Friday, November 30, 2007

Backpacking Little Kern to Kern Flat to the Forks



This 26 mile loop made a wonderful 3-day backpack trip in the Golden Trout Wilderness of the Southern Sierra. We hiked from the Jerkey Meadows Creek above Lloyd Meadow Creek to Little Kern River, up and over to Kern Flat, and down the Kern River to the Forks of the Kern.

The graphic above shows the Needles in the middle foreground with the Kern River in the gorge to the right, and the Little Kern Drainage in the middle. The blue line is our backpacking route, with Kern Flat being at the top right. The Forks of the Kern (the put-in for one of the most epic wilderness kayak/rafting runs in the US) is at the lower right of the loop.

Here's the GPX file of the trip.

The first day, we hiked 5 miles up to Jerkey Meadows and down to the Little Kern River. The granite bedrock gorge was filled with wonderful swimming pools and small waterfalls. It also happened to be one of the best fly fishing creeks I've ever been too. I bought a specific Little Kern Fly from Kern River Fly Fishing, and literally caught a beautiful Golden Trout on every cast.

There was no one around, and we set up camp on a secluded pool in comfy pristine sand! Since it was only 5 miles in and a relatively easy hike, we had time to swim, fish, and explore the area.

Because it was late in the season, the water level was low and fairly warm.

There was no need for backpacker food - we ate fresh fish for dinner!

Here's a photo of the Little Kern just below the trailhead.




And another picture taken near our campsite:



On the second day, we hiked up and over a pass on our way to the Kern River. We passed Flat Iron, several meadows and springs, and then made the long descent through the burnt-out Doe Meadow on our way to Kern Flat.



Wildlife tracks were everywhere - there certainly seems to be a healthy supply of bear, coyotes, and deer. The Kern River is absolutely beautiful in this area!



We hiked a little ways south along the river and found a nice campspot near some excellent fishing and swimming holes.



Once again, the fishing was world class with unique Golden-Rainbow hybrids...and they were big!!



We spent most of the 3rd day fishing and hiking all along the river - about a 12.5 mile hike. About 7 miles down, we reached the Forks of the Kern, where the Little Kern meets the North Fork. Here, we passed several day hikers and rafters getting ready for a super low flow 4-day trip down the Kern River to the Johnsondale bridge.



The remaining portion of our trip took us uphill from the Forks, and back to the trailhead. We cant wait to return and explore more of the area. Hiking/climbing down the Little Kern Drainage and kayaking these upper sections of the Kern River are now on our list of things to do!

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20 comments:

  1. I love love love these pictures!! Safe trekking!!!

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  2. Your trips sound wonderful. I too live in the sierra and spend a lot of time exploring although I haven't back packed in years. I think we might live in the same beautiful mtn. valley!

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  3. Thanks! I enjoyed looking at your blog too: http://sierra-nevada-ramblings.blogspot.com/
    What a wonderful place to live!

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  4. Hey! Great trail. Me and my brother want to do a similar backpacking trip to this one, in the Little Kern River this summer. Do you think this hike can be done around mid-June, or is it snowed in still? Also are there other trails that diverge from this path that we could go on as in day hikes to extend the trip? Thanks for the help!

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  5. I think it will probably be clear of snow by mid june. There's lots of other trails to do day hikes...and exploring more of the Little Kern, the upper Kern River and side canyons would be awesome!

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  6. Thanks! I'm really excited to do this, especially catch some fish. How heavily used is this trail? Did you see many people?

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  7. When we hiked we only passed one couple on the first day, and then a few day hikers at the end. But, i think they do commercial horse trips every once in awhile -- so it could possibly be more crowded???

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  8. How did you get to the TH? This was all I could find and its pretty confusing. http://www.climber.org/DrivingDirections/JerkeyMeadow.html#lloyd
    Thnx

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  9. Its at the very end of Lloyd Meadows Road, which is just outside of Johnsondale (about 25 miles north of Kernville)

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  10. Looks great I am planning a trip to little kern as a warm up to mount whitney and am debating weather or not to take the same route you took. did you go off trail at the bridge over the little kern and go up or down stream to find your campsite? also how much of a pain is packing the bear canister? as I am planning to buy a bearvault 500

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  11. We stayed on trail for the main loop we hiked, but explored up and down the Little Kern a ways. There's plenty of nice pools and camping areas as you hike along the the little kern. We didnt take the bear cannister on this hike, but we saw lots of evidence of bears near the Kern Flat area.

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  12. what is the campfire restrictions in the area and on this trek? thanks. also any guess on the elevation?

    thx much!

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  13. Hi my name is Allie, three of my good friends and i are thinking about backpacking for the first time and i was wondering if this is a good beginning trail or if we should start with something a bit easier. All of us are very athletic, have great endurance, and don't lack common sense. I would love for your input. my email is alex16brown@hotmail.com thanks!

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  14. Hey are you still monitoring this post? I can't seem to download the GPX file for your trip.

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  15. Just found this and it sounds excellent for a trip this summer. Thanks for the details and the great pictures.

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  16. Thanks for this great loop description. We are curious - did you have to get a permit for this trip? And none of the places you stayed were official campsites, right? Are you able to just camp along the trail anywhere?
    Thanks in advance!

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  17. same as anon above, and also, can you repost the GPX file? thanks, can't wait to do this trip and your blog is sooooo helpful!

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  18. Hello. This really looks like a great trip! I stumbled across this post while searching for Kern River backpacking trips via google, and it appears that the GPX file that you have linked is no longer functioning. If by any chance you still moderate this blog and you get this message, could you contact me?

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  19. Plan on doing this/your hike this year with a couple of buddy's thanks

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  20. Going in about a month. Probabily for a week. Amazing fishing. Anyone interested. My previous partner moved away. xhibitpro@hotmail.com

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