Sierra Nevada Adventures - Golden Trout Loop

Welcome back to California Mountain Adventures!

This next adventure is an awesome backpacking trip in the Golden Trout Wilderness in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains!

Coming along on this trip was my mom and my two kiddos (my dogs)! We drove up route 395 and then up 9 Mile Canyon road. We headed up into the mountains passed Kennedy Meadows all the way to the Blackrock trailhead where we began our adventure. The hike started through thick forest and after a few miles it opened up to beautiful Casa Vieja meadow. We made our way around the meadow checking out all the grazing cattle along the way. From there we headed north on the trail to Lost Trout creek, Long Canyon creek, and then Beer Keg meadow where we stopped and took our lunch. From there it was another easy 4 miles to our destination for the day, Redrock Meadows. We got there and scoped it all out and found a perfect spot to setup our first camp.

Small Meadows along the start of the trail

Grazing cattle at Casa Vieja Meadow

Hiking around Casa Vieja

Crossing Long Canyon Creek

Break time at Beer Keg Meadow

Views from the trail

The rock outcrop known as "Indian Head" which towers over Redrock Meadows

Old cabin ruins

Exploring Redrock Meadows

Redrock creek

Our first camp

Cotton candy sunset

Early the next morning, before packing up, we decided to make the short but fun class 3-4 climb up onto the Indian Head! After enjoying the view we headed back down to the meadow and packed up camp. From there we began the steep climb up to Toowa pass. This section was full of huge Red Firs which provided nice shade cover for the climb. Once up on the pass we dropped most our gear minus a small day pack and climbed cross country up above the tree line to the summit of Kern Peak(11,510') the highest point of our trip!!

Climbing up Indian Head

Mom standing on Indian Head

Views from near Toowa pass, with Indian Head in the lower left

Approaching Kern Peak

Leaving the trees

Views from the summit of Kern Peak including ruins from the old fire lookout

Looking north from Kern Peak, overlooking many of the awesome places we'll be exploring over the next couple days

Looking East from Kern peak, with Olancha peak towering over Templeton mountain and Templeton meadows, the second largest meadow in the Sierra Nevada

After enjoying all the amazing views from the summit we started our decent back to Toowa pass. We picked up all our gear and headed down the other side of the pass. After a couple steep miles we arrived at Templeton meadows and the South fork of the Kern River. We found a nice spot and got camp setup. Then I was off to explore the meadow to try some trout fishing before dark!

Descending from the peak

View of Olancha peak from the north side of Toowa pass

Arriving at Templeton Meadows

Templeton mountain sits in the center of the massive Templeton meadow

Exploring the meadow

Evening in the meadow

The next day we headed north to Ramshaw meadow. Another huge meadow. Here we turned east and headed along the south side of the meadow. Eventually leaving the South Fork Kern drainage and entering the Golden Trout creek drainage. We dropped into the drainage and pretty quick we arrived at the Malpais volcanic field. We got to Groundhog meadow and then dropped our gear there to make the climb up to the top of Cinder Cone. Which as the name implies is a huge cinder cone caused by volcanic activity in the area.

Sunrise at Templeton Meadows

Pup getting a drink at Ramshaw meadow

Overlooking Ramshaw meadow

Kern peak from Ramshaw meadow

Malpais

Climbing Cinder Cone

On top of Cinder Cone

Overlooking Volcano meadow from Cinder Cone

Mom checking the map while we rest on top, Kern peak towering over us in the background

After a nice break to enjoy the view we headed back down Cinder Cone across the Malpais and back to the trail. We picked up our gear and continued down the trail along the northern edge of Malpais to Little Whitney meadow where we stopped and made camp. Then I headed out for some trout fishing in Golden Trout creek. Golden trout creek is actually quite special. It's the only place where you can find pure native Golden trout. The 3 massive tiers of Volcano falls down on the lower parts of the creek have kept any other trout species from being able to get upstream to interbreed with them. So while they usually aren't very big, it was really special to get to see these beautiful and rare fish.

Golden Trout Creek

Little Whitney Meadow

Little Whitney Meadow

Little Whitney Meadow

Native Golden Trout

Native Golden Trout

The next morning we packed up and headed down the trail through the last of the Malpais volcanic fields, across the natural bridge, and down to Volcano falls. We dropped down off the trail to get some better views of the falls. After checking out all the falls, we continued down into Kern canyon all the way to the bottom at the Kern river. We crossed the river on the bridge there and headed down river passed Kern lake to Little Kern lake where we stopped and setup camp. There was a great spot to camp by the lake and not far from that was a 20ft tall rock at the edge of the lake which was perfect for jumping off into the lake. After doing some swimming I headed out again for some trout fishing around the lake and in the river.

Views from the upper part of the trail

Upper Volcano falls

Middle Volcano falls

Lower Volcano falls(bottom right)

Passing a Columnar Basalt outcrop

Tower Rock

Crossing the Kern River

Kern river

Kern river

Kern lake

Camping at Little Kern lake

Rainbow trout from the river

Sunset at Little Kern lake

The next day we continued down river, down the Devils Staircase and across Grasshopper flat to the Hole in the Ground junction. There we dropped our packs and made the side trip a couple miles down to check out Hole in the Ground, an equestrian camp by a nice swimming hole in the river. We took a little break there and then headed back up to the junction and picked up our packs. From there we began to climb up away from the river around the southern tip of the Great Western Divide through Willow meadow to Trout meadows. It took us awhile to find a spot to camp there, but we finally found a really nice spot on the southeastern side of the meadow. There are also some small cabins by the meadow that were being used by some equestrians who were letting their beautiful horses graze out in the meadow.

Kern river by Hole in the Ground

Looking up Kern Canyon

Willow meadow

Trout meadows

The cabins at Trout meadows

Horses in the meadow

Horses in the meadow

The next day we had a pretty easy day. We got up and hit the trail. From the meadow we climbed up over Flatiron ridge and then dropped all the way back down to the Kern river at Kern flats. From there we headed up river to the equestrian camp at Nine Mile creek. We got there early in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day swimming, fishing, and just relaxing by the river. And no equestrians came to use the camp so we had the place all to ourselves!

The horses in Trout meadow in the morning

Hiking through big Incense Cedars on Flatiron ridge

Back at the Kern river

Hiking up the Kern river

Equestrian camp on the Kern river by Nine Mile creek

Camp

In the morning before packing up we decided to spend the morning exploring up the river to the 'Falls of the Kern' where the whole Kern river roars over a 40 foot falls!! We explored all around this really impressive section of the river before heading back. Once back from our morning excursion we packed up camp and headed up Nine Mile creek.

Overlooking Kern Canyon in the morning

Bedrock mortars

Kern river above the falls

Looking off the Falls of the Kern

Kern river

Kern river

Nine Mile creek also had some awesome waterfalls for us. We climbed up passed the 60 foot lower falls, crossed the creek and climbed up a bunch of switchbacks over Soda Flats to the second creek crossing. But before crossing we made another side trip down stream to the upper falls which dramatically drops 200 feet into a deep gorge! After taking a break to enjoy the falls we continued up the trail to Jordan Hot Springs. We found a spot by the springs to setup our final camp of the trip. We explored the meadows and checked out all the cool old cabins and stuff from the old resort that used to exist at Jordan Hot springs. Then we spent the rest of the day soaking in the hot springs talking about what an awesome trip this was!

Lower Nine Mile Falls

Soda flats

Crossing Nine Mile creek

Upper Nine Mile falls

Approaching Jordan Hot springs

Old Cabins at Jordan Hot springs

Old Cabins at Jordan Hot springs

Old Cabins at Jordan Hot springs

Old Cabins at Jordan Hot springs

Meadows around Jordan Hot springs

Hot springs

Hot springs

Hot tub

Our final camp of the trip

Sunset glow above the hot tub

Senset from the hot tub

This was our final day of the trip. Bittersweet as expected. We packed up our gear and headed up Nine Mile creek, crossing multiple times before arriving back at Casa Vieja meadows! No cows there this time. From there it was just a few more miles back out to the Blackrock trailhead where we began this trip a week earlier!

Hiking up Nine Mile creek

Some interesting fungi

Back at Casa Vieja Meadows

*All photos by @derekrichardson

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