High Sierra Topix

There's fishing in Helms Meadows? news to me. I guess some of the mosquitos might be big enough to eat?

To give you an idea of the possible water situation, I went in mid-August of 2007, which was a 70% snow year in that area. We camped at the third creek crossing after Rodger's Creek. The first two creeks were too dry, but the third had decent flow. It wasn't a roaring cascade, but had sufficient flow to get water without any trouble. We had to clear a spot to camp because the growth was dense. I don't know how much of that immediate area was impacted by the 2008 forest fire.

There is a decent campsite at Gnat Meadow (often called Hay Meadow on maps) but the creek there didn't have a terrific flow when we went by. It would have been possible to get enough water for our use, but not much more.

I hiked a section of the Solomons trail in 2006. I went from Clover Meadow through the Kaiser Wilderness and exited the Maxson TH near Courtwright Reservoir a week later.

The trail was suffering from a lot of deadfall in the Kaiser W. section (aka. "California Riding Trail"). In some places, it was hard to tell where the trail was.


I have heard that the Backcountry Horsemen's Association did a lot of work a few years ago to cut the downfall and clear the trail. I haven't been back down there to see what it looks like, now.

Does anyone have any recent reports of water availability between Badger Flat & Roads End, along the Theodore Solomons Trail? Thanks! Elwood

The lakes all have water. The meadows are drying up fast. No bets on creeks - they are running now, however, who knows what will happen over the next month.

My buddies & I will be hiking from Badger Flat Campground to Roads End Aug 5th to the 11th. Two spots will be camping at that water availability concerns me are: Helms Meadow & Rodgers Creek? Two more camps will be at lakes, & the other two will be in Tehipite Valley, so water shouldn't be an issue at these camps.

Our hike is coming up in two weeks & I was hoping someone has current water conditions for either Helms Meadow or Rodgers Creek? Thanks!

The publisher of the Dennis Gagnon "Guide to the Theodore Solomons Trail" will soon be releasing a Kindle e-version of the out-of-print book.

Also, Gary Buscombe's pamphlet guide to the same trail may be updated after some trail research is conducted this next year and re-issued as an e-book. There's also been some discussion as to the possibility of re-printing a paper version.

I wonder if Elwood made his trip?