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.

Saturday August 30, 12.2mi/19.6km

Wells (1144.4/5660ft) to Angel Lake Campground (1133.6/8360ft) (NV) +1.4mi skip heinous xc

Even though I spent the night in a motel room, I was still naturally awake at 6 am. It was completely dark in the room but my body still knew it was sunrise time… “the sun’s awake so I’m awake”. After breakfast in the room and another shower, I spent another hour planning my various routes through this next section. There’s a bunch of options to get around/ through the East Humboldts, but no single route looks ideal. I mapped out like four different options, downloaded all the map layers and the satellite view, and called it good enough. I hiked the mile back across town to the route, where I spotted a welcome boulder.

The last business before leaving town was a Maverick, and their slogan is “Adventure’s first stop”. Well I’m on an adventure, so I had to stop in and get a milkshake, and a pumpkin spice cookie to go with it. It’s pumpkin spice season again!

I left there at 2:30, and then had a 12 mile paved roadwalk up to Angel Lake.

It wasn’t that hot, maybe 80°F, and I only saw a few cars per hour, so it was pretty relaxing. The mountains were getting closer…

And then I officially re-entered the national forest.

I arrived at the campground just before 7pm, and met the camp host, Gary. He’s originally from New York and was listening to the Yankees game on his radio, and after chatting for a while, we realized we had much in common– the Buffalo Bills, a mechanical engineering degree, hiking around Letchworth State park, and really missing Abbott’s frozen custard. And he was nice and pointed out that the campground was full on this holiday weekend, but I could squeeze into the maintenance campsite. It was nice to have dinner at a picnic table, but I ate quickly because it’s cold up here at 8300ft elevation!

Friday August 29, 12.2mi/19.6km

Twelvemile Hot Springs (1156.6/5790ft) to Wells (1144.4/5660ft) (NV)

After I finished packing up camp, I took another quick soak in the hot springs. They were quite a bit more steamy in the cold morning air.

I backtracked the 2 miles down the canyon, back to the main route. It was pretty cold in the canyon and the sunlight wouldn’t be here for hours, I hiked with my gloves on for the first time.

I said goodbye to the resident guardians of the canyon, there was much mooing.

These old ranches always have the strangest trash and graffiti.

I roadwalked all morning, mostly on a paved road.

There was a little bonus hot spring, ThreeMile Hot Spring, located just off the paved road. It was right at the edge of private property, and it smelled strongly of sulfur, I decided to skip it and keep walking.

From there, the route follows increasingly better dirt roads all the way to the town of Wells. I appreciated not being on the paved road, but at one point I passed through a fence with a “no trespassing” sign facing the other way, so maybe I’d prefer the paved road. There was also a bunch of roadside trash, including an old Dodge Neon, and a pair of British Knights sneakers.

If I had also found an old bottle of Crystal Pepsi, that would be the 1990s trifecta. And of course, once you get near a town you start seeing all the antennas and communication infrastructure. These VOR antennas are pretty unique though, used for aviation navigation.

And apparently I crossed over the California Trail, a National Historic Trail.

That felt like a significant thing to cross, though it wasn’t mentioned in the guidebook. A mile later, and I was in town. Since I walked right by the grocery store, I did my resupply shopping first. All the motels are a mile away at the other end of town, and I didn’t want to walk back here again. Then I went to the library and updated my maps, I was trying to figure out a good route through the East Humboldt Mountains, apparently the original route is overgrown. I got some help from Not a Chance, and Eric/Krista who were all here earlier this summer. Then I hiked the mile across town to my room at Motel6 and had lunch at the Burger King next door. It was a relaxing day, I also had a meal at Subway and one at McDonald’s, and did some trip planning while a Harry Potter movie marathon played in the background.

I have three more days of hiking in Nevada, then I’ll have reconnected my steps in Lamoille. And then it’s off to California, to hike the Sierra section that I skipped back in May. It’s hard to believe this 2400 mile hike is almost done.

Thursday August 28, 25.0mi/40.2km

Stormy Wash (1181.6/6170ft) to Twelvemile Hot Springs (1156.6/5790ft) (NV)

It wasn’t windy last night and I had a glorious dry morning of hiking. Today was all roadwalking, even though it was a large gravel road, I only saw two cars all day.

I also saw this weird roadside scarecrow, dressed as a POS politician. Clearly, Nevada is not a fan either.

All morning it was beautiful clear skies, hiking South towards my next mountain range, the East Humboldts.

In the afternoon the clouds started to build, it seemed that the daily afternoon thunderstorms were back.

As I hiked closer to civilization, I was surrounded by ranches and private property. One of the few legal places to camp seemed to be at a hot springs. Perfect! This one was a 2 mile side quest, which I wouldn’t normally do, but I had the time and I needed to camp somewhere. Someone had built an interesting bridge.

It turned out to be one of my top five favorite hot springs of this trail. The entire creek was hot water!

This area is part of the failed Metropolis Project, a planned farming community in the early 1900s, which is now a ghost town. But some of the water infrastructure survived, and it made a lovely soaking spot, surrounded by rock canyon walls.

The water wasn’t too hot either, maybe only 105°F, and I sat in there for over an hour, watching the sunset.

I set up my tent across the little hot creek on a flat area, away from all the steam.

A couple showed up just after dark, maybe 8pm, and were super friendly and offered me some beverages and invited me to come soak again. I think they felt bad about keeping me awake at my camp spot, since they left less than an hour later. I fell asleep to the nice gurgling sounds of the hot springs creek.