Tuesday September 9, 21.5mi/34.6km

Kern Canyon at Rattlesnake Creek (388.5/6590ft) to Colby Lake (410.0/10620ft) (CA)

I start off just before 7am, and it feels really cold. I’d guess about 40°F.

The Kern River Canyon is quite deep, so even 2 hours after sunrise, the sun still hasn’t made it down to the bottom of the canyon.

This part of the trail also coincides with the High Sierra Trail, and it’s very well maintained.

This has to be one of the most unique bridges I’ve ever seen, it uses a massive boulder as part of its structure.

I get to the Kern Hot Springs at 8:30, there’s no one around and I have it to myself.

The little tub is empty, and after I move the plug from the fill spout and put it in the drain, it fills up in about 5 minutes.

It feels so nice to sit in the hot springs in the cold morning, just relaxing and reading. There’s a bunch of graffiti on the wooden fence, I wonder if the vice president was here 33 years ago?

Once the sun crests over the canyon wall, I leave the hot spring and hike on wonderful trail for the rest of the morning.

There’s a campsite where the High Sierra Trail splits from my route, I decided to use that for my lunch spot. It’s right next to the Kern River, which at this point is nothing more than a little creek.

And then I start to climb up, up, up to Colby pass.

After reading Krista’s journal about their hike through here in July, I was preparing for it to be brushy, but it looked like a trail crew had come through recently and trimmed back all the brush. I enjoyed a ridiculously wide hiking corridor through the Manzanita.

Pretty quickly, I climbed a thousand feet, and just started to feel like alpine Sierra again.

Including the classics like the high Sierra meadows.

And hiking on giant slabs of granite.

I hadn’t seen people all day, even on the popular High Sierra Trail. But now, I was on a trail that almost no one hikes and I saw a German couple, two women on a loop hike, and a guided group of seven people. Crazy! The people in the guided group were sooo stoked about being out here, it was contagious, and I felt like I flew uphill for the next few miles. I always like seeing these signs because it means I’ve made it up to 10,000 ft elevation.

The final alpine meadow before the steep climb up to Colby Pass.

The climb up to the pass was pretty steep, it gained 1,800 ft in about 2 miles.

It was pretty chilly up at that elevation, but I was working pretty hard on the steep uphill so it evened out. I got to the top of the pass at 5:30, put on a bunch of layers and then took some time to enjoy all the views.

The requisite selfie atop the pass.

The descent down to Colby Lake was even steeper, there were dozens and dozens of tiny little switchbacks.

I descended 1400 ft and about a mile and a half. Yikes. The lake was looking pretty nice though, despite some wildfire smoke in the distance.

I was relieved to be down at the lake, since it was my plan camping spot and my knees were done for the day.

Looking back at the ridgeline I had just come over:

I had another pretty sweet camping spot in the pines, it’s hard to get a bad camping spot in the High Sierras.

It will probably get pretty cold up here at 10,600 ft elevation, but I think I’ll sleep pretty well after a long day and 6,000 ft of elevation gain.

Monday September 8, 22.7mi/36.5km

Pass above Cold Meadows (365.8/9740ft) to Kern Canyon at Rattlesnake Creek (388.5/6590ft) (CA)

The morning wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be, given that at almost 10,000 ft elevation.

I descended a little bit down to Cold Meadows, which definitely lived up to its name.

It was noticeably colder down here in this shallow valley, and the grass even had frost on it.

Getting across Cold Meadows was a little challenging, avoiding the swampy parts. Leaving Cold Meadows, however, proved to be much more difficult, as the trail disappeared.

I had three different maps downloaded for the area, and each showed the trail in a slightly different spot. I tried all three, and never found a trail. But it was an
open forest, so it was easy XC hiking. Once I got to the top of the ridge, I located the faint trail, and followed it easily to Stringer Saddle. The top of the pass was marked with a sign, and also this hilariously leaning tree.

From there the trail got better, and it was easy to follow down to Volcano Meadows.

I realized it was already noon, the morning hours had sped by, even though I only covered 9 miles. Trying to follow a faint trail is slow. I had lunch under a shady tree at the edge of the meadow, pondering why it would be called Volcano Meadows. A mile later, and I had my answer. There were lava fields everywhere!

After I had crossed Volcano Meadows, the trail quality improved considerably, I guess most hikers and trail crews don’t go beyond the meadow?

Most of the afternoon was a long downhill hike, back down to the Kern River. The same river I had left yesterday morning. This geologic feature caught me by surprise, I had no idea there was a natural bridge here.

A large creek was flowing right under the trail, pretty cool. And then I started to descend in earnest, dropping a couple thousand feet down into the Kern River Canyon.

It was a very nice trail, there were even hundreds of stone steps installed.

Back down at 6,500 ft elevation, the floor of the canyon was much warmer and I was back in the Manzanita climate.

Thankfully there was a big bridge over the Kern River, so I didn’t have to ford it.

And crossing the river meant I officially left Inyo National Forest and entered Sequoia National Park. And it’s still a decent sized river, even this far upstream.

Once across the river, I followed it upstream on a nice trail for the rest of the day, with some pretty sweet views of the canyon.

It was mostly a national park quality trail, there were even signs for the campsites.

This was one of the most impressive talus fields I’ve ever seen.

I had passed by another group that had already stopped to camp, I’m not used to seeing other backpackers, haha. I found a nice spot to camp at the junction with the Rattlesnake Trail, under some nice Ponderosa pines.

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.

Saturday September 6, 20.7mi/33.3km

Kern River Canyon (327.3/3910ft) to Upper Kern Flats (348.0/5070ft) (CA)

I followed the Kern River all day again today, I started off the morning hiking right beside it.

And then I climbed up above the river, to the Rincon Trail.

The connector trail was blasted right into the cliff!

The trail got a little confusing near this old mining tunnel, as there were a bunch of little paths going in all directions.

The Rincon Trail runs parallel to the Kern River, but up high and with better views.

I came across a missing croc in the middle of nowhere, some poor hiker is traveling with only one shoe?

Things got a little brushy for a couple of miles.

But then quickly cleared up once I descended back down to a meadow near the Kern River.

The hardest part of the day was fording the river. It was only knee deep, but moving very swiftly.

After talking to a few fishermen I saw today, this is considered low water. I can’t imagine crossing this river back in May or June when the water is higher. Pretty sure I made the right decision in skipping the Sierra section, and coming back to it later. After crossing the river, I had lunch and dried my shoes. The afternoon was easy hiking on a very nice riverside trail.

It was a hot day again, but at 5,000 feet elevation, it felt less intense than the previous couple of days.

This old stone ruins was right next to the trail, I couldn’t really figure out what it was, with a concrete platform.

It was also a good spot to access the river, so I decided to go for a swim and cool down. The water isn’t even that cold, so I took my time and rinsed off. The rest of the afternoon was mostly hiking in a sparse pine forest.

At the end of the day I re-crossed the Kern River, but this time on a nice bridge!

I hiked another mile, and then found a nice spot under some ponderosa pines and set up camp.

This is my favorite type of camping, and it’s usually not hard to find in the Sierras.

Friday September 5, 19.5mi/31.4km

Kern River Valley (307.8/2870ft) to Kern River Canyon (327.3/3910ft) (CA)

I caught up on sleep from the previous few nights, and by the time I left camp at 7:30, it was already hot.

I followed the Kern River all day, mostly at a distance, and a little above it.

I could hear the loud rushing river, as well as traffic from the road across the river.

I thought there was only one short 800ft climb today, but really the trail had lots of small PUDS, which were even more tiring in the heat. I was really looking forward to getting in the river for a swim and cooling off.

At least there are plenty of trees for shade, and I had lunch under a large old pine tree. An hour later I came to a fun swingbridge, and crossed the Kern River.

I was going to swim at that spot, but then I caught the smell of barbecue. So I continued crossing the bridge, and found a little camp store that sold cold drinks!

I hiked through an RV campground, and on the other side I found a small hamburger stand. Amazing.

I ordered a chicken sandwich and fries and a chocolate milkshake, and while I was waiting I met Monika, who was taking a drive through the mountains and was very interested in talking to hikers. We shared a picnic table in the shade and had a fun chat while enjoying our meal (Happy birthday Monika!). The time flew by, and I realized the sun was getting lower in the sky and it was time to continue on. There was a paved roadwalk for 5 miles, fortunately by now the canyon was mostly in the shade.

I did manage to find a swimming hole to cool off anyway, the water was the perfect temperature. Eventually I left the road via an interesting old metal staircase, which led down to the hiking trail.

It was obviously a well-used trail, and I saw lots of little turn offs to campsites, swimming holes, and fishing spots.

Pretty soon I noticed a change in the geology, the rocks had mostly changed large granite slabs.

I always associate these rocks with the High Sierras, it feels like I’m finally getting up into the mountains again. I hiked a couple of miles, and while there were plenty of informal campsites, surprisingly most of them already had backpackers camping in them. I’m definitely not in Nevada/ Idaho anymore, I’d forgotten this popularity of the Sierras, even this lesser-known part. I set up camp under a nice oak tree, and made dinner to the sound of the rushing river below.

Thursday September 4, 4.0mi/6.4km

Kernville (303.8/2650ft) to Kern River Valley (307.8/2870ft) (CA)

I was awake at 6am, as I had a bunch of errands to do before dropping off the rental car. I bought some groceries for my resupply, picked up a new water filter (I killed the old one in cow water), and mailed away some gear I didn’t want to carry anymore.

After dropping off the rental car, I had breakfast at a local diner, and then caught a local bus that took me from Bakersfield to Kernville. My first stop there was the post office, to get my bear canister.

I had bought 9 days worth of food, but only 7 days of it fit in the bear can. Close enough. Usually I wouldn’t need so much food, but the resupply option that is 6 days into this section might be closed by wildfire. Then I walked over to the ranger station to get my permit for the Wilderness, both people working there were brand new (2 weeks) and had no idea how to issue a permit across multiple National Forests and National Parks (Sierra NF, Inyo NF, Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP). The employees were super friendly, they even tried to call different ranger stations to find a more seasoned employee, but most of the knowledgeable employees had been fired back in January. Stupid government. So I wrote whatever I wanted on the permit, they signed it, and I was on my way. As I walked back across the little village of Kernville, I noticed how much lower the river was now compared to in May when I was here.

I grabbed one last civilization meal at Cheryl’s diner, I figured if I could load up on calories now, I would eat one less dinner tonight.

At 4pm I finally started hiking, the first two miles were on a paved road through some very ritzy neighborhoods.

It was a dead-end road so there was no traffic, but I was still glad to be on a real trail again.

I hiked for another hour on the trail, and saw a nice spot to set up my tent.

I hadn’t made it very far today, but I’m in the Sierra mountains again!

Wednesday September 3, 0mi/0km

Elko NV to Bakersfield CA

Today was a day of driving. The people from Enterprise rental car picked me up from the motel at 8:30, and I was on my way by 9am. Rental cars are always new, and this one was no exception with lots of fancy electronics.

It was an eventful 600 mile drive, I stopped twice to charge, and got some food while I was waiting. Surprisingly, it was rainy for most of Nevada.

My route took me through Bishop, but it was too late to stop at the bakery by the time I passed through. Darn. I picked up a fuel canister from the local hiking store, and then pressed on to Bakersfield. I stopped about 20 miles outside of town to camp on some public land. Even though I got there at 9:30pm, it was still pretty hot, I forgot how low elevation this area is.

Tuesday September 2, 17.0mi/28.5km

Pass above Soldier Creek (1089.9/9480ft) to Lamoille (1085.9/5890ft) (NV)

I loved my camp spot, nice and high up on a dry ridge to get all the views.

It was all downhill today, the first 4 miles were on nice trail, and I soaked in all the scenery as I descended down into the valley.

After a couple miles passed through a trail junction, where I saw some backpacker was camping in her big Agnes tent. It was so strange to see another backpacker out here, aside from the PCT and Sawtooth Mountains sections, I don’t think I’ve seen any other backpackers. It was a chilly morning hiking in the shade of the mountains.

As the trail descended into the valley, i followed the creek for a mile, and I could tell that the aspens were really trying to overtake this otherwise well-maintained trail.

And these other plants were starting to go to seed.

When I arrived at the Wilderness boundary, I was surprised to see the trail immediately became a 4wd road, instead of a mile later at the actual trailhead. But it was very nice hiking, and as I continued downhill the road became a nice gravel one, I even had a car drive by. It was the Nevada Fish& Game police, they asked about some missing elk, and then gave me a nice cold Gatorade. Pretty soon I left public land and had a 12-mile roadwalk through private property.

It was an easy but boring 4 hours, at least the clouds kept me entertained.

And at 1pm, I was back in Lamoille. This was the town I had hiked into on June 25th, thereby connecting my steps across Nevada.

It started to rain lightly, so I ducked into the bar and got a cold Dr. Pepper. That I started to hitch into Elko, thought it would take me awhile but it was actually pretty quick. In 5 minutes, I got a ride for the half of the journey. The woman from the post office recognized me from back in June, and drove me to Spring Creek. From there, I hitched for 10 minutes at a traffic rotary, and a nice but panicky woman picked me up and dropped me in downtown Elko. I was at my hotel at 2:30 and they let me check in early!

So, now I had finished hiking the HST across Nevada, Idaho, and most of California (I’m going back to fill in the missing 250 mile section). To celebrate, I went to the closest pizza shop and got a couple slices and a large ice cream cone.

I also enjoyed first dinner (pasties), and second dinner (Basque pork). The motel was surprisingly nice inside, it was very modern. And I got free laundry because the quarter machine was broken. Bonus! Tomorrow I’ll get up early, and get my rental car at 8am, to make the drive to Southern California and fill in the missing 250-mile section of trail.

Monday September 1, 27.0mi/43.5km

Secret-Starr Trail (x/7660ft) to Pass above Soldier Creek (1089.9/9480ft) (NV)

After looking at my maps last night, I realized that with all my detours I had made only 14 miles forward progress. Darn. Usually it doesn’t matter much if I’m behind on mileage, but this is my last section in Nevada and I had already scheduled a rental car and motel. So I woke up extra early and was hiking before 6am, following the line on the map but never finding the Secret-Starr Trail.

As I approached Fourth Boulder Creek, I was a little nervous I wouldn’t be able to get through the thick aspens, but fortunately I found a cow path that went through.

From there, it was a slow mile of weaving through sagebrush to get to Third Boulder Creek, where I also found the third Boulder Creek Trail. All my maps showed the Secret-Starr trail getting better after this point, but I didn’t find anything except thick aspens. I could see that the trail traversed an Aspen-choked north slope for the next mile, so I decided to change course and follow the third Boulder Creek Trail downstream, and see where that led. It quickly became a two-track road at the Wilderness boundary.

I had mapped out a series of two-track roads that would reconnect me to the Secret-Starr Trail again in 4 miles, which was the only legal exit from the national forest, since it’s landlocked by private land.

The detour worked great (as I knew it would) having mapped it using Google satellite view. What my maps didn’t show is that in recent years some land swaps had taken place, and small pieces of (formerly) public land were now fenced off by a few different ranches. Ducking under barbed wire fences is no fun. Finally, after 3 hours of dirt road walking I reconnected back to the Secret-Starr Trail.

I was so happy to see that it existed here, satellite view showed a well-worn trail, but sometimes those images are outdated.

So I hiked the last 4 miles of the Secret-Starr Trail, all downhill, to a trailhead at a paved highway.

From there, it was an easy 2 miles of hiking on a deserted paved road, to the Gardner Creek Trailhead. I was so happy to be out of the East Humboldt mountains, and all its overgrown trails. And even more excited to be re-entering the Ruby mountains!

It started off up an easy but steep 4wd road. It was already 3pm, but I continued on and committed to hiking this XC section before dark. I hiked up 2,500 ft in 2 miles, definitely steep terrain but it was easy XC hiking with minimal brush.

And once I was on top of the ridge it was absolutely amazing!

This is one of my favorite types of hiking, traversing epic ridgelines. And I didn’t even have to worry about brush or rocks!

I thought the low angle of the late afternoon sun really made some surreal views, especially down into the Lemoille Valley.

I followed this amazing ridgeline for over an hour.

Looking back North, to the East Humboldt mountains where I had just come from this morning:

This ridgewalk was amazing, one of my favorite parts of the entire HST in Nevada. I didn’t want it to end but it was going to be dark soon.

There were some little craggy sections of rock that were easy to hike around, and they were also interesting formations.

Since I barely had to watch my feet, I got to enjoy the sunset views all around me.

At the end of the XC section, I was pleasantly surprised to find a very nice trail that led off the ridge.

The guidebook had described it as a “vague game trail”, but it was definitely a constructed trail, and one of the best I had seen in weeks. I found a spot to camp at the very end of the ridgeline, protected by some junipers.

For such a terrible morning of hiking, the afternoon of alpine XC hiking more than made up for it. And I even caught up on most of my mileage, though it was a very tough day.

Tomorrow is just a quick 18 mile hike to town, all downhill!

Sunday August 31, 18.0mi/29.0km

Angel Lake Campground (1133.6/8360ft) to Secret-Starr Trail (x/7660ft) (NV)

I was awake early at 6am, excited to get started on a day full of unknowns. Sunrise seems to be a few minutes after 6am these days.

My little campsite that wasn’t officially a campsite, but everything else was full because apparently it’s a holiday weekend.

I packed up camp and walked a minute up to Angel Lake to see the view, and also to scout out a potential alternate route.

The whitish peak in the middle is Gray’s Peak, and back in June some other hikers, Chance & Out-and-About, had scrambled up a gully on the left side of that peak. That route would be steep, but also would cut off 4 miles and some elevation gain. But I decided to stick with the main route, as the trail was reported to have been good. One last look at the lake:

And the trail was quite good, all the way to Grays Lake.

Entering the East Humboldt Wilderness.

These little aspens grow like weeds, and I was optimistic to see that they were trimmed back.

For most of the morning, I enjoyed hiking on a nice trail through the alpine.

Looking down on Grays Lake:

Just after I took that photo at the top of the pass, I met a young couple from Elko who were out backpacking for the holiday weekend. They were just as surprised to see another hiker out here as I was to see them. Apparently almost nobody hikes out here, because beyond the lake the trail gets pretty rough. That assessment was correct:

About a mile after Grays Lake, I came to the spot where this morning’s alternate route rejoined. It had taken me 4 hours to get to that spot, whereas the scramble up and over probably would have taken only 2 hours. Oh well. At this point, I had been playing hide and seek with the Highline Trail, ever since I left Grays Lake.

Basically I was following cairns that were hidden in tall grass, with very sporadic trail tread. Pretty soon I decided to utilize one of my alternates, and departed the Highline Trail, using the Herder Creek Trail to descend down to the Secret-Starr
trail, which several local people assured me definitely existed. Initially, the Herder Creek Trail was just following cairns, but those were easy to follow on a ridgeline. Pretty soon it became an old two-track road, which connected all the way down to the Secret-Starr Trail, which was also a two-track road. It definitely didn’t follow the mapped line but it was working. Even after it reduced to singletrack trail, heavy use from cows meant the trail was pretty wide and brush-free.

This little spot in an aspen forest was basically the last time I saw a trail that day.

From that spot, the trail forked into three options. A 2-track road headed back uphill to the Highline Trail, the cattle trail went downhill, and my trail continued straight ahead into brushy aspen and willows. It appeared the cattle trail would soon cross into private property, and I didn’t want to climb back up 1500 ft to the Highline Trail, so I took the brushy middle option. Over the next hour I barely covered 2 miles, but by then I was committed, and the trail only got worse. The trail had 100% disappeared on the south facing slopes, but that wasn’t a big deal since those slopes were just sagebrush that I could weave through.

The north facing slopes were thick with Aspen trees, which made progress extremely slow, half a mile would take me 30 minutes. I definitely found evidence of the old trail, with cut logs, benched tread, and even some old signposts… but it was only barely faster than straight-up bushwhacking. I hadn’t expected it to go this slowly, and sunset caught me in the middle of an Aspen forest, so I spent another 30 minutes by headlamp navigating my way to the next clear area, so I could camp. Finally, at 8 pm I came into a sagebrush area, and found a mostly flat spot and threw down my tent. Long day.