High Sierra Topix

Hello,

First, I'd like to say a quick thank you to everyone for all of the invaluable information you share on this site! This is incredibly helpful to all of us in the Sierra hiking community.

My husband and I are hoping to make our first trip next weekend and are considering an overnight trip heading out from the Meeks Bay trailhead in Desolation Wilderness to Rubicon Lake. While reserving an overnight permit on recreaction.gov, I noticed an automatic alert noting potentially high water crossings on this trail early in the season. Considering our higher snow levels this year and the fact we've not been on this trail before, I was wondering if anyone might have some information on current conditions on this trail.

Does anyone have any information on water crossings on this trail from recent trips?

Or, if not from this year, can anyone comment on what we should expect on this trail from past seasons?

One slightly less important question, does anyone have any thoughts on their favorite fishing spots in this area? Do we dare hope for success this early in the season and might we find any golden trout in one of these lakes?

Thanks again for all of the information - for this post and all of the others!

-Erin

The only real water crossing is Meeks Cr about a mile downstream from Lake Genevieve. There was a nice bridge that got washed out a few years back, but there is a log in the same spot that serves the same purpose very nicely. The LTBMU office may have a handle on the current conditions:530-543-2600. You have to press 'zero' a few times to get to a live person.
As far as the fishing goes, Crag has some nice Browns, but they can be hard to catch. Stony Ridge has Macinaw, which can be a novelty to catch from shore. Stony Ridge and Gilmore were two of the first California lakes to get planted with Macs in the late 1800s. I think the fishing should be good as all last week was windy and cold, while next week will be sunny and warm, probably bringing out some insect hatches.
I don't think there is any Gold to be had in the Meeks drainage.

Here's a pic of the "bridge" taken in June of last year.
I caught fish in Crag and Genevieve but no Goldens. There are a fair amount of day hikers so try to find a site away from the trail. If you are going to stay at Crag there is a decent spot on the inlet side of the lake (red diamond). Follow the faint use trail.
Have fun, it's a well maintained and nicely engineered trail. Parking at the trailhead is limited so consider getting there early.

"One slightly less important question, does anyone have any thoughts on their favorite fishing spots in this area? Do we dare hope for success this early in the season and might we find any golden trout in one of these lakes?"

For the most part in my experience goldens (Volcano variety) are non-existent in lakes below 10k feet. The exception may be the Kern in the Monache area.

I had moderate success last June fishing Crag and Genevieve. Browns I think. Crag was the better of the two. I fished with spinners. Thomas Buoyants and Panther Martins. The Eastern shore of each lake was the easier one to fish. I had no success at Stony Ridge and did not go up to Rubicon.

Here's a trip report with some good info in it.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9828&p=77385&hilit= ... eek#p77385

Erin,

Your choice of weekend for Meeks Creek should be a good one. As noted in TahoeJeff's post, there won't be any undue barriers in hiking in to the lakes. Here are some details on the fishing... There are no golden trout lakes in the drainage. Genevieve has browns and possibly brookies to good sizes. It is a shallow lake and fishing is commonly rather slow, but persistence can pay off with large fish. Crag is probably the most popular among fisherfolks in the drainage. It has browns that reach good sizes. The fishing tends to be somewhat slow also, but, like Genevieve, persistence can pay off. Hidden is supposed to have a variety of trout in it, but I've never caught anything there--on the other hand I haven't tried very hard. Shadow can be good fishing for brookies even though it is small and shallow. The brookies are commonly not too big (top end is usually about 12"), but there are a few big browns in there. Stony Ridge has been an enigma for me. Some have caught big mackinaw in there, and browns and rainbows also reside and the lake and reach good size. I'm personally 0 for 3 there without a single strike, but your results may be better. Cliff Lake is perched above Crag off trail. If one is comfortable with a bit of off trail scrambling, it affords skunk insurance in that it is overpopulated with brookies that run to 10" or so. Rubicon Lake is a good brookie lake and the fish are larger and somewhat less numerous than Cliff.

Bring headnets. The mosquitos can be bothersome this time of the summer.

Thanks so much to everyone who provided so much information - this is hugely helpful.

Our plan is to try to get on the trail early in the morning and make it up to Rubicon to camp, but we hope to do some serious exploring and testing the fishing along the way. All of the comments on the lakes definitely give us a great idea of where to head first, and it's good to know we shouldn't encounter any major water crossings.

And thanks for the tip - we were thinking headnets would be a smart choice right now (though I feel like mosquito density should match wildflower displays and I'm afraid we might be a little early for peak flowers).

Thanks again for all of the insight. I'll work on a report after we return.