Trip Report: Kern Canyon Loop from Horseshoe Meadow

User B.Y. sent in this report on a trip into the wilderness. Here is what they had to say.

Kern Canyon Loop from Horseshoe Meadow via Trail pass, HST, and PCT.

Started up Trail pass from Horseshoe Meadow at 8AM on a Tuesday morning in late July. Hiked a full 30 miles down to the Kern hot springs in one day, the longest day I’ve done. A few water crossings were notable – Golden Trout Creek overflowed onto the trail at intersection of the Kern Peak trail, making for a marshy slosh for a couple hundred yards. The water crossings were high, but mostly smooth sailing down to Kern Canyon from there. Bugs started getting a little annoying below Little Whitney Meadow.

I met two hikers coming up out of Kern Canyon; the only two people I saw the entire day. They had attempted the loop I was attempting, but turned back at the crossing of Rattlesnake Creek, telling me they didn’t see a way across. I considered changing my plans, maybe heading for Kern Peak or exploring some more off-trail meadows, but seeing as how I was already more than halfway there, I thought I’d go check out the water crossing.

Made it down to Kern Canyon (~20 miles) by 4PM, and still feeling mostly good (as the trail pass trail is almost entirely downhill), decided to go for it. Rattlesnake creek, the dreaded water crossing, was another 6 miles. I could set up camp there if I agreed with the other two hikers that it was too dangerous. The canyon was hot but the shade came in around 5pm, cooling me down substantially. The trail down in the canyon is not in good shape, and is often overgrown and hard to find.

Rattlesnake creek was indeed flowing very fast, but not as bad as I was expecting. I have decent experience with water crossings and identified a good area to cross, pretty much right in line with the trail. Yes, it was a little reckless and perhaps I should have turned back especially because I was by myself, but the risk seemed pretty minimal. I put all my stuff in my dry bags in case I got swept in. It was swift but relatively shallow – didn’t even get wet up to my waist.

By then it was 7pm and I had hiked about 26 miles. Feeling very tired, I got to trekking. Thankfully the Big Arroyo has a bridge, and there were only a few more minor stream crossings before I finally made it to the hot springs a little before 9pm, when there was still a touch of light in the sky. Nobody else was there so I soaked my sore muscles for hours before finally making some dinner and sleeping the best sleep I’ve ever had in the backcountry.

Oh, a few rattlesnakes on the trail around dusk. Be careful.

The next day I headed up Kern Canyon along what was now the High Sierra Trail. A few gnarly water crossings, especially Whitney Creek, though not nearly as bad as Rattlesnake Creek.

Not much to report on for day 2 – plenty of burned sections and quite hot. Bugs weren’t too bad.

Met a few hikers doing the HST who were stopping at Junction Meadow. I decided to do 12 miles up to Wallace Creek, moving very slow up from 8000ft to 10000ft. The final water crossing just before Wallace Creek was probably the 2nd worst crossing of the trip, with a waterfall, swift moving water, and rocks that are exactly where you don’t want them to be.

The mosquitoes at Wallace Creek were abysmal – avoid camping here for sure. Stop at Junction Meadow or make for Whitney Creek, where somehow there were no bugs.

Decided to hike out the next day, which came to about 24 miles. Got out of Wallace Creek by 7am, and made it back to Horseshoe Meadows by 6pm. Wonderful trip.

Thanks so much for the trip report B.Y. Sounds like quite the adventure!

Trip Report: Casa Vieja Day Hike

Access to the Blackrock Trailhead is now open! This is according to hiker Megan who went there recently on a day hike. Here is what she has to say:

Gate at Blackrock is finally open! Roads were smooth sailing to Blackrock trailhead. Not a lot of traffic or bugs…yet.

Lots of tree falls on the trail — some even hiding impressive lumps of snow! We often had to pass around or climb over some of the falls, especially those that blocked the trail after creek crossings.

Passed a couple who had been going to Jordan HS but turned around at the last creek crossing at Nine Mile: they said the creek was very fast and very high, and they’d felt uncomfortable with the conditions and decided to camp elsewhere.

The creeks are high. Be ready to get muddy and get wet, maybe pack a few more pairs of socks.

Casa Vieja itself looked stunning, as always. No cattle yet, so the meadow looks immaculate. Golden trout population looked spicy and healthy: put on a great show with jumps and leaps over little waterfalls.

Great hike, be ready for some detours around some impressive fallen trees

Thanks again Megan for sharing your trip and info with GTW! It will be of help to others planning on accessing the same area in the future this season!

Horseshoe Meadow Road is Open (Inyo NF)

Thanks to user Jared for informing GTW that access to the eastern side of the GTW via the Horseshoe Meadow road is now possible. He was able to enjoy Mulkey Meadow on a very recent trip.

Trip Report: Southern Sierra with a touch of GTW

Tony recently went out backpacking for several days. The trip only touched a portion of the GTW, but the intel and insights on alternative ways into the Inyo’s side of the wilderness could be helpful to some. For example, with Horseshoe Meadow Road still closed, there are other ways to get there. For example, one could use the PCT at Kennedy Meadows. Are there others? What are the conditions? Well read on and see what Tony has to say.

This is a trip report for a nine day hiking trip starting near Kennedy Meadows, on the Kern Plateau. Our trip just–really, only just–touched the Golden Trout Wilderness, and that was only briefly, but here goes, anyway. We started on Tuesday, June 6th, and hiked out on Wednesday, June 14th, 2023.

My hiking buddy, Rich, and I parked at the Hooker Meadows trailhead, which is basically just a small turnaround at the end of a dirt road near the Fish Creek USFS campground. We hiked to Albanita Meadows, and had them to ourselves. The trail was easy to follow at first, but then we lost it for awhile in a meadow. Then the trail was OK to Hooker Meadows, at 8,400 feet. However, the trail along much of Hooker was very indistinct, and then it got worse getting to Albanita Meadow. Essentially, since you only find snippets of trail here and there, and because you hike directly up a string of wet meadows, we squelched our way toward Albanita through the creek and the mud. It was wet going! We had a nice camp spot that night–and it snowed, but it was just a light dusting.

We next headed down to Monache Meadows via the old Broder Meadow trail, which we picked up across from Agua Bonita spring, which is in the middle of Albanita Meadow. There is a newer motorcycle trail west of the old trail, but we wanted to take the footpath instead. The footpath shows on the Tom Harrison GTW map, but not on the Tom Harrison South Sierra Wilderness map. I would estimate that we could find the trail between 5-10% of the time. It, too, has almost completely disappeared.

From the north end of the Broder Meadow trail, we headed northwest via a motorcycle trail, a short stretch of the Monache Meadow jeep road, and a foot trail to Bull Meadow and McConnell Meadow. We could only find the foot trail about 5% of the time, even though it appears on the Harrison maps and the Sequoia NF recreation map. The cartographer must think it pretty funny to represent that these trails still exist, when they appear to be abandoned. Certainly, there hasn’t been any trail maintenance done in decades, apparently.

The next morning, we squelched our way through to Little Dry Meadow. There is really no trail whatsoever, and there were a ton of fallen trees and snow mounds blocking the way. Little Dry Meadow should have been called “Little Sopping Wet Meadow”! We then squelched our way through the mud to the north end of the meadow, through an area with even more downed trees, but eventually found the trail going to Big Dry Meadow, which was our destination. However, once we entered the GTW the trail disappeared, and fallen trees and much snow filled the canyon almost entirely. I think that even without snow and fallen trees, the trail still would have been extremely difficult or impossible to follow, at least for right now.

We debated turning around, but instead hiked up Kingfisher Ridge to get above the snow and fallen trees, and we followed the top of the ridge northwards to intersect the “trail” coming from Monache Meadows. The current “trail,” which again is in exceedingly poor shape, was once the jeep road to Casa Vieja Meadow, prior to the establishment of the GTW. Same story–lots of snow, mud, and fallen trees, and a very indistinct trail for the most part. The going finally got good near Kingfisher Stringer, and from there we followed the jeep road into Monache Meadows.

The South Fork Kern River was just raging! The water is so high that it eroded half the width of the jeep road in one place directly east of Monache Mountain. We saw one side-by-side utility vehicle in the distance, which I surmised belongs to the ranger at the Guard Station. We later heard one motorcycle, but we assumed it belonged to the resident of one of the private inholdings in Monache Meadows. That’s because we saw that the jeep road into Monache was impassable due to some fallen trees, so the two vehicles we saw/heard must have been kept in the Meadow over the winter. They could not have been driven in this year, given the impassable jeep road and the terribly muddy (and still closed) OHV trails into Monache from points south.

We eventually returned to Albanita Meadows via Beck Meadow and the Lost Meadow Trail. The Lost Meadow Trail appears on some maps but not others; for example, it does not appear on the 15″ topographic map but does show up on the Harrison GTW map. It, too, is extremely indistinct, until one gets relatively close to Albanita Meadows. There is no trail any longer through Lost Meadows itself, although we did see an old “Lost Meadows” sign at the south end of the meadow, where the trail finally appeared.

My hiking buddy and I originally had hoped to hike out of Horseshoe Meadows, but the road from Lone Pine was not yet open; hence, the hike in via Hooker Meadows was Plan B…and achievable. We had a very nice trip. We only saw a few people and the scenery, just emerging into Spring/Summer, was lovely. However, it rained almost every day, the old trails are essentially non-existent and have received zero trail maintenance seemingly in decades (as far as we can tell), the trail maps are out of date, and there was a lot of mud. A LOT of mud. All the creeks were very high. We enjoyed having a campfire most nights.

The Hooker Meadow trail is a potential way of accessing the Golden Trout Wilderness from the south, when the Horseshoe Meadows road is still closed by snow. However, taking the PCT into Monache Meadows from Kennedy Meadows is likely a better idea, or perhaps even hiking into the Wilderness from the Blackrock trailhead to Casa Vieja Meadow. The reality is that the Hooker Meadow trail, and the network of other old, historic trails around Monache Meadows, make for really tough going. If you want an easy to follow trail, go elsewhere. If, however, you want a lot of solitude and enjoy challenging route-finding, and relish forests and meadows rather than alpine scenery, then do consider the Hooker Meadow trail.

See you down the trail!

Thanks Tony for the information! For those that were thinking of alternative ways into the wilderness, I hope this was insightful on what to expect should you venture out on the same or similar path Tony did. If you have trail reports to share, please continue to send them in. They are very much appreciated!

Trail Report: Black Rock to Beach Meadow

The first trail report for the season has arrived. Thanks to user Megan for sharing! Here is what she has to say:

Blackrock Rgr station to Beach Meadow.

Nearly into July but you wouldn’t know it from the closed gates, roaring streams and snow patches still lurking about.

Intended to hike Sherman Peak but was stymied by gate closure at Blackrock. Decided to hike to Beach Meadow instead.

Maps were a bit goofy, but if you walk down the beach mdw road about a half mile, you’ll see a small stop sign and sign for beach ridge trail l. Go left, cross creek, then immediately turn right to follow creek upstream to beach ridge.

Definitely more than a few fallen trees and even some impressive snow patches! Once we hit the ridge line, the down hill was somewhat sketchy due to considerable rock debris; I assume this is hand in hand with the massive amts of moisture this winter. Trailhead was somewhat distinct and well labeled with blazes.

Once adjacent to Beach Meadow at final dirt road crossing, followed creek for quarter mile before bearing directly west, which lead to cattle grazing pasture. The creek that beautifully winds through Beach Meadow is well past its banks, is deep and fast. We soaked our feet but didn’t dare jump or wade across.

Looking forward to more openings, but the unseasonal cool weather is a blessing of its own. Roughly 7.5ish mile hike out and back total.

Thanks again Megan for sharing. If you head out to the GTW, please consider sharing your information! It really does go a long way in helping others on what to be aware of when they are planning a trip.

Roads Closed Longer Than Usual

Memorial Day weekend is behind us and it is time to head out into the Golden Trout Wilderness, right? Well as many have found out that may not be the case or at least it is delayed. Due to the Forests and Parks receiving record making snow pack then rain-on-snow events, many of the roads are closed! Why? Roads are washed out, damaged, and no longer safe for travel. Other spots have snow drifts still hanging around that won’t allow vehicles to pass through. With all this in mind, please be patient with both the Forest and Park staff as they are trying to get things repaired and ready for users to access.

Crosscutting Down Trees

Inyo NF – Blazing trails with crosscut saws

Have you ever been out on the trail and come across a crew working on cutting out down trees across trails? If not, you can see a video preview of what crews do to remove those down trees. Granted it is only 45 seconds and a small part of a tree. Imagine doing this on every down tree for miles! Hard yet rewarding work that all of us benefit from. Thank you trail crews!

April’s Snow Survey Results

California Cooperative Snow Survey results are in for the month of April. After a few years of reporting not so great numbers, this time it is different. The Kern River Basin is sitting at 326% of normal! All the atmospheric rivers deposited a lot of moist snow into the southern Sierra Nevada. Although having this much snow is wonderful and needed across the landscape, what does that mean for fellow adventurers into the wilderness this season?

When hiking out into the wilderness this summer, assuming normal average temperatures, one may see snow “hanging around” longer than normal. As such the creeks and rivers could be flowing faster, higher, and for longer durations into the summer months. Though this may be great for having an increase in water sources, exercise caution when crossing. Additionally, besides the creeks taking longer to return to normal summer flows access to these areas may take longer.

More snow means it can take longer to melt. The longer it takes to melt could mean access to your higher elevation trailheads will extend further into the summer. For example, some roads typically open Memorial Day weekend (end of May). If all this snow melts at its normal rate, access may not happen to June and possibly early July!

You’ll want to keep all this in mind when planning your summer trip(s) into the mountains. Also, keep tabs on the road closures and openings too! Regardless it is great to have more snow and therefore water. After years of being dry and wildfires, the vegetation could use some rest and moist restoration.

Video: Golden Trout Pack Train

If you haven’t guess where the video last week was taken, well here is the full version. It is a very popular place to go fly fishing on the Kern River in the GTW. Who’s ready to get outdoors again!?

PS – Did you know the Kern Lakes along the Kern River didn’t form until 1858\1859? A gentlemen was out there before and after the mega flooding event took place. A landslide/mudslide plugged up the Kern River for a few days and then breached itself right near where this video was taken. More can be read about this flooding event in the USGS 1905 publication as well as John Austin’s book HERE.

Video: Early Morning Crossing

A different video than what is normally posted here on GTW. However, can you name where they are crossing? The Kern River is part of it, but exactly where? Enjoy!