For this weeks Show Us Your California contest by @thesocalhive I share a backpacking trip with some friends out in the...

Golden Trout Wilderness!!

I met up with a few friends in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains for a 4 day backpacking adventure in the Golden Trout Wilderness. We started our trip at the Jerkey trailhead and made the climb up to Jerkey meadows and followed down Jerkey creek to the Little Kern river. The river was raging from all the snow runoff. Luckily there was a bridge for us to get across. We crossed the bridge and made the climb up to Trout meadows. We took a lunch break by the meadow and filled up some water in the creek there.

Jerkey trailhead

Lloyd Meadows creek

Jerkey meadows

The Little Kern River

The trail across Trout meadows

Trout meadows

From Trout meadows we continued up over a ridge and made a long drop over a thousand feet down to the Kern river. The river was huge! It was ripping, wide, deep, and fast. We headed up Kern canyon about a mile and found a great camping spot right near the lower Kern river bridge. We setup camp and I tried some fishing, but the water was moving way to fast to catch any fish.

Doe meadows

The Kern river

Blooming Lupin

Our first camp

Evening by the Kern river

The next day we crossed the river on the bridge and continued up Kern canyon to the Nine Mile creek trail. We headed up the Nine Mile creek trail passed Soda flats to the crossing of Nine Mile creek. Our plan had been to get a few more miles up the canyon to Jordan Hot springs, but when we saw how risky trying to cross the creek would be we had some second thoughts.

Crossing the Kern river

Kern river

The cabins at Soda flats

Nine Mile Creek

We walked downstream a bit and checked out Nine Mile falls which was really awesome with all the water gushing down over 200 feet! Then we tried going upstream a ways looking for any spot where we might have a chance of getting across the creek, but with no success. The creek was just to deep and fast. And with a 200 foot waterfall just downstream a fall into the creek would be certain death. We were pretty bummed that we couldn't make it to the hot springs, but there was nothing else we could do. We headed back down to the Kern river and found a really cool campsite which was, because of the high water, on an island between the main river and a smaller overflow creek formed by the overflowing river.

Nine Mile falls

Hanging out at the top of Nine Mile falls

Nine Mile creek

Hiking back by Soda Flats

Dropping back down into Kern canyon

Our camp on the island

After another fun night of camping we headed back down the Kern river, we recrossed the bridge and then made the big climb back up out of Kern canyon to Trout meadows where we made our final camp for the trip. The last day we headed back down to the Little Kern, re-crossed the bridge and then climbed back up and over Jerkey meadows to the Jerkey trailhead where we first started. It was a long tough hike, but the awesome scenery and fun people made it a great adventure!