High Sierra Topix

We're making our way down to greater LA for family holiday stuff and this seemed like a decent compromise sort of spot to spend a few days due to elevation and I've only really driven through it once after an aborted trip up to the little kern river & trout meadow (even in early June it was too hot and we saw a massive fire plume relatively nearby day 2). We're planning to be in the area from the 15th to 18th, have snowshoes and spikes, no skis, AWD vehicle with chains. There doesn't seem to be snow sticking around Lake Isabella itself, but m99 is unknown (sunny tomorrow, some light snow thursday) and I'm unfamiliar with Sherman Pass in the winter aside from driving up to Kennedy Meadows (south) once in December from 395.

Just stopping at pullouts and watching the Kern as it cascades seems like it could be worthwhile. I assume fishing won't be happening due to the massive rain here and snow above.

Packsaddle Cave could be an option, not sure if Freeman Grove would be accessible.

The hot springs seem like they're normally a bit of a shitshow, but could be nice due to it being off season.

I don't really consider this the Sierra, and am not expecting any mindblowing hikes, but there are a number of trails in the area.

Hiking along the wild trout section from the Johnsondale bridge is always a pleasant little hike.

If you're heading there today, FYI _

6:24 AM 5 [10] SR178 THRU KERN RIVER CANYON CLOSED DUE TO ROCK SLIDES UNK DUR

10:20 AM 3 [4] [CHP] has closed their incident [211215BF00076]
10:18 AM 2 [2] CT HAS HARD CLOSURE ON BOTH SIDES
10:18 AM 1 [1] SR178 CLOSED THRU KERN RIVER CANYON FOR APPROX 4 HOURS REF LOG 2115BF00076

We enjoyed the miracle hot springs (hardly anyone there, had it to ourselves for a while and spent ~2h there, left after someone else came in to give them a similar experience) and packed out a little trash there though it was surprisingly clean, then walked around the lakeshore a bit and then enjoyed the rocky shore of the kern near BLM Keysville area. Some rain/snow forecast tomorrow, so we'll probably stay low again.

The river trail up by Johnsondale bridge looks great! I was looking at some of the trail system closer to kernville that stay near the river on the west bank, but googled up http://kernriversierra.com/hike/The_Riv ... _Hike.html and it looks great. Could even do it as a quick overnight fri-sat to have more time to wander, hmm.

You might be interested in driving up to Fairview and taking the footbridge across the river. There are a couple of trail options once on the other side.

I was looking at the trails between bull run creek and fairview earlier.

We'll likely do the trail N from Johnsondale bridge one day, and fairview / bull run the other.

I don't know if you're planning to head out east to the 395 to get to LA but if you've never taken it, the drive over the Walker Pass on the 178 is fascinating. Cottonwoods side by side with Joshua Trees along the South Fork. Fishing isn't supposed to be good around there but the S. Fork at Kennedy Meadows might be ok if you wanted to throw a line in. Dreamflows has it at 137 cfs today. If you were up that way you could follow the S. Fork on the pct for a few miles into Domeland for a day hike.

It looks like Lloyd Meadows Rd is still open. The George Bush Sequioa grove is a bit over-developed but I've always had it entirely to myself. Typically the gate off Lloyd Meadows Rd. is locked and it's about a 3/4 mile hike on paved road to get to the grove.

In Kernville it looks like McNally's is closed for the season which would be my rec for food and drink.

We went over to McNally's / fairview bridge friday and wandered around trails there, then did the johnsondale bridge hike yesterday getting a bit above the formal trail on the Kern and found the latter was far more interesting. Saw no fish, and chatted with two fly fisherman that had no luck, it was a hard freeze the night before and there some ice in the river so I'd have to imagine all the fish were sleeping.

There were a few icy spots on M99 before the johnsondale bridge, and sherman pass road had some rockfall on it near the junction.

@gtw_smooth_ambler - Hey there! I've done from 395 to Kennedy Meadows and saw some trout below a bridge in December, so that would have been 9 mile canyon road to sherman pass road. I've come up to a TH near the needles from the west, but haven't been on that eastern part of 178 yet. This is the most time I've spent in this low southern Sierra region. It reminds a bit of Idaho + JTree in places. It's a little chilly now, but weekdays are pretty deserted which is nice. I imagine it'd be nice in a slightly warmer shoulder season time and domeland has been calling to me on topo.

We're working in the area for a few days before dropping down to LA Wednesday (normally a sun-wed work schedule, but with the holidays things are light). We were planning on just taking 178 down to Bakersfield, but tagging on a quiet sequoia grove on the way sounds nice even if it'd bump the trip from ~3 hours of driving to ~4.

What do you do for work?

Great site for Kern area info and ideas.

http://kernriversierra.com