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going to Hockett Meadows on the NW side of the peak were no longer maintained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
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
Back on familiar ground, I reversed the earlier route from the morning back to
the Little Kern River
Continued...
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
fire fighters from
the various fires that have swept through the area over the past three decades.
An old 
wooden survey tower is still mostly intact at the summit as
well. I spent about half an hour at the summit eating 
my lunch and
enjoying the views, deciding on a strategy for getting off the mountain.
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.
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...