Long trail in western Sierra?

[Mina Loomis]

Years ago I remember either reading or listening to a story about someone hiking a long trail in the western Sierra.  Sort of parallel to the JMT but much lower in elevation, on the range’s run-out to the west, more forest than alpine.  I don’t remember the name of the trail.  So many folks on here are in California, maybe one of you can tell me what trail or route this is?  I tried a web search but without a name for the trail, searching just brings up famous trails or other irrelevancies.

[DWR D]

Theadore Solomons Trail… see Amazon for book:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Theadore+Solomons+trail&i=stripbooks&crid=3S9ATC6Q1HYO0&sprefix=theadore+solomons+trail%2Cstripbooks%2C149&ref=nb_sb_noss

[DWR D]

Another long trail in the Sierra is the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail… basically, the PCT north of Yosemite up to Tahoe…  no JMT traffic, but still PCT hikers… still a lot of trees, but higher with more views than the Theadore Solomons Trail…

[Bruce Tolley]

There is the Tahoe to Yosemite route documented and popularized by Tom Winnett.  His book is out of print but you can buy it used on Amazon: The Tahoe-Yosemite Trail: A Comprehensive Guide to the 180 Miles of Trail Between Meeks Bay at Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Park’s Tuolumne Meadows. The cross country sections are a lot of fun and take you away from the thru hikers on the PCT. Some segments are routed on the PCT others not.

There are several reproductions of the the route on the web,

For example: https://tahoetowhitney.com/picturetrail/Tahoe_to_Alpine/Meeks_to_Echo_Summit/Lake_Tahoe_Yosemite_Trail.html

[Mina Loomis]

DWR D:  That’s it!  I figured if someone could come up with the name I’d remember and be able to look it up.

Tahoe to Yosemite sounds interesting too.

Hoping some of these trails/routes might be good for hikes now that age is slowing us down too much for really long trails, but being retired we have time.  And this year there might be so much snow that higher elevations might not melt out.

Thank you all so much!

[Bruce Tolley]

Mina:

There are on line maps of the route at the URL above. I hiked the section from Sonora Pass north.  In places you are walking cross country and need very good path finding. Don’t trust the cairns and ducks various people have left.

Cheers

[DWR D]

Mina… I have not hiked Teadore Solomons. It could be an adventure. Without knowing would not be surprised if some or much of it is unmaintained and or hard to find or follow… maybe do some research and make some calls to forest service etc. Yes, high trails will have lots of snow this year… late August best for that… though will be boot tracked much earlier. The lower trails will have less snow earlier…. but with all the water mosquitoes could be an issue… especially west side…

[Erik G]

A couple of friends and I attempted the Theodore Solomons Trail last year, from VVR to Yosemite.

Long story short, I would NOT recommend it.

We’ve done a lot of off-trail travel in the Sierra, and a lot of “type 2” hiking, but this was possibly the hardest day of hiking I’ve ever experienced. Between a completely unmaintained trail that has all but disappeared and hiking through ground zero of the 2020 Creek Fire, it was an absolute slog with insane amounts of dust, soot, blowdowns and less than spectacular views. In 12 hours, we hiked a total of 10 miles and made 8 miles of forward progress. At the end of that day we decided to take a hard right and head toward Mammoth instead of Yosemite. That’s also the biggest mid-trip change of plans I’ve ever made while backpacking, and possibly one of the better decisions I’ve ever made.

:)

[jscott]

deleted

[Mina Loomis]

Hmmm…doing a web search for Theodore Solomons Trail brought up a couple of other trip reports that make at least parts of it sound pretty sketchy.  And the reports I found were before the Creek Fire so judging from Erik’s experience it has apparently gotten worse.  Probably not a good trail for us then.  Too bad the Forest Service can’t maintain trails like that, what with the popular trails getting so crowded.  (But that would be a different thread…).

Thanks all!

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