R03/R01 TR: Upper Kern from Onion Valley 8/15-22, 2024

[wsp_scott]

Great trip and report. I did a similar trip in 2019 based on one of your earlier reports about the Upper Kern.

"I went from crowds on the trail, to complete solitude the minute I left the trail, and back to crowds."
I'm always amazed how many people are on the JMT and how many of them have no idea what is just off the JMT. I guess I am glad that places like Center Basin or 60 Lakes Basin is not on most people's radar because I like solitude.

[Wandering Daisy]

To answer the dry fly/wet fly question, serious fishermen will be aghast! I have so much trouble tying on flies (poor eyesight plus arthritis in my fingers) that once I put one on, it stays until it comes off or disintegrates. I had on a well-worn small mosquito like thing that would float if I casted properly but sink a bit when I slapped the water too hard. I find that a lot of fish in remote lakes will bite at about anything. I do prefer rather small flies. I always forget the name of the fly after I buy it. I am not a very serious fisherman- I just like to get a fish or two for dinner.

Nice to hear that "Long Lake" is a name for the lake below Mt. Jordan. I often call it "Jordan Lake".

I have had several more ambitious trips to the Upper Kern over the years, using Cottonwood, Whitney, Shepherd Pass as well as from Kearsarge. The best is to do a point-to-point. I like getting a Whitney exit permit. Kersarge to Whitney Portal and Cottonwood to Whitney were my favorites.

[stevet]

I love this area of the Sierra! Your pics and routing descriptions bring back wonderful memories.

Too bad about the gill nets in Golden Bear Lake. Though I understand what the park service wants to achieve, for we who, or who have fished, it is a loss for us.

Regarding the junction with the JMT, it was in 1970 but a cairn that marked the trail to Center Basin. So a sign had to precede that. And yes, today, the best indicator for the Center Basin trail is the bear box at the campsite west of the JMT.

[LMBSGV]

I enjoyed your report and photos a lot since I’ve been to most of the locations and so it was a chance to vicariously return after so many years. The Upper Kern, especially Casper Lake, remains one of my favorite places in the Sierra.

That’s good to know about Matlock Lake since that is one of the places I’m considering for a trip in my dotage. I also remember lake 10820 having a meadow when I was there in 1999. One of the phenomena I’ve been encountering in the last few years is returning to places that I went to years ago now being vastly different with once lovely campsites now no longer existing and locations having vegetation including large clumps of trees where there was once meadow. I don’t know if that’s a result of climate change or natural evolution or a combination of both.