Day 5

Day 5: Junction Meadow to Kern Hot Springs

Waking up the morning of Day 5 we knew we had some mileage to make, but we couldn't resist a side hike up the Kern Kaweah river; a spectacular cascade that comes down into Junction Meadow.  Unlike the Kern, which would best be described as chunky boulder cascades, the Kern Kaweah is carved out of Granite with more of a waterfall characteristic.

Of course before we could get moving we had to gather the family belongings, something which is not exactly trivial on a trip like this.  At one point we set Maggie on a mat without her diaper, and of course she decided it would be a good time to pee...

I can't believe you are putting this on the internet, Dad

After packing up we crossed the Kern and headed up the granite canyon to the west.  Mark brought his fishing pole to see if he could slay some trout in the cascade.

Allison soaking up some rays while Marc slays some trout

Pi and Dad scoping out their lines

The Crew

 You could spend the whole day exploring the Kern Kaweah, and if you you were to keep going up you would hit probably the most remote part of the Sierra between the Kern, the Kaweah and the Kings; but alas we had to get moving downstream.

From Junction Meadow down to Kern Hot Springs is one of the most scenic and enjoyable sections of the Headwaters by boat.  By foot it is not quite as spectacular, but close...

Rebecca and Pi at Junction Meadow

 This section of the Kern is classic; tall pines, crystal clear water and glacially carved canyon walls with waterfalls cascading in from the high plateaus on either side.  The gradient of the river (and the trail) is not very steep here, so you can make pretty good time. Some of the crew would stop periodically to fish; we just stopped for a bite to eat and a mellow sit by the river.

Lunch Stop

There is one major rapid on this section of river; I have dubbed it "Nine out of Ten".  The story goes that during our first descent at high water, we got to this long rapid with a series of possible bad consequences.  Sam Drevo, who I would consider to be a very accomplished boater, elected not to run it because he was a "Nine out of Ten guy".  Meaning that, in this situation so  far from any civilization, his threshold for running something would be that he thought he could make it nine out of ten times.  None of the rest of us ran it either.

This trip, with low water, Nine out of Ten looked pretty friendly, marking the first time I wish I had my boat with me on the trip.

Looking down the center of Nine out of Ten

The run-out of Nine out of Ten

Dave, Allison and Andrew fished some of the calm pools here (which had been raging whitewater 7 years ago) and we continued on down towards the hot springs.  The scenery along this stretch is top notch as the canyon opens a little and the trees thin out somewhat.  There are some creek crossings that are no big deal at this water level, but can become treacherous at higher water.  Then of course there are the waterfalls...

Yet another waterfall cascading into Kern Canyon

With about 10 miles to cover this day, we got into a big of a grove.  The heavy packs, however began to take their toll and knees were beginning to get sore as we descended.  The awkward load of Maggie in her pack also was starting to wear on Rebecca and we were all looking forward to the hot springs at the end of the hike.

Rebecca making her way down

There was a point at which I was too tired to take a bunch of photos and, needless to say,  the bear box at camp was a welcome site as it meant we minutes from soaking in the hot springs.  Compared to our frigid dip in the river at Junction Meadow, the afternoon bath here was quite relaxing.  Also, for those who appreciated my Crabtree Meadow pit toilet story, the pit toilet at Hot Springs camp probably had an even better view (plus a privacy wall).  Of all of the places past Whitney, this is the most likely place that you might run into other campers.  Still, the option of soaking in a hot bath makes it a worthwhile stopping point.

 One thing I never had to consider on a multi-day backpack trip was baby diapers.  Usually pack-it-in-pack-it-out works just fine.  Ten plus days of diapers would, however, probably weigh around 50 lbs, not to mention the fact that it would be a bit of an olfactory issue.  We had brought biodegradable diapers, but the plan was actually to burn them, creating as little impact as possible.  If you have not yet sat around a diaper fire in the High Sierra (or anywhere for that matter)... well, let's just say it is an experience.

Day 4

Rebecca and Pi looking into Kern Canyon with the Kaweah Ridge in the bacground

 Day 4: Wallace Creek to Junction Meadow


Waking up in the morning at the top of Wallace creek was a good feeling.  Not only were we very close to the Kern, but we had the majority of our uphill out of the way and a very easy day down to Junction Meadow.  On top of that, the smoke that we had seen in the canyon the day before from the George Fire was no longer evident, which meant a couple of things.  First, we would not be breathing smoke the whole day, and second, there was a good chance that the fire was contained and that our helicopter (bringing us boats and taking Marc and Ann out) was probably going to be there when it was supposed to be.

Heading into Kern Canyon

Even though we had an easy day in front of us, some of us were pretty beat down (read me) from the heavy packs and long days leading up to this point.  Dave, Allison and Andrew, however, were not, so they elected to go on yet another adventure while the rest of us made the descent down to the river.  

First look at Junction Meadow

The hike down was pleasant, following Wallace Creek pretty much the whole way.  Views of Black Kaweah and other peaks the whole way down.  As you get closer to the river you get to see the Glacially carved valley, of which pictures do no justice...

Back at this sign 7 years later

When we got down to where Wallace Creek Trail hits the Kern Canyon trail we took a minute to snap a picture at a sign that we had visited 7 years earlier on our Headwaters of the Kern expedition (Rebecca was the first Woman to paddle it).  Funny how much has changed since then.

Looking up into the Kern-Kaweah river

While Junction Meadow is a beautiful place, it is well know to be a mosquito haven, so we took a minute to find our camp just north of the wooded area where the bugs would be less likely to ravage us.  We then took a trip through the bog to hang out by the river, which was low, but still a wonderful sight to see.

Marc and Ann chilling

Pi and Dad floating sticks in the river

Of course we had to jump in and "bathe", but none of us lingered very long in the icy waters.  Invigorating would be a mild way to put the experience of a dip in the Kern at Junction meadow, but if you can't feel alive hanging out at this place, a quick jump in the water will definitely bring you to your senses.

Rebecca debating the merits of jumping in

Um, it's cold...

After our swim we set up camp and poked around a little bit checking out the cascade of the Kern coming down into Junction Meadow.  7 years ago we had considered boating this section of river, but looking at it at high water we had deemed it unwise to attempt.  Looking at it now at low water did not tempt me either. 

After a while we got the radio call from the others and met them at camp.  While it was a relatively leisurely day, we were still pretty beat and happy to hang out at "bear camp".  The next day we had some mileage to make to stay on schedule to meet the chopper, but we were now on the Kern, our home river.

Day 3

Timberline Lake to Wallace Creek:

We woke up to a beautiful Sierra morning; blue skies and warm sun with no wind.  After huddling in the tent to cook dinner the night before this was a pleasant change, so we took some time in the morning to check out the area around timberline lake, and it was worth taking the time.

Maggie adventures from home base at Timberline lake

The string of lakes in this area is connected by a cascading creek, the section between Guitar lake and Timberline is particularly interesting with a stair-step rock character.  The cold night had left ice formations on the cascading waterfalls that made it even more enticing to wander around and check out the scene.

Pi and Dad checking out the ice formations

It also felt nice to sit out in the warming morning sun and soak up the scenery, that was pretty much all ours to enjoy.  The few people we had come across during our trek down the back side of Whitney were pretty intent on staying close to the peak; presumably to bag it early the next day.  The extra effort we had made to loose some altitude and get into the tree line paid of with what ended up being one of the most relaxing mornings of the trip.  I really wanted to just do a layover day and enjoy this place for another day; alas we had to keep moving so that we could meet the helicopter at the prescribed time.

So... where are we going today Mom?

We did not have a ton of distance to cover on day 3, so we had a leisurely morning and a relatively leisurely hike.  At one point I hiked an extra half mile or so to check out the pit toilet in Crabtree Meadow.  Not being much of an outdoor pooper, I had a fascination with this toilet ever since I read about it on another headwaters trip report.  I was not disappointed; the toilet was free standing (no privacy walls) in the middle of the meadow with fantastic open air views.  Of course I had set my pack down to do this excursion, but had I had my camera with me, you would have been treated to a self portrait - next time...

Rebecca and Pi somewhere near Crabtree Meadow

After a bit of descending and a disheartening section of uphill (the previous day had taken its toll), we got to yet another breathtaking view of the Bighorn Plateau and Mts Tyndall and Williamson.  We had lunch at the head of Wallace Creek and decided that we would make a short day of it and finish the hike down to Junction Meadow the following day.  This allowed  the Energizer Bunnies (Dave, Allison and Andrew) the chance to explore the Bighorn Plateau for a bit as the rest of us settled into camp. 

Ahhh,  so that is where we are

Unfortunately, one of the tequila bottles had leaked, putting a serious damper on the evening.  Well, not really, but next time I'm sure Marc will double check the platypus.  We were able to find a camp just below the "fire line" and enjoy a little campfire and cook out.  We were officially descending into Kern Canyon...

Pi and Daddy Jamming some Brown Eyed Girl on the Bear Canister

day 2

Sorry for the delay in getting back to the story.  I had a little layover in London calling the canoe/kayak for the Olympics, but that is another story for another time...

So, talk about going zero-to-sixty, our first day was about as easy as it gets in the high sierra, about a thousand feet and Carl's Junior in a doggie bag.  The second day we had at least 12 miles to get up and over 13,600 ft and out of the Whitney Zone (we only had a pass through permit). I had promised myself that I would do some training to work up to this, but you know how that goes.

We woke up to about what you would expect in the Sierra in eary June; perfection.  Blue sky, smiles and excitement were had for breakfast and we got moving well after the alpine start summit army had long been on the trail. 

Rebecca, Maggie and the Sierra Mountains

Dad had to get in the picture just to prove he was there

We had long heard stories about what a waste of time Whitney Portal was; a crowded highway full of Greenhorns and peak baggers.   I guess that is why we had never bothered; maybe we were lucky, maybe it was our frame of mind (are we Greenhorns?) but we found the journey extremely pleasant.  As you climb into the Whitney Zone, you are greeted with some of the best vistas of any of the Eastern Sierra trails.  Maybe it was the time of year (June 4th is a little early to plan on bagging Whitney), but there were a manageable number of folks on the trail, all of which were very pleasant in passing (barring a few near the summit - more on that later).

The Whitney Zone: non permit holders will be forced to carry out all extraneous poop bags

The excitement of finally being on the trail with the family and the outstanding surroundings made the climb with a 65 lb pack very manageable.  Frequent vista, beef jerky and diaper stops also helped.

Mark and Ann on a particularly scenic switchback

Looking back on day 1 camp

When you embark on a 10+ day back pack trip with a 1-year old, you are always a little nervous that you will quickly be informed by your little one that you made a poor decision.  Imagine slugging a pack up a steep grade, gasping for breath and trying to ignore piercing screams from something perched on your shoulders.  Maybe we have been blessed with an amazingly portable spawn, maybe we worked her into it, or maybe we just got lucky, but Maggie seemed to be having as much fun as the rest of us as we climbed through the tree line and to the final push up over the portal.

Sweet ride!

Heading into it

 I would be lying if I were to say it was all peaches and cream over the summit.  As it turns out, our perfect Sierra day was rapidly degrading to a "bad" Sierra day.  To be clear, a bad Sierra day is nothing compared to a bad day in many other mountain ranges.  We were looking at a front moving through; highs in the 100's in Kernville were being replaced by highs in the 70's.  That means larger pressure changes, which means high winds.  As we got to the cable section we were greeted with 30-40 mph winds, which would work their way up to 50-60 mph (maybe more?) over the crest.  Under most circumstances that would not really be that big of a deal, but with high profile packs and a baby, we were quickly finding ourselves being thrown around the trail with the prevailing wind trying to push us off the mountain.  Add to that the fact that our legs were beginning to resemble the noodles we had planned for dinner, and we were starting to get challenged.

Rebecca was quite the trooper, she would steadily plant left foot after right and work her way up the switchbacks.  I would go a bit faster and sit and rest and wait for her at every switchback (my legs are pretty wimpy).  After a while, Pi was pretty much over the wind and let us know about it.  To be honest, there was a point when we were changing a diaper in 50 mph winds hunkered in the boulders with a very unhappy baby where we began to wonder if we were in danger of no longer being considered for parents of the year.  The reality of the situation was that we were not in danger, just pushing the limits of comfort for us and, in particular, Maggie.  Comfort, however, is temporary; living is something you have to do every moment of every day, so moving forward was an easy decision.

We did get a few sideways glances and a rather humorous lecture from one individual who was in such a hurry to get down the mountain that they proceeded to shout back admonitions at us at each switchback, scurry through the straightaway, pause and yell at us at the next switchback.  You would think that, having experienced the howling wind firsthand, they would have realized we never heard a single word of their pearls of wisdom.  I certainly found it humorous at the time, and now I find it all the more ironic and symbolic; as you work your way through life people will hurl their opinions and judgements at you, but only you know what you and the people you love are capable of.  If only I had the energy and wherewithal to drop my pants and give him the old stink-eye at 1300 ft; alas the wind was whipping and my multiple layers of smart wool complexity would have likely resulted in my toppling down the mountain and dislodging them from their almighty perch
.

13,600 ft closer to heaven

Maggie tucked safely away with Rebecca and Ali happy to be at the top

Shit, forgot the dogs and guns

As we got within about a half mile of the top we were running into significant issues.  The main one was that we were in a real hurry to get to over the top and out of the wind.  The second was that we were getting pretty beat down from not being able to stop and rest.  Of course our friends were there to help us out.  I grabbed Rebecca's pack, several people shared hauling mine and we made good time to the top of the pass.  I remember running with Reba's pack to the pass, running back to grab my pack and then finding myself giggling part way.  I could not thing of any other place in the world I would rather be.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not really that tough and I am certainly not into putting myself in danger, but being in such a vibrant place with such good friends, I think we were all happy to be there.

At the summit we took the time to pull out the cameras for a few moments.  Getting tossed around by the wind on that razors edge was fun enough to evoke smiles from everyone, but nobody dawdled too much as we worked our way out of the most exposed part, and more importantly got down to where the wind blew us INTO the mountain instead of off of it.

Headed down from Whitney Pass

As we looked down into the spectacular country into which we were headed, I think we all were astounded by the beauty and starkness of the basin.  It is sometimes hard to imagine how different the planet can be within a 100 mile radius.  From the top of Whitney that radius includes Giant Sequoias, Death Valley, farmland, Ski resorts, rivers, deserts and, of course, the most amazing parts of the Sierra.

Looking over the edge

 As we descended into the basin on the west side we began to realize that our hopes of a campsite near the pass were in vain.  The howling wind across the lakes below were creating whitecaps and the clouds were quickly descending over the Kaweah range.  Our 10 mile day looked like it was quickly turning into 13 or more miles as we spotted the treeline at timberline lake and figured that would be our best bet.

Weather coming in

Guitar lake actually looks like a guitar

Needless to say, we were all tired; there was some discussion about simply pitching tents and dealing with the elements, but everyone on the trip was pretty experienced in the outdoors, and we knew that getting down into tree-line was going to make things easier that night.  This was probably about as beat down as I have seen Rebecca (Maggie was fine), but we did our best to push through.  At one point the group split up; some wanted to stop and pitch camp in a reasonable spot while others went on looking for a better spot (which the found).  After a little pow-wow, cooler heads prevailed and we stuck together; we all helped move everybody's stuff down to the better spot.  Just about the time we started pounding the tent stakes into the ground the snow started to fall (which is waaaaay better than rain).   We hunkered down in the tents while the main front passed, cooked dinner in our respective vestibules and rested our weary bones.

storm is a comin'

After dinner made everything seem better and the weather let up, we crept out of our tents and soaked up the scene.

Home sweet home day 2

There is something about the calm after a storm.  Sure the wind and weather continued through the night, but finding a home in the rocks after a big day's journey brings a peace of its own.  At times like these you get to appreciate the things that are really important; friends, family, love, life - it seems silly that it takes a trip into the Sierra to reinforce these things as true, but whatever it takes, I am happy to be reminded.

1 year 11 days: day 1

In 2005, Rebecca and I did a kayak assisted trip down the headwaters of the Kern River.  Seven years later we decided to return, this time with our daughter Maggie.  As we passed folks along the way we noticed a variety of responses.  Some were enthusiastic, some were clearly not, most did not believe they were seeing a baby strapped to her mothers back in such a remote location.  I guess the question is why?  Why take a baby out on the trail for 11 days.  It is no easy task and there is a lot that can go wrong.  I figured I would take you along for the journey to see for yourself.  Maybe we will learn something along the way...

 Day 1:  Kernville to Lone Pine Lake

Like most of our adventures, this one started a little late.  We had work to get done at the brewery in the morning (go figure, it turns out that leaving your business for 11 days with no hope of communication is a big deal).  Of course there was the standard scrambling:

Me:  Do we have enough diapers?
Rebecca:  Yeah, I packed them.
Me:  Do we have enough TP and Coffee? (the only 2 things I really care about when in the wilderness)
Rebecca:  Yeah, I packed them.
Me:  How much Tequila do we have? (OK, so there are 3 things I really care about when in the wilderness)
Rebecca:  Two bottles.

We shuttled all of our stuff over to Marc's house to meet the van.  Our compatriots of camping Ann, Andrew, Dave, Allison and our intrepid shuttle driver Mike were all ready to go, and at the crack of 2:00 pm we hit the road.  I'm sure Mike wanted to lecture us on the enormous irresponsibility of our actions, but decided against it; an "I told you so" moment wouldn't have been good for anybody.

The Carl's Junior in Lone Pine would be our last stop in civilization for almost 2 weeks.  We had made a last minute adjustment to do the short hike into Lone Pine Lake up Whitney Portal and camp there instead of camping at the trail head.  This would give us a much needed head start on summitting the pass the following day.  It also meant that we did not have enough food, so we decided that a super-sized value meal was going to be a good break from the many mountain house meals that were to come.

At the trail-head we packed our substantial belongings and supplies; the plan was to get resupplied with a helicopter that would be bringing boats in on day 6, but the recent "George" fire has made that occurrence somewhat uncertain.  Since we were not going to be very adaptable in the case that the resupply fell through, Rebecca and I elected to take all of our food with us from the start.  The scale at the trail head pointed out the folly of our ways.  After enviously watching our crew's packs weigh in it was our turn.  My pack was in the vicinity of 65 lbs and Rebecca's pack (with passenger) was around 55 lbs.  Not the best start for folks better suited as kayakers.

Maggie checking out the damage

An unusual sight at Whitney Portal

 After a short period of laughing and pointing of fingers, we began the slow climb up to Lone Pine Lake, taking the obligatory photo op a the Wilderness Boundary.

From left to right: Maggie, Rebecca, Carl Jr and Eric

And the whole crew

We did get a few funny looks from passers by; some at Maggie and some at my greasy Carl's Jr. bag I was carrying.  Maybe they were just hungry.

The short hike to the lake was pleasant enough.  Since it was late in the day the weather was cool and the short jaunt with the heavy packs was enough to let us know that, while it might not be pleasant, we could probably get the weight over the pass one way or another.  Maggie seemed pretty content and we talked at each switchback (parents who hike with kids in a pack will understand this phenomenon).  The lake itself turned out to be a great campsite with a creek running nearby (the preferred water source).  And as we set up camp for the evening and enjoyed a hearty meal of bacon double cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches we got to bask in the anticipation of what would certainly be an amazing journey.  Of course Maggie (also known as "The Pi") was fairly zen about the whole thing, preferring to play with sand and sticks rather than get too worked up about it.

Twilight at Lone Pine Lake

Oh yeah, this happened to be June 3rd, which also happened to be Maggie's first birthday.

Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good...

I was starting to think that the combination of my camera and the Kaweah was bad luck for Andrew Mathews; it seemed like every time I pulled it out in this drainage something like this happened...

Andrew M in the wrong dimension of Triple Drop

 Then, this happened:

Yes!

Sometimes you have good days, sometimes you have bad days, and yes, sometimes you have both.