Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Kern Hot Spring

I'm planning a trip to Kern Hot Spring, and am wondering which is the best way to get there. Coming from the south, what is the best trailhead to get into Kern Canyon?

Or, coming from the east, does anybody know if it is possible to drop down into the canyon (cross-country style) from the Big Whitney Meadow area? Any way you cut it, it looks like a 2 day walk to get there.

Thanks
Alex

SDRider,

I have been to the Kern Hot Spring many times over the years. It's a great place once you get there. However, as you know, getting there is the problem. It's a long two days no matter what route you take. But here is a suggestion: At the junction of PCT and Whitney Creek (at lower Crabtree Meadows) cross to the north side and follow the creek until you come to a large packer campsite. From there, there is a cross country route that drops down into the Kern River from. The ******s take it, and I am sure other people on this board. I have been meaning to try that route, but each time I go I have my daughter with me and I get a little nervous. Several years ago, I posted a question as to the viability of dropping down into the Kern River and someone on this board responded with fairly good details of the route. Hopefully someone on this board again can provide more detailed information. From what I understand it takes less then 4 hours once you leave the packer site until you meet up with the Ker River trail.

Good luck

Thanks for the info on the Whitney Creek route, Paul. It would be nice to find another route a little farther south from there, say from the Rocky Basin Lakes/Funston Lake area down to Upper Funston Meadow. The topo lines look real close together there, so I'm wondering if anybody who's been in the Kern Gorge can tell me if this is possible or doable. Some of the pics I've seen look like class 3 on the upper part of the ledge.

SDRider,
This isn't the perfect picture but you may get a little idea of what you would be going down. I shot this looking back down the Kern from about four miles north of Kern Hot Springs on the High Sierra Trail. If you travel x country you will dropping over the obvious rim on the left of the Kern drainage as viewed from this <a href="http://scottm.smugmug.com/gallery/345432/2/13731305"> location</a>.

Thanks Scott M. I'm guessing that's Mt. Guyot rising in the middle of your picture? The topo lines don't look as steep south of Rock Creek (south of the spring) as they do in this section, and there's less of a ledge apparant on the map.

Yes, that is Guyot. I have to revise my vantage point indicated in my last post. I went back and looked at the sequence of all my shots from that trip (most not on the smugmug site) and that was actually taken from the section of the High Sierra Trail almost to Wallace Creek above Junction Meadow. This is about 11 trail miles north of Kern Hot Springs.

Thanks Scott. Man would I love to have just a couple weeks to explore this area! I'm trying to plan something doable for my dogs and my old man (they are certified service dogs for any ******s listening. I have a disability;) We've all done class 3 but it's the great unknown still.

Anybody out there dropped into Kern Canyon x-country from the East?

Peace
Alex