Had the chance to take one more spring trip before the heat knocks us (well me) down for a few months...
Day 1- The big pines are calling...
The wind was as bad as we've ever driven in, but we continued on.
Freeman Junction...where bandits, natives,explorers and miners all crossed paths. Here we go up and over Walker Pass and down to the KOA where we staying for 3 nights.
Day 2 - Jawbone Canyon and the Piute Mountains
The first few miles of Jawbone are paved...
then finally turns to dirt.
Hard to resist the call of dirt backroads:-)
We are headed to a spot I've wanted to visit for quite some time. An oasis in the middle of an arid landscape. An important migrant trap on the CA flyway.
We spend a while wandering amongst the old cottonwood trees and enjoying the sounds of a spring in the spring:-)
After miles & miles of dusty desert we finally hit Kelso Valley. A beautiful expanse of farmland nestled in the southern Sierra. I've always enjoyed the quaint, country atmosphere up here.
We stop and enjoy the view right up till a group of off-roaders riding ATVS, motorcycles and Rhinos pull up to get their bearing. In leaving, each and every one of them spray dirt and gravel all over us in the Jeep. It's truly one of the most disrespectful acts we've ever encountered on the backroads. It was completely intentional. After discussing which ill fates we hoped they'd encounter, we point the Jeep in the direction of the Piutes.
Onward to the high country!
We go higher and higher working our way up a hillside of switchbacks with wildflowers waving at us along the way. The road soon heads into a beautiful woodland.
Finally here we are. Up in the clouds, amongst the pines. Perfect spot for a picnic lunch.
We watch clouds roll by on their way across the mountain and over the valley below.
We even find a patch of snow for Little Mike to play in!
As much as we'd like to stay we still have a way to go...
Next stop is the site of an old burner of some sort. This area was an old mining community starting the late 1800's and coming and going through the 1940's.
While Mike explores the burner I discover manzanita near by. Manzanita is one of my favorite plants! I love the areas where it grows. It always brings a touch of elegance to the forest with its red bark and petite pink blossoms.
As we make our way across the mountains it occurs to me we are really in the mountains. I know that sounds odd, but my brain hand't really processed the reality until that moment. When I was young, my view from my bedroom windows were the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California. I spent many years staring at them, exploring them in my mind and dreaming of one day living up in the pines. My dream did come true. I still feel the need to breathe in that pure, thin mountain air every so often and take in the scents of a pine forest.
More wildflowers!
Poppies! Poppies are my happy flower!
Not long after enjoying poppies and friends, we figure out Saddle Spring Road is still closed for winter. We get out the maps, do a little investigating and decide to head down into Walker Basin and back through Havilah, Bodfish and Lake Isabella. It certainly mattered not a bit to me. I love Walker Basin. Happy to be able to see it again.
North end of Walker Basin looking south to the Tehachapi Mountains.
Day 3 - I'll Never Swim Kern River Again (RIP Merle)
The Kern is the southern most river of the San Joaquin Valley. Home to the CA Golden Trout, the Little Kern Golden Trout and the Kern River Rainbow.
We were lucky to find South Creek Falls flowing nicely.
Sierras forever...
We had to stop one more time to indulge Little Mike...
And me...I had to touch the water:-)
Me and my hero. He proposed to me on the banks of Kern 16 years ago:-)
And he proposed to me again on the banks of the Kern this day:-)
Day 4 - Homeward Bound
But first a stop at the local cemetery. We love old cemetery's & letting our minds wander back to times we can only imagine.
A few of our finds...
On our Kernville day we had lunch at the Kern River Brewing Company.
Mike had Dirty Hippie - An Imperial Red Ale
I had Class V Stout - An Oatmeal Stout, Milk Stout and an Imperial Stout all in one. I'll say...
And this at an antique store in Kernville. Will read it when I have a long time to spend idle...
"The California Gold Rush as you never imagined (1844-1853) based on a true story. All characters are real, names unchanged. This epic novel brings to life Donner Party survivors, Sutter and his Sacramento fort, the first actual gold strikes, paradise lost and the unsettling of the West."
