, tearproof (Tom Harrison Maps)

Bear can is a food container. REI rents them cheap, they're about $60 to buy (ymmv). A small container is fine for up to 5-6 days solo trekking, depending on what you bring for food.

Apparently you can get your Desolation permits online? Another Redditor had a link.I typically hit the Ranger station on I-50 near Pollack Pines. Do be sure to get a permit. You'll dodge a fine if you're caught by a ranger, and even if you don't get caught you're helping to fund the colossal amount of work required to keep wilderness spaces like this wild.

Your route looks great! 25 miles is a good distance for 3-day solo. Once you get over by Lake Aloha, it's very exposed, and it's easy to explore off-trail all over the place. Make sure to get a map -- Tom Harrison has a great map of the area. Armed with a good map, you can explore to your heart's content. I like to hit camp early, set up shop, and then go for 2-4 mile wanders up to whatever tall thing is nearby. With your route, you could make Aloha (or around it) the first night, leave your pack and tent there and day hike your second day, and then pack up and out day 3. I've never had anyone mess with my stuff backpacking, even leaving things for multiple days in medium-traffic areas (day hikers are another story).

Since it's your first trip out, let me point out some essentials -- things I didn't know when I started in the Sierra.

• You need sunscreen. And a hat. There are very few trees in some areas, and that sun doesn't fuck around at 8,000'. Skin cancer sucks. Add chapstick to that list, something with sun protection.
  
  
• You should probably not drink the water in the Desolation Wilderness. There is high enough traffic that the chance of contamination is moderate, and giardia is shittier than you can imagine. Aquamira water treatment is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to go. Amazon has it for like $12. It doesn't leave a flavor in your water, unlike Iodine and many other tablets and treatments. My wife and I use a ceramic filter, which gets any gunk out of the water too, but that's not really an issue in Desolation. There's a fuckload of lakes. It's really pretty.
  
  
• On that note, you won't need to carry more than 2 liters of water at any time. There's lots of places to refill.
  
  
• Your first aid kit needs bandaids, triple antibiotic ointment, Ibuprofin, athletic tape, a small roll of duct tape, gauze, and ACE bandage wrap. This is by no means a complete list -- we bring substantially more on longer trips. I'd call this a minimum. I never have any luck with Moleskin for blisters, but I've found athletic tape often does a good job for me.
  
  
• You probably won't need bugspray this time of year, except by Lake of the Woods (which is why I don't camp there). If I turn out to be wrong, I'm sorry :P. Poison oak also doesn't grow above 5,000ft, so no worries there.
  
  
• I know it's gross, but get yourself a little trowel, TP, and hand sani. Bury human waste 100' from water or trails, at least 6" down. PLEASE pack your TP out in a ziplock. Pro tip -- a pinch of baking soda in your shitty TP bag will do wonders to eliminate the smell. Toilet paper takes decades to decompose when buried in the Sierra, since there's so little rainfall. Animals dig it up, and it ends up all over the trail. When I hike, I don't want my sunset views ruined when I accidentally sit in turd-covered paper. In return, I hike my paper out too. Please help Desolation stay desolate. You get to keep the moral high ground when you stumble across someone else's poo-sheets!
  
  Have fun and be safe! There's a decent chance you'll have cell reception some of the time, so you'll be fine even if something dumb happens. If you have questions, I spend too much time on Reddit. Cheers!

It's an amazing park. You'll have a great time, weather permitting. But warning -- it was a pretty late year in terms of snow, and you should be keeping a very careful eye on how much snow is on the ground. Local ranger stations are your friend. They do pick up their phone -- look up the phone number on the Forest Service website.

A first tip: Buy the Tom Harrison map. By far the best topo map of the area on the market. https://www.amazon.com/Desolation-Wilderness-Trail-Map-Waterproof/dp/1877689610

In terms of routes:
I assume the Echo Lake ferry isn't going to be running yet. But I'd still consider starting at Echo Lake trailhead, then hiking around the lake towards Lake Aloha, along the Pacific Crest Trail. From there, you can cross-country (legally) towards Lake of the Woods, or work your way further towards Susie Lake. Past Susie Lake, it depends on the snow conditions and your energy levels.

I've done a few trips from that side, they've all been great. Aloha Lake is magical.

You can also start at the north side of the park, but I don't know those routes as well in terms of what'll be great early-season. I've always wanted to start at Fallen Leaf Lake, but haven't yet.