Oct 14, 2012
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Etymology |
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It was well after 7a before I got started on the trail. There were downed trees on the first part of the trail which meanders a bit before joining the shorter cutoff trail after half a mile - seems most folks use the cutoff trail leaving Lewis Camp to the northeast instead of this seemingly useless, longer alternative. The trail down to the Little Kern River passes quickly into the Wilderness boundary and then past several trail junctions in the vicinity of Jerkey Meadow. The ridge leading to Castle Rock is seen to the east as one descends - I hoped to possibly tag this as a bonus on my way back (but obviously failed at). It was 8:40a before I reached the bridge over the Little Kern where I found a pair of backpackers at a camp, stoking a fire to stay warm and prepare breakfast. The shady camp was nicely located next to the river, but it held the coldest air I found all day, probably in the low 30s. It would be at least 9a before the sun reached this protected little alcove.
I spent the next 45 minutes plying the trail leading east to Trout Meadows, a surprisingly large and lush meadow with horses grazing behind old wooden and barbed-wire fences. The horses were quite friendly, coming to greet me to see if I had any treats for them, disappointed to find otherwise. I met an older gentleman at a private camp just to the south, the owner of several of the horses (the others he told me were being pastured by the pack station operators back at Lewis Camp). I asked him about the trails in the area that are hard to find and he gave me an earful about the lazy Forest Service and their lack of maintenance for just about everything. I happily agreed with him in just about every respect to stay on his good side, though some of his claims about the necessity of grazing stock to maintain the meadows I found dubious. The upshot of the information I was after was that the old trails shown on the 15' topo going to Hockett Meadows on the NW side of the peak were no longer maintained by the Forest Service, but partially maintained by this gentleman and the packers. He suggested my best bet was to approach it from the northwest at Willow Meadows where I could pick up the old trail heading east and southeast out of the canyon. He gave me a very detailed description of the number of meadows I would encounter while heading north before turning off, but much of this got jumbled and lost in my head. It seemed I needed to go about an hour north, then look for the side trail - that was as much as I could process.
I turned north, leaving his property and regained the trail heading upstream through Trout Meadows, past the empty Ranger Station, another trail junction, and then the series of meadows that had been described to me. At Willows Meadow I took an unsigned fork leading through the brown grass to a packer's camp found in the forest to the east of the meadow and the creek. As I continued through the camp to the north, I saw no sign of a side trail leading up the hillside as I expected. I had the route depicted on the 15' topo entered into my GPS, so when I was in the vicinity of the expected junction I simply headed uphill, trusting I'd find the old trail at some point. It took only ten minutes of modest bushwhacking to stumble upon the trail. The tread was thin and non-obvious, but the trees lining it appeared to have been trimmed in the last year to allow a mounted horseman to pass by unmolested. I lost it at one point but soon regained it, and overall it was an excellent route to get me as far as Hockett Meadows, less than a mile from the summit. Leaving the trail just before Hockett Meadows, I found the cross-country not overly difficult (but certainly not as nice as the old trail), making my way up the Northwest Slopes to reach the rocky summit not long after noon.
I had feared that the summit would be completely forested over and offer no
views (that's how it appears in the satellite views), but was pleasantly
surprised to find the summit on a rocky outcrop that stuck up above the forest
and provided a swell panorama. One can see north up the main Kern
drainage to Red Spur, Ericsson and Stanford, east to Olancha and
southwest to the Needles and Slate Mtn beyond. Much of the area to
the east and south was burned in the McNally Fire in 2002, but was
beginning the long process of recovery. A register left by MacLeod/Lilley
The easiest course would have been simply to retrace my steps, but I was curious
as to what state the trail was in heading south from Hockett Meadows, leading
back to the the south end of Trout Meadows where I had conversed with the
older fellow earlier in the morning. It was in this direction I headed.
I first made my way over to Pt. 8,344ft about 3/4 mile to the
southwest of Hockett Peak. To my surprise I found the deteriorating remains of
another register left by Gordon and Barbara on the same
day in May of 1981. The McNalley firemen had filled a page with
their names as well from 2002. From this lower summit I followed the
forested ridgeline west
down to where I expected the old trail to be found, again using the GPS which
showed the old route. Try as I might, I had no luck finding any remnants of the
trail from the shoulder of Pt. 8,344ft all the way down to
the bottom where
several springs are depicted on the 7.5' map. The route was steep and brushy at
times and certainly no time saver. This was the route Doug Bear had used in
2001, but it was not the easiest route to the summit as he had surmised. I
eventually found the trail climbing up from the Kern River to the east past
Doe Meadow and followed this west back to Trout Meadows.
Back on familiar ground, I reversed the earlier route from the morning back to
the Little Kern River bridge,
then the long, 2,000-foot climb back to the TH at
Lewis Camp. It was after 5p before I was finished (I had no energy left for
Castle Rocks, that would have to wait for another day), making for just shy of
ten hours on the day. With the sun ready to set shortly, I took a lukewarm
shower on one of the picnic tables at the campground I had to myself. I dressed
warmly in fresh clothes, made dinner and enjoyed a beer while I watched an old
movie on the van's overhead console.
It was nice to not have the need to drive
anywhere this evening - I would start the next day doing other nearby hikes. I
had just enough of the conveniences of modern civilization to make my night
comfortable and slightly decadent. I would sleep well...
Continued...
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