Orbitor,orbitor wrote:mshields,
Great, this is very useful info, thank you so much!
Any other advice/insight welcome.
My replies to your inquiries
- I can't give you a take on the Bearpaw backpackers camp, as I walked right by it; it is located on a short spur trail (to the right) just before entering Bearpaw High Sierra Camp. As far as a "luxury backcountry resort" I wouldn't quite go that far; it is a simple camp with tent cabins, pit toilet, dining, horse stable etc. It is very similar to the High Sierra Camps in the Yosemite backcountry if you have ever been to any of those. The view of the Great Western Divide from this spot is awesome; we sat on the porch for about 30 minutes and soaked in the view. An additional score was the kitchen cook who set us up with a stack of blueberry pancakes left over after the morning breakfast. As a reminder this area is seperate from the backpackers camp. Perhaps another Topix member could provide you info about this site?
Sierra South is correct, there is a bear box at Buck Creek. There were bear boxes at all my campsites except for Guitar Lake and Outpost.
Crescent Meadow to Upper Hamilton Lake could be possibility if you picked up the permit the prior day and got a very early start, but I don't know the logistics of this. I do know it would be a long 17 miles and at least speaking for myself, you probably wouldn't enjoy the scenery as much.
We had Kern Hot Springs all to ourselves. As a side note, the entire time we were in the Kern River Valley we didn't see a single person other than a few trail crew workers. Perhaps this is out of the norm? Either way there are ample sites at Kern Hot Springs. There is an upper and lower camp; combined they could probably host at least 20 people. In my opinion looking back it is worth a shot with or without the crowd.
Enjoy, it is a great trail ! What struck me the most was how diverse the scenery was; a complete west to east snapshot of the Sierra's Happy Trails...