Sunday September 7, 17.8mi/28.7km
Upper Kern Flats (348.0/5070ft) to Pass above Cold Meadows (365.8/9740ft) (CA)
It was a surprisingly chilly morning as I made my way along the last mile of the Kern river.
From there, it was a short climb up to Soda Springs flat, where I was expecting to find a carbonated spring. Which I did, but I also found this large modern cabin in the middle of nowhere.
It was a strange sight, and I continued on to a little creek to take a break. By now it was getting pretty warm and I removed all my extra layers, Plus I had a sunny and exposed 1,000-ft climb up to Jordan Hot Springs a few miles away.
When I got to the hot springs, I was surprised to see another group already there. The closest access point is 5 miles away, I didn’t expect to see people here this early in the morning. Turns out they had camped out here overnight. Chris, Noelle, Emmanuel, and Kristy were on a 1-night backpacking trip, and for most of them it was their first time camping out. A super friendly group, and Chris even showed me where the hot springs were.
My timing was fortunate for them, they had lost their only water filter the night before, so they borrowed mine to fill their 4 platypus bladders for the hike out. It’s a 2000-ft climb to the exit, doing that without water would have been miserable. I spent a relaxing hour at the hot springs and then continued up the big climb, passing by some old dilapidated buildings along the way.
It was a nice well-graded trail, and before I knew it the 2,000-ft climb was behind me.
The climb ended in Casa Vieja Meadows, which seemed like a nice place to have lunch, given that it was nice and cool up here at 8,500 ft elevation.
The afternoon was mostly on easy trails, which just meandered through these high elevation pine forests.
It was finally beginning to feel like the Sierra landscape again.
The miles floated by, and pretty soon I was in Red Rock Meadows, these high Alpine meadows are always so neat.
This area seems to be full of dilapidated cabins, but they do make nice break spots with all the logs around to sit on.
After passing the cabin, the last hour of the day was a bit more difficult, given that the trail basically disappeared. There was even a sign pointing to the trail, but definitely no trail existed there.
So I hiked XC for a little, while keeping an eye on my map and the trees for any blazes. Eventually I ran into the trail as it was traversing across a long switchback, it was strange how it just appeared out of nowhere. I finished climbing to the top of a ridgeline, and decided to camp there rather than descending into Cold Meadows….which sounded uncomfortably cold for camping. It’s surprisingly light in my tent, camped in this sparse forest, under a nearly-full moon.