Category Archives: Little Kern River Golden Trout

Forks of the Kern – San Diego Fly Fishers Club

July 15-19, 2020

I serve the board of the San Diego Fly Fishers Club.  For years, I have taken club members into the Forks.  If you read on this site you know how much I love the Forks.  I promised to do an “official” club trip with a larger group and I’m sure glad I did.  The “cat herding” of organizing and planning was well worth it.  We had so much fun.  9 tents in the huck site – a new record.  We set a lot of new “first times” and new records at “The Forks”.  I’ll elaborate some of them below.  What a great and diverse group!  From total beginner fly fishers to advanced experts.  I spent a lot of time guiding some of the beginners and absolutely had a blast doing it.

The weather was fantastic; never too hot.  We always seemed to have a breeze.  There were no mosquitos, but that is pretty common at the forks.  There is just not a lot of standing water near that raging river like there is on the eastern side of the sierras.  My guess is that is got to 80 degrees riverside.  But, the nights were cool; all the way in your 18 degree sleeping bag cool.  My guess was it got under 50 at night.  That is a big swing in temperature which is common at the Forks.

Steve Vissers in battle. Steve and I fished this run just 1/4 mile up river from the huck site for an hour and absolutely wrecked. lots of big fish.

We ate (and drank) well too.  I did not lose weight on this trip.  And I was doing 30K+ steps per day which included hiking, bushwhacking and fighting current.  I did the sous vide thing on a huge steak and lamb chops because there is a forest wide ban on campfires so I couldn’t grill them.  I hiked in a little butter and flashed them in my titanium frying pan under my jet boil.  It worked perfectly.  In terms of adult beverages here is what I noticed flowing: scotch, JD, bourbon, wines, beer….and port wine… now, that is a first.  And clearly not a sacrifice.  Since this is only a 4.36 mile hike to the huck site it offers the opportunity to carry a lot more weight going in and hike out that canyon much lighter.

Check out that giant steak i did by sous vide at home then flashed at huck camp

Everyone caught fish – The fishing was great.  Not a surprise because at those low flows the fishing is always great.  The 4 straight drought years a few years back provided some of the best fishing on the upper kern ever.  Some of the advanced fly fishers did really well.  Lots of big Kern River Rainbows well.  “Top 5 fly fishing trips ever” well.  At 240 CFS the river was crossable in many places safely including right at the huck site.  Like I have said on this site many times if you can fish the other side of the river you will put your flies in places where the fish just rarely see artificials.

Is that a Huck hopper stuck in that big fish’s face? why yes it is…

I’m a big believer in that 3 fly set up I detail in the Forks guidance document with the 3 titanium bead beldar stone pulling down a size 16 green caddis cripple.  I call it the Upper Kern river special.  It’s wildly effective.  I only fished that rig for 15 minutes, catching 2 kern river rainbows quickly.  I didn’t need to nymph.  I fished 98% of the time with dries.  Mostly Huck Hoppers.  Most of the time I fished a double dry with a battleship size 4 huck hopper above, trailed 18” behind by a size 12 huck hopper.  Color did not seem to matter.  I fished tan, brown, grey, black and green and they all got struck.  But, I wish I had those huck hoppers size 4 in yellow with me.  I did not.  there were yellow naturals on the banks and trails… all huge like 2s, 4s, 6s.… with a yellow body and black streaks and yellow wings.  A lot of them.  My guess is that the yellow huck hopper would have done well.  The reason I stopped nymphing when it was so effective?  A large kern river rainbow struck that big huck hopper with the beldar stone and the green caddis cripple below.  I set hard.  There were a lot of jumps and a battle.  I tried to release the tired fish quickly.  It was easy to remove the big huck hopper from it’s face.  But the 3+ feet of flouro and two nymphs were wrapped around the trout; not good.  I snipped the tippet in multiple places quickly so I could release that fish unharmed.  When it swam away I said to myself, “why redo that nymph rig all up again with its 5 separate knots when they are just going to rise for a battleship sized huck hopper.”  I never nymphed again on the trip.  There was no need to.  I saw consistent rises to huck hoppers all trip long even when the river warmed.

I have started tying a lot more size 12 black huck hoppers. they imitate so many naturals including queen flying ants

The flow was at 240CFS, which is drought-like flow.  And really bizarre for July to be so low on an average snowpack year.  It has to do with the amount, frequency and temperature that the snow falls and freezes.  I measured the river temp at the huck site in the morning at 58 degrees.  That is in the range that trout dig.  It is melted snow from Mt. Whitney, afterall.  But, after 35 miles in direct sunlight and air temps over 80, the river rose to 72 degrees by eod.  Typically, trout hate that warm water.  But, we all were getting rises in that water temp and catching fish.  Which means they were hunkered down at the bottom in the cooler channels and pockets and shot to the top to feed.  Don’t get me wrong.  There definitely was a lull in action from 11:30AM to 3:30PM.  But, I cannot explain why the fishing picked up in the later afternoon with those warm water temps.

Bruce Bechard fishing the tail-out at the huck site

As mentioned, we had a number of new firsts on this trip:

  • The way it shook out ½ of the group hiked in on Wednesday morning with me scouting and securing a site. and the other ½ hiked in Thursday. My plan from the beginning was to hike in a day early, securing a spot big enough for the group.  Then hike all the way back out and lead the group in the next day.  But, a bunch of these folks wanted to just hike in with me a day early.  Hiking back out provided an opportunity.  My buddy jeff kimura joined me in hiking back out with an empty backpack.  I filled mine with a 20 can box of coors and a few more random beers and some fresh food and jeff put a huge watermelon in his pack.  Both firsts.  I have to be the first 58 year old to hike a case of beer 4.36 miles up from the confluence on the forks trail.  And there is no way a full watermelon has made it that far up river.

Eric Miller, Angelina and Jeff Kimura eating watermelon at the Huck Site

  • I just realized this was the first 4-nighter I have ever done in the forks. Between the demand of work and family I just have never had the time to do anything longer than 3 nights.  It’s been mostly 2 nighters.  And honestly by the 5th day I was having so much fun, I wanted to stay a few more days.  A lot had to do with the fun group and a lot had to do with the awesome fishing and a lot had to do with not facing the reality of 5 days of going dark from work.  I do have to figure out how to do a 7-day trip to the forks.  I just have not been as far up that river as I would love to.
  • The rope swing at the huck site – I get emails all the time about how fun it is for kids. But, I had no idea how many “adults” could enjoy that thing.  With that late afternoon rise in water temp, a few found a 20 foot swing and 10 foot plunge into the deep pool in front of the huck site a welcome relief and a lot of fun.  Me?  I hiked in a pair of swimming goggles and swam / floated the run in the huck site chasing / spotting fish.  I knew that pool was deep.  I didn’t realize how deep.  It was eerie how deep that pool is.  The bottom was just beyond site even with goggles.  Even in that low flow it was deeper than 20 feet.  And the water was cold below 5 feet deep.

Angelina with Eric looking on at a graceful entrance to the big pool at the Huck Site.

Eric Miller executing on his now infamous 1/2 back flip of the rope swing

Bruce Bechard, grandfather, pretending like he is 14.

The cache is now overwhelmed with great “stuff”.  I’m going to have to start thinking about a more permanent container to survive the winter.  We have 3 saws of all sizes with extra blades, nippers for cutting back those pesky willows.  Cooking stuff.  A tent. Wading shoes. Etc.  But, thanks to Jeff Kimura the cache now has a quality camp table.  Too big for a backpack he hiked it all the way down the mountain holding it.  No more leaning over awkwardly, with back pain, to cook at the huck site.  If you want to use the cache and/or contribute to it download the “Guidance and Directions to the Forks of the Kern” doc.  Yes, I do realize it will be vandalized again by broadcasting it’s existence this.  Like it has been vandalized a few times going back in history.  It is still worth it to me to share.  If vandalized, I’ll just move it farther up the mountain and simply build it up again.

Animals and Calamities

If you have read on this site before I always say, “There are always calamities in backpacking.  You just hope they are little ones and you can overcome them.”  Short of the cuts, bruises and lots of muscle soreness our calamity ratio was pretty low.  I counted 3 broken rods, but we had plenty of spares.  I’m pretty confident everyone fell. It’s just part of the “tax” when fishing that river at such low flows.  I fell at least 3 times.  All 3 were “refreshing” without pain.  in that low flow the silt accumulates on the polished granite and it can be like stepping on ice.

The animals seen down at the forks included coyotes, deer, water snakes, rattle snakes, California king snakes and the normal smaller mammals.  No bears.  At that temp they are way up in altitude.  I’m sure mountain lions saw us, but we didn’t see them.  We had middle of the night visitors even though we hung our food.  They can’t help sorting through the trash bags.  I should have hung them.  But, something happened in the middle of the night that will be a mystery forever.  We put all the cold storage food and the booze and beer in mesh bags in the river.  They are secured to the bank.  On the first morning one of the mesh bags was pulled out of the river and the bottom was surgically opened as if with sharp teeth or claws.  Only the fats were consumed, like butter, which is typical of a predator…typical of a bear.  But, I find it hard to believe that a bear wandered into camp in the middle of the night with 9 tents scattered around and no one noticing.  A racoon?  It would have to be a strong smart one… or one willing to get in the water.  I have never seen a racoon at the forks.  A river otter?  So rare.  Maybe.  I have no idea if they eat anything but fish.

I did have a terrifying moment.  If you fish places like this, you are going to have incidents like this.  Because of the low flow I was getting into a position on an awesome run that is absolutely impossible to fish except in low flow.  I slowly worked myself into position.  I looked toward the bank and was staring face level at a rattlesnake coiled, eye to eye at 3 feet away… definitely within its striking distance.  Its rattle was not going off, but it was tucked back into a crevice in the rocks so it might have been if free.  In fact, it probably would have been.  Well, I jumped away from it, straight into the river and said, “that’s it. not fishing here.”

this beautiful stretch is where i came face to face with the rattlesnake

My favorite moments of the trip:

….were not from my own fishing….although I did catch a bunch of quality Kern River rainbows and one Little Kern Gold-bow.  They were all from fishing with beginners:

  • Delia Cooley – this gal loves to fly fish! It didn’t take me 30 seconds to figure out her husband John was a stick.  He has a beautiful cast.  So, it was super fun to take the “husband guiding the wife” thing off his hands for a few stretches.  It was clear Delia had been taught how to overhand cast.  But, still a beginner. It was her willingness and eagerness to take instruction that was so fun for me.  It got us quickly to roll casting…. A must on the upper kern for success.  Then we moved to multi-current drifts with both upstream and downstream mends, where fish are located, inside and outside seams, downstream setting skills…shoot, we even made it to a really advanced skill: letting a drift swing to the bank and tighten to tension 40+ feet downstream.  Then doing a tension / inertia cast 40+ feet straight back upstream.  Getting 30 foot drift coming straight at you with line control.  Then as the fly gets within 10 feet, roll casting it on a 45 degree down to the run in front of her to drift it out 30 feet and do it again.

I just love this picture John took of me and Delia

  • Jay Gross – I think this might have been one of Jay’s first fly fishing trips. A true beginner.  I had 2 favorite moments with Jay.  first was that witching hour at the end of the day where you can barely see and typically you can throw a size 18 anything.  Well, I complicated things for him by adding a size 20 midge emerger 18 inches down from his top fly.  The take was like a rocket.  I screamed, “Go!”  and he set hard.  He got into a short battle with a 12”- 14” kern river rainbow.  ….Size 20 barbless hook.  Well it shook him after about 10 seconds of battle, but he fooled him and fought him so I call that a catch.  I was most certainly excited screaming, “Wooo!”  Earlier in the day a similar thing went down.  This time in broad daylight in a clear river I watched it like was in slow motion.  A similar size fish shot up from below, grabbed his huck hopper and took it down.  It couldn’t have been more than 20 feet in front of us.  I screamed “Go!”.   that fish took the hopper to the bottom in clear view before head shaking it out of its mouth.  Jay didn’t “go”.  I said, “Why didn’t you set?”  he said, “I didn’t see it.”  I laughed and he laughed saying, “I don’t see very well.”
  • Jeff kimura – Jeff was a beginner last year. He is no longer a beginner. It is of pure coincidence that we met in person.  Because he lives right down the street from me.  Now he has the fly-fishing bug so badly I feel like I have to apologize to his wife, Diane.  Because I know from experience that his “bug” won’t be cured and is just going to cost more and more money.  Jeff caught a big one.  It was every bit of 15” and bordering on 16”.  And it was a football.  And it’s tail was a fan.  That in itself is special for a Kern River Rainbow.  But, the best thing is that he caught it in kern flats.  I don’t think I have ever caught a big fish in Kern flats.  It’s popular, easy to cast, and sees a lot of pressure.  It went down like this: We were leap frogging each other as we plowed up stream to Kern Flats.  I was upriver from Jeff when I heard the shout.  I looked down river and his rod was bent sideways.  The fish was downstream from Jeff and running downstream hot.  I thought he was doomed.  It’s so hard to get a big wild native fish back up river.  You have to chase them. We never got to any detailed fish fighting skills.  Of course, I was so excited for Jeff I threw my rod on the bank and was running to him yelling “Go with him Jeff!  Run downstream with him!”  After I caught up to Jeff he had a lot of line out and the line was still in his hand.  It could have been in the backing.  I was screaming, “rod tip high!”  “Get him on the reel!”.  After I said, “Jeff, get him on the reel.” For the 2nd time Jeff said, “I can’t.  my drag was set too light.  He came close to spooling me when he ran and bird-nested my reel.”  I laughed.  Jeff fought that fish like a pro holding the fly line.  I know an old guide trick about landing fish.  We didn’t have a net.  I ran downstream from the fish, working my way back splashing and scared the fish back up stream to jeff.  When jeff got him close and tired I said, ok swing him in and beach him.  I think I shocked Jeff when I said that, but the fish was still hot and not only did I want a good look at that fish I knew jeff would too.  I knew we could do it without hurting the fish. Jeff swung him perfectly on momentum not pulling too hard into polished granite in about 2 inches of water.  I pulled that huge hopper out of its face, placed the fish in Jeff’s hands and he released him after making sure he got enough breaths to take off.

Backpacking to the Upper Little Kern River – Success!

5-22-20

i know i shouldn’t gopro a struggling fish with a Huck Hopper hanging out of the side of his face.  But it was only 20 seconds and i never pulled him out of the water releasing him.  you have to admit the footage is pretty cool.

Yes, I did go back to the little kern by way of the Clicks Creek Trailhead.  Just two weeks later after my failed attempt alone.  The road opened so this time I didn’t have to hike 8 miles, alone, on a crappy arduous complicated set of trails and roads, while it howled, raining and snowing, providing me a max of 10 feet of visibility with trails that simply disappeared causing tons of episodes of the losing the trail and getting lost just in the process of simply attempting to get to the trailhead I needed to start from.

And yes, it’s as awesome as I had heard.  I cannot wait to get back there.  Thanks to the handfull that helped me research.  But, especially to Steve Schalla aka Steven Ojai.  This place is truly a legit alternative to the Forks of the Kern when spring turns the main fork of the Kern into a raging dangerous unfishable river.  There’s just one significant negative about the Clicks Trail.  And it’s only a negative for us over 50s …closer to 60s…who’s broken down bodies are getting weaker.  More on that below.

I did a 3-nighter with a couple buddies:

Martin Loef relaxing at camp

  • Martin Loef who I have known for around 40 years; a true wilderness guy; a backpacking product rep who loves life (and the wilderness) more than anyone I know. I know Martin because he’s actually the best friend of my cousin.  Martin is a bit older than me…and I’m old… but, man, he is always so fit and I swear he puts 70 Lbs on his back he brings so much fresh food.  I’m quickly turning Martin into a fly fisherman.  His positive attitude is so infectious that I love guiding him more than I love fly fishing myself.  When I sent an email out to my fly fishing friends who backpack just 2 days before I was to leave (I made the last minute call when I got word the road opened).  Martin was the only on that replied, simply, “in!”.  Of course, he paid for that decision dearly after returning to his wife Viv laying the hammer on him for disappearing over memorial day weekend.

Luke Budwig – rejoicing over steak

  • Luke Budwig, a 24-year-old fly fishing fanatic I have known since he was tiny. Kelly and I are actually friends with his parents; great people.  Luke did the smart thing after graduating from college.  He flew to New Zealand with a buddy and fly fished for 3 months travelling through both islands.  Well, Luke had been texting me about joining me on my fly fishing adventures and he hit me right after I heard the road was open.  I told him he was more than welcome, and encouraged to join us.

The fishing was spotty.  I’d say average overall.  I believe it was it was because it’s so early in the season.  The river was so cold in the mornings that it stung on my bare legs.  Overnight temps below 32 degrees (frozen everything).

There was a fishing “issue”… something we have all experienced.  After hiking in and setting up camp, I didn’t get to fishing until around 630pm.  I wandered down river a few hundred yards to a big pool where Luke had caught a couple trout an hour earlier. Boom: First cast fish.  “Hmmmm”, I said to myself.  I ended up landed 10 fish in 20 minutes (for once I counted because when I realized it was ridiculous good, I resigned myself to stop at 10 to go back to camp to work on processing firewood for the camp fire).  It was ridiculous fishing with takes on top (trout 4” to 13”) on every cast.  I hooked and landed a 4” trout on a size 4 huck hopper!  I still don’t know how he even got it in it’s mouth.  Drag-less drifts (and it was a tough drift with multiple current lines and an eddy) didn’t seem to matter. I really feared it was going to be like catching a nice trout on your first cast and then getting skunked for the rest of the day.

one of the 4 nice runs on the Little Kern River within yards of where we camped.  That’s Luke.  He caught some nice Goldens here over the 3 days

And yes, I was fishing my “JD B3 LS”.  Translation: a special rod custom built for me by Jack Duncan, my dear friend from the San Diego Fly Fishers club.  Jack is a wildly talented rod builder and teacher.  A wily veteran of fly fishing.  And a generally great guy.  I believe I have told the story before but when the Winston BIII LS blanks went on sale, Jack said, “Tim, buy them.”  I did.  The LS is medium action.  For a “stick” that rod is a dream to cast.  In fact I told luke on this trip, “wait until you try this rod…”.  Luke is a stick.  3 months of fishing in New Zealand will do that.

This could be this my favorite picture of the trip. it’s actually a frame of video I pulled off my GoPro.  You can’t see the Huck Hopper hanging out of his face so it looks like he’s rising.

Slow in the mornings getting better as the day went on is how the following couple days went.  Again, it wasn’t great.  I’m sure it is great at certain times of the year there.  It was Okay in the late afternoons and evenings.  I just happened to catch a hatch that first night accidently; lucky.

Little Kern River Goldens

I thought these were “Gold-bows”. As it turns out these are a pure strained Little Kern Goldens

One of the interesting scientific/biology things for me and Luke was the identification of the trout.  After Luke caught the first few fish on that first night he said, “rainbows”.  I said to myself, “huh.  I didn’t think they had rainbows way up here.”  It was my understanding there is a huge waterfall that serves as a barrier protecting the little kern goldens from the kern river rainbows.  It was my understanding that juvenile little kern goldens exist below the waterfall all the way into the north fork of the kern river near the confluence.  But, not above the falls.  But, so much stocking has been done over the years in the sierras it made sense that other trout species would do well if planted there.  A single brown trout would have a field day feeding on 4” goldens….

I find it so amusing that a 6″ golden would rise and take a size 4 Huck hopper.  This is not the exception.  Which is why on the Kern and the Little Kern a huge Huck Hopper is my indicator.

So, when I caught those 10 trout that first night I would examine them as closely as I could in the ~10-20 seconds I had to unhook them and get them back into the river safely.  First thing of interest was that every trout I caught had par marks.  Par marks are the large distinguishable dots that line the trout from head to tail as a juvenile.  And as they come to adulthood the par marks fade away.  At least I thought that.  And it was because I thought that, that I assumed the 12” and 13” trout I caught were big juveniles less than 2 years old.  With so little food opportunity at that high elevation that made no sense to have a fish that big have par marks in that river.  Every fish we caught for the rest of the trip had par marks.  Hmmmm.   The other interesting thing I noticed was the distinguishable gold bellies on these trout which are typical of a California golden.  Some more pronounced than others.  The bodies of these trout were generally colorful like you’d expect from trout at altitude.  But, not colorful like the California golden trout.  I immediately assumed “gold-bows”; hybrids of cross breeding.  So, when I went back to camp I told luke, “rainbows and gold-bows”.  I was wrong.  California goldens are so distinguishable.  They are so colorful even out of spawning times they just look strange….and beautiful.  The little kern golden trout is its own sub species that only lives in basically a 20 mile stretch of river with a few ~2 mile tributaries that feed it.  that tiny little area is the only place in the world that has them.  That is special.  But, now researching them on the “interweb” I can see they look nothing like the California golden trout.  And they keep their par marks through adulthood.   So the entire time there we thought we caught zero little kern goldens when in reality we caught a ton of them.

The Little Kern River Golden Trout

In fact, we caught Little kern river goldens to 15”.  Well, Luke hooked that big one.  and he earned it.  I saw the big fish from way high above on a rock on mountaineer creek when with him.  Luke got a couple refusals, so I moved on.  As it turns out Luke worked that fish for 30 minutes.  Isn’t that awesomely typical of a 24-year-old fly fisher?  I would have given that thing 5 drifts and moved on.  Luke hooked him and set hard.  That really pissed off that Little Kern Golden trout.  The big trout jumped over a low hanging branch from a tree and broke off right back into the creek.  That has happened to me before in the main fork of the kern.  I think I chronicled that story on this site.  I had a huge kern river rainbow jump after setting hard, at least 10 feet into the air over a tree branch hanging over the river….and broke off.  I could only laugh.  There is a reason those trout got so big.  And the huge difference between catching wild natives and stockies.

Sandals and Jeans – Luke and the evening hatch just feet from the campsite.

Day one ended at the campfire eating the giant steaks we hiked in while sipping adult beverages.  Great day; the anticipation and angst of a huge fishing day the next day was looming on me.

“Sacrificing” on the first night: steak

Day 2

As mentioned, it was cold; Really cold the next morning.  I didn’t feel like doing my dishes in the dark the night before so I left them riverside soaking.  They were frozen solid in the morning.  So, there was no rush to get fishing quickly.  It was going to be a big day of exploration upriver.  We chose to fish upriver on the little kern.  There is no trail and it’s totally rugged bushwhacking.  And sure enough that session to early afternoon was really spotty…..almost dead.  Very few takes.  I was fishing dries only.  I think I caught one trout.  Also, the river was really skinny wild and overgrown; unfishable in many large stretches.  What I found really surprising is that in this area the Little Kern River is significantly smaller than Alpine Creek.  The clicks creek trail intersects with the confluence of the Little Kern River and Alpine Creek.  that is where we camped.  Although we didn’t know it at the time, we camped on Alpine creek about 100 feet upriver from the confluence.  It’s so overgrown wild there it took some hours to figure out there was even a confluence even though we were on top of it.

This picture is at sunrise from where we camped. Notice you cannot even see the confluence of the Little Kern and Alpine Creek.  If fact from this view you cannot see water at all it’s so overgrown with willows.

I learned later that the official trail crosses Alpine creek right where we camped, but you’d need to use GPS navigation to figure that out.  And there is another warning: Beyond where the clicks creek trail hits the little kern river there are a couple official trails.  One that generally follows the little kern and one that generally follows Alpine creek.  But, they are barely distinguishable and would require GPS navigation.  There is no trail for most of it.

So, after that morning session of a few hours we hiked back to camp and rested / ate.  Then we fished the little kern river downstream for a few miles (we never made it to the bridge stopping just after the confluence of clicks creek and the little kern river) and did better.  It wasn’t great fishing, but got better and better as the river temp warmed.

I have this “thing” about needing to catch a fish within 100 feet of where I camp while backpacking.  And I did work hard for it.  a nice 10” trout on a small huck hopper.  Mission accomplished.

Another truly great thing about this part of the Sierras: camp fires.  I can’t tell you how proud Martin was of his “ichiban” and his titanium chop stix… Btw, as of June 1, 2020 camp fires are now prohibited which is common in hiigh fire danger periods of the summer.

Day 3

So, at the campfire the night of day two I suggested we try exploring the other way: fishing our way upstream on Alpine creek.  Martin and Luke agreed…. excitedly.  To me, this was the most special day we had.  It was a shockingly beautiful bushwhack and the fishing was much better.  The water was much better and bigger with outstanding runs, pools and pocket water.  We saw many more bugs too.  Mayflies and midges.  At points there were random drakes hatching…like size 14s.  we saw some rises too.  I don’t believe we saw a single natural rise the day before although we did induce a few.

About a ½ mile upstream on Alpine creek there is a confluence.  Facing up river Mountaineer creek is on the left.  The water is bigger in Alpine creek so Luke and I crossed the creek (Martin still fishing behind us) went above the confluence and our jaws dropped.  We were staring at a quarter mile stretch of polished granite with two significant waterfalls plunging into pools.

Here’s me in front of the two waterfalls on Alpine Creek. Seemingly a fish block. but, we did catch goldens up stream.

At the confluence itself was the most amazing rock formation.  I think I hooked a fish in the bottom pool then luke and I scaled the granite, fishing our way up.  It was so beautiful Martin just stayed there relaxing, eating, and enjoying this amazing find in the middle of nowhere while Luke and i fished up stream.  I still have not found any documentation of the names of these falls or even pictures of them.  Although, If you look on google earth (satellite view) you can totally see them.

Unbelievable Waterfall and Rock structure beauty in the middle of nowhere on Alpine Creek

Above the falls the creek got really skinny and was overgrown in most places.  About a mile up Luke and I ran into a primitive camp site and we both said, “no way.  This is the middle of the wilderness.”  But, when I looked at the topo on my garmin inReach 66i, I could see an official trail nearby.  God only knows where it came from.  We didn’t do too well in that stretch so we doubled back and then fished up Mountaineer creek, which was skinny but had large pools where you could see the trout.  It was about ½ mile up stream on Mountaineer where luke broke off his “golden monster” in a tree.

Martin took this Pano picture of the waterfalls and rock formation on his iphone.

When it was slow in the morning I even switched to nymphing.  There were some deep runs in Alpine creek.  But, it was slow: like a take per 30 mins type of thing.  really great water, too.  As expected, It didn’t get better until way later in the day (after the water warmed up).

I have a saying about bushwhacking to fly fish in the sierras: “You will give the mountain your blood.”  i was actually in shorts when i fell.  the actual picture of my leg was a little too nasty.  this pic was taken after cleaning the wound up.

It was a really great day way north of 25,000 steps of wading and bushwhacking.  I was exhausted by the time we hit the evening hatch near the site.  A campfire, my newly found love of dehydrating my own real meals for backpacking, a little JD and I was in the tent early…which is typical of me.  As I lay there I have to admit I was dreading the next morning….breaking camp and that awful hike out.  I just didn’t realize how awful it would be.

Day 4: The Hike out

There are 4 nice runs within 200 yards of where we camped. This is Luke on one of them. he’s pointing at a huge fish. carp? sucker?

We started the hike out at 8:45AM.  The weather was sunny and cool.  I said to myself, “it’s only 5 miles.” In training for this I was averaging 5 mile run/hikes in the local hills of Calavera…300 feet above sea level.  The only real negative on the clicks trail has everything to do with getting to the trail and the trail itself.  The destination at the Little Kern River is pretty awesome.  The clicks trail from Clicks trailhead 2 is kinda’ poorly made.  It’s straight up and down for stretches that should be switch backs.  So, the hike out…gaining 2000 feet while already at altitude was an absolute bitch.  No real switch backs.  Just brutally steep trail.  It’s almost like it follows a significant amount of animal trails (deer don’t need switch-backs).  I kinda’ noticed it on the way in, going downhill.  But, didn’t realize the magnitude of the grade.  Honestly people complain constantly to me about the 1100 foot climb in 2 miles out of the canyon on the forks of the kern trail.  The forks is a cake-walk compared to the clicks trail.

Oh yea, forgot to mention 500 year old giant sequoias

Also, the set of dirt roads off highway 180 (mainly north road) is confusing.  And not well signed.  Martin and I took a wrong turn and were lost for about 15 mins before I figured it out.  Btw, there was a lot of snow on the dirt roads.

I told you Martin just loves life no matter what life deals him.  So, on the hike out he’s actually happy, talking the whole time and loving it while I’m totally sucking.  He had to mention the cold beer waiting for him in my 7 day cooler I the back of my truck 5 times.  In the steep stretches I could only move at a snails pace.  That is not like me at all.  I’m a fast hiker.  But, I was giving it all my little old engine had.  Martin got ahead of me and that was fine…. At least at the time I felt it was fine.  Luke, in his 24 year old zest for fly fishing decided he needed to fish a meadow on the Clicks creek at the bottom of the mountain and that he’d catch up with us or see us at the car.  That worried me a little I have to admit.  I don’t typically worry when I backpack alone.  I worry when i’m with others.   We found out later he did well there.  Of course.

Why are there always calamities in backpacking?  Martin got ahead of me and then doubled back to check if he was going the right way.  Yes, Martin was having so much fun while I was miserable that he purposely lost a bunch of altitude to double back.  I looked at the topo on my garmin.  I had the trek in overlaid on the map.  We were so close.  So I told him so: “we are within ½ mile of the truck”.   So, Martin bolted ahead.  And I pushed on.  The next thing I know I ran into a “welcome to the Golden Trout Wilderness” sign facing the other way.  I said to myself.  We did not pass that on the way in.  They must have put that in while we were camping.  They did not.  I missed the cutoff to the clicks 2 trailhead.  It wasn’t until I hiked about ¼ mile farther that I realized it.  because the trail was on top of Clicks Creek.  I could actually see a bunch of goldens in the water and I knew we did not pass this stretch on the way in.  Then the fear hit me.  If I missed the cutoff so did Martin.  And he could have been ½ mile ahead of me.

Luke, Martin and Tim: a handsome young fly fisherman and two old guys

The worry-based adrenaline hit me.  I dropped by pack and started jogging to try to catch him.  After a half mile of running I did not catch him.  Then the worry really hit me.  “did he actually see the cutoff trail and I did not?  the penalty for his failure could be significant….like 4-5 miles significant”.  And Martin is the type of guy that would have enjoyed that.  Me?  Not so much.  I was worried I’d be looking all night for him.  So, I doubled back.  I went so far jogging, seemingly, that I had the fear I missed my pack.  But, I eventually found it easily.  I hiked backwards to find the cutoff staring at my gps the entire time.  And missed the trail cuttoff again!  As I stared at my GPS and could see I was on top of it, 200 yards max either way.  That is when I heard Luke coming up the trail.  “Thank God.” I said out loud.  Even he was exhausted.  I explained the situation to him.  We head back up the hill.  This time I saw the trail intersection.  You know the trails are bad when it takes 3 attempts to go back the way you came even with GPS navigation.  So, I did my best to clear logs and line that trail intersection so others wouldn’t get screwed.  Then Luke and I, confidently now, marched up the last 2/3rds of a mile trek out to where my truck was at the Clicks 2 parking lot.  I was worrying that entire time that Martin would not be there.  And if he was not there, my plan was to drive to the clicks 1 trailhead…which god only knows how far that would be or how I would get there…3-4 miles to find him.  As I crested the mountain and saw my truck, there he was.  Thank god.  And with a smile on his face he was bitching about not remembering where my keys were so he could enjoy a delicious beer.

So, did he actual notice and take the trail cutoff / intersection to clicks 2 that I missed twice?  No.  In his ignorant bliss he hiked most of the trail from clicks 2 to clicks 1 that lines the clicks creek.  Ultimately, he ran into a couple fly fishermen who parked at clicks 1 and said, “hey, where the hell am i?”   they advised him back the trail to another trail that was a shortcut through the forest to the main dirt road.  From there martin ran a couple miles on the dirt road, making the left turn on a different road to the clicks 2 trailhead, pack on, to where my truck was.  And still beat us.  I think he did a 4 mile detour.  As it was I did a 2.8 mile addition to that trail.

This is Luke above Alpine Creek – what an awesome stretch of fishable water

Summary

Beautiful place.  Complicated 4 wheel drive roads to the trailhead.  Brutal hike out.  it’s a long steep hike for only being 5 miles.  Losing 2000 feet of elevation.  Plus it takes gps navigation and maps; there are no real trail markers.  The state of California is just so under budgeted for the forest.  It’s a shame.  My club and I are trying to help fix that.

The fly fishing was average to good.  Not epic.  The water temps were still so cold.  Morning water temps below 40.  That means you don’t see rises until the water sees sun all day.  It’s an awesome place.  I can’t wait to get back.

So, I caught fish every day to 13”.  But it sure was slow for the better portion of the morning and early afternoon until the water warmed up.  That has everything to do with fishing the sierras in May.  But, clicks is a definitely alternative to the forks when the kern is raging in spring.

And Yea, I’m banged up pretty good too.  Lots of cuts and scrapes.  I gave the river and the mountain some blood on this trip.  Bushwhacking….  We saw plenty of evidence of bears, but not the bears themselves.  Deer, coyote, birds, small game…

And yea, I fished clicks creek.  Just farther down river.  But what I did discover is that the meadow stretches between clicks 1 and 2 is awesome.  Luke actually fished it after we hiked out.  And did well.  Being lost I got to see it.  I could see tons of goldens in that creek without willows…. Unobstructed casting.  I need to get back there and fish that stretch.

And there is the guidance:  In retrospect when I do it again I will park and take off from clicks 1 trailhead.  There really is no reason to hike from clicks creek 2 trailhead.  The next time I do this I’ll start from Clicks 1 and fish my way through the first 1.25 miles until the trail loses the creek and heads down the mountain.  All the guidance says clicks 2 eliminates 2 miles.  It’s closer to 1.25 miles along a fairly flat, beautiful stretch of meadow and calm mountain stream.  It’s a lot flatter than the steep trail down from clicks 2.  Hindsight.

And btw, now that i have stared at the maps and where we hike to….we were not even close to the headwaters of the Little Kern River.  that little river goes for miles.  so much to explore.  the sierras are so vast.  and so filled with trout.

 

Backpacking to the Upper Little Kern River – Failed

May 14, 2020

I have failed my mission into the golden trout wilderness to fly fish the headwaters of the Little Kern River.  I’m home; I’m supposed to be in the wilderness fly fishing.  Yesterday turned into 2 separate 5 hour drives to and from the trailhead, plus a brutal, miserable, & frustrating 5 mile out and back hike at 8000 feet with 45 pounds on my back.  Once it got too hairy, I did the safe thing and turned back.

normally i wouldn’t take a picture of a simple bear print.  i see so many.  but, this one was so fresh and so big.  It meant the bear was really close and with 20 feet of visibility in the fog it put me on high alert

My mission was to find a place that was backpackable within 5 miles to fly fishing that still fished well during the runoff stretch March to July when the Upper Kern river was too blown out to be fishable.  A place that I could lead many beginner backpackers and beginner fly fishermen/women that would reduce the misery of backpacking and enhance the fun of fly fishing.  I talked to many experts about it and the Headwaters / upper stretch of the Little Kern River seemed perfect.  Couple that with a variety of tributaries of the Little Kern in the area that supported an abundance of one of the most concentrated species in the world, the Little Kern Golden Trout.   And finally a place that during the pandemic was legal to hike into and fly fish (unlike the entire eastern side of the sierras).

I had planned this trip for weeks.  I studied maps and satellite images for weeks.  I had been looking forward to this.  This quarantine thing is killing me.  And it’s killing my wife kelly that I’m home 24/7.  I have travelled hard for 20+ years of my career.  This year was going to be my 2 million mile milestone on United.  I just don’t have the personality to handle the monotony of doing the same thing every day.  It’s like I’m stuck in the movie groundhog day.  Although I have been getting out and hiking, mountain biking and running the Carlsbad open space hills for weeks getting in shape, it is not enough.   Work is stressful; that is why they call it work.  The virus has acerbated the behavior of some of the people I work with.  It’s hard for me because one of the few genes I got from God (along with good teeth) is being able to manage stress….well, at least I think I do better than most under stress.

But… the dirt roads to the trailheads are still closed for the winter.  Each year the western divide ranger district has the herculean task of clearing the roads from fallen trees, rocks and other debris that just happens as a byproduct of the erosion of melting snow and winter storms.  Well, that and the damage that the pine beetle does to the trees.  It’s not like the State of California is wildly funding these efforts.  Over the last 20 years we have seen a shrinking of budget to the point where we can’t even keep our trail markers and signs intact.  And the lack of care (ie: budget) for the California wilderness is a true shame. That is a key part to this story.

So, I was not able to drive to the trailhead I actually wanted to try and explore.  Because the roads are not open yet.  So, my plan was a 6-7 mile trek (on the summit trail) to the actual trailhead I wanted to take (Clicks Creek) to the headwaters of the little kern river.  The total hike looked like around 12 miles and my plan was to break that up in 4 segments (2 hikes out and 2 hikes back; breaking camp each day and hiking in the mornings).

Here’s what happened:

As I drove up the Tule river on 190 (Porterville) it went from hot and sunny, to overcast, to rain… by the time I got to the trailhead around 7500 feet…which was not that easy to find, it was completely fogged in, lightly raining and 42 degrees at 1:30PM.  Leading up to the trip, I had watched the weather like a hawk.  It was supposed to be hot and sunny for 3 straight days.  The satellite image over the area was totally clear that morning as it had been for a week, lacking any form of clouds.  My worry on this trip was mosquitos…not snow or rain or visibility.  I did not pack any of my cold weather backpacking stuff, short of a down vest.  But, since I drove all the way out there 5 hours, planned for weeks, I set out anyways.  I had 6.5 miles to hike in the first day to make it to the Clicks Creek trailhead.  At the trailhead or a few miles down the trailhead, I was told there was fishable water for the little kern golden trout so that wouldn’t have been a bummer to fish the evening hatch, then camp for a single night.  Remember, the only reason I was doing this summit trail hike was because the road in was closed which prevented me from just driving dirt roads to the actual 4.2 mile trail I wanted to take.

My first heads up of concern: The trail marker at the road was unreadable and weathered.  I knew I was in the right place from the GPS in my truck.  But, the trail itself was barely distinguishable.   and it was cold.  The first mile of the trail is switchbacks, very steep up hill, much brutal than the forks at points.  And I was at altitude and even though I had worked hard getting in shape for months I was definitely huffing and puffing.  I had talked to a few experts and got a tremendous amount of help from “Steven Ojai” and others.  I was told I wouldn’t be alone on that stretch of the trail; that it was very popular.  I was alone.  Alone not only because of the weather I learned as I kept hiking.  I was told I’d see mountain bikers.  And there was no way a mountain bike had been there for 6 months.  The trail was filled with deadfall, fallen trees and branches, etc.  there were no human footprints.  And it was really steep.  I was the first of the season on that trail for sure.  The real concern/bummer was that I could not see more than 10 feet at times it was so fogged in.  I was told it is a beautiful part of the sierras, with giant sequoias everywhere…but, I couldn’t seem them.  Plus, it was hard enough just staying on the trail it was in such bad shape: I had to keep my head down.  Every once in a while I could see a set of horse tracks going the other way…that looked to be a couple weeks old.  That kept me encouraged.  But, zero signs of any other human being on that trail for months.  Hmmm…

uhhhh… Am i supposed to march through that?  is that the trail?

I knew what was ahead of me… a north bound trail, but, a winding trail for miles of N, S, E and west turns as it navigated over and down mountains and around marshes and meadows.   I knew I’d have to reference my maps and GPS.  So, I was a little concerned.  But there was always going to be a dirt road generally close to the trail.  And I had my Garmin InReach 66i; a handheld gps with txting ability.  And I had printed maps at a resolution with enough detail that I had confidence.

I got to the top of the switchbacks huffing and puffing.  Then the trail headed basically headed straight down hill on the other side of the mountain.  After 1.35 miles the trail intersected a dirt road and ended.  I stared at my gps and the maps and couldn’t figure out where I was.  This dirt road wasn’t on my gps so I speculated it could have been one of 2 places on the paper maps.  But, the mileage was off from my paper maps….as if it was not on my paper maps.  So, I had to assume the dirt road was the trail.  But I had to guess at which way to go…west or east because it did not match anything I had on the maps.  I went west. ½ mile later I figured out that I guessed wrong.  That turned into a half mile long detour on a road that ended into a temporary horse coral with no trail continuing in any direction…especially north where I was ultimately headed.  I stared at the map again and the gps and just couldn’t figure it out.  It didn’t match to what I saw on the maps.  The gps has a tiny screen and it’s hard to navigate with simply by staring at it’s topo map.

here’s an example of the visibility…and this is on a road!

So, I went the other way backtracking the ½ mile on the road.  And other ½ towards the east there was a trailmarker off the side of the road headed north.  but it was badly weathered and not distinguishable so what trail it was, who knows?  I  said to myself, “this has to be it.  But, if I have to continue getting lost and losing the trail this is going to be a long day and I might not make it to my destination by dark.”  I took it for a mile and it was very steep downhill.  It ended up in a marsh/meadow.  At this point the trail was almost impossible to follow.  It would disappear and reappear 100 feet later, but I could only see around 20 feet so I ended up wandering in an 180 degree circle while bushwhacking trying to find the trail.  I lost the trail a bunch of times like this…wasting more time and getting more frustrated.  Around 2.75 total miles (which included all the lost detours so I was in the middle of the wilderness, but still fairly close to my truck) it seemed like the trail crossed this marsh / meadow to the other side.  But, I couldn’t tell.  I couldn’t see and I couldn’t imagine a trail going through a foot of water and the sinking mud that might go with it.  It appeared something had crossed fairly recently but it wasn’t a human.  At points it seemed to be a foot of water or deeper.  And it was so foggy I could barely see across.  I managed to get across hopping fallen trees and such.  But, my boots were wet for sure now.  That was much better than sinking into mud to my waste and dying of hypothermia not being to get out….  On the other side it kind of looked like trail, but it dead-ended into bush on two sides and foot deep of water marsh on the other.  If I could see, I would have bush wacked to try to find the trail.  But, I couldn’t see farther than 20 feet so it wasn’t like I could look far ahead for trail.  The bushwhacking literally looked like dense forest.  I stared at my gps and could see a dirt road fairly close, but there was no way to get to it without one hell of a bushwhack or trek through marsh.  And I was not convinced it was North road; the road that was closed that ultimately I’ll just drive to the Clicks Trailhead with.

Realize I’m getting close to 2 hours of hiking and although I have 4 more hours before the sun goes down I am worried about losing time.  I’m way way off the 18-20 minute per mile pace I’m used to.  This was going to be a two hour hike of 6-7 miles and close to 2 hours and I have only gone around 2 miles.  So I wandered the edge of the marsh for 30 yards or so in water/mud bushwhacking against the trees trying to find the trail.  That is when I looked down.  My foot was right next to a very fresh large black bear print.  Since it was drizzling it was easy to see that the print was very fresh.  It was in mud with water all around it; yet the paw prints were not filled with water yet.  A max of 10 minutes fresh.  I could hear things in the woods on my trek but, I couldn’t tell if it was just the wind, rain, or bears.  Black bears don’t scare me.  I have had tons of encounters with them.  They are not typically attackers like the grizzly unless they are startled or threatened.  I had bear spray with me.  I know how to be “loud” on the trail so they scatter long before you see them.  But, with so little visibility and the loudness of the rain and wind, it would have been impossible not to startle them or them startle me.  Startling a bear scares me.  I had heard animals in the woods the entire way as I hiked.  I just couldn’t see them.  I assumed deer.  But, now with that print I knew at least one big black bear, just out of hibernation was close.  I did the “hey bear!  Hey bear!” thing.

Then I contemplated…  Dejected, I said to myself, “That’s it.  I’m calling it.  I’m already an hour behind and I’m not even sure I’m on the right trail to start with.”  I hiked that  brutal ~2 miles back to my truck discouraged with the realization of my failure.  “Doing the safe thing” just didn’t console me.  I didn’t treat myself to the delicious beer that was waiting for me because I felt like I didn’t earn it.  At my truck, I contemplated my options.  I could wait out the storm.  But, it was only 4pm.  But, that meant waiting 4 hours for the sun to go down with nothing to read, see, etc.  It meant eating backpacking food off a highway in the rain.  then sleeping in the back of my truck.  I was not close to cell signal nor a hotel.  So, I just sucked it up.  Accepted my failure and drove 5 hours back home.  I could have waited out the weather.  But, I would have lost a day meaning a 12 mile hike to my ultimate destination…on a trail I could barely follow.

In hindsight…if I had prepared to do it, I should have just hiked the closed road.  Next year I’ll do that.   It would have been another 2 miles making it a 7-8 mile first day to the trailhead.  But, seemingly easy to follow.  But, since I lost so much of the day that was no longer an alternative.  This was supposed to be a fishing trip not an hiking / adventure / survival trip to find a fairly easy 4-5 mile hike to the Little Kern River for others.  losing a day with the thought of either trying to navigate that trail again in the morning….or to alternately hiking a road for many extra miles to the real trailhead I wanted to get to.  Turning a total 12 miler into a 18 miler with only two days to cover it.  That would be a lot more hiking than fly fishing which I was not up for.

I’m bummed.  But, it was the safe thing to do.  I knew the weather was supposed to be good.  In fact, today, the next morning I can see it is sunny and beautiful there like it’s supposed to be.  I hit one of those freak sierras storms that just appear from nowhere.  I also just noticed from Mountain Bike bill’s website in his notes of mountain biking the area that he makes a number of comments about how badly the trails are marked.  In addition to my Garmin InReach 66i satellite tracker I was wearing my Garmin 735 watch.  It’s not really so good for real time, but it does have a 2” resolution, so after downloading you can see your actual treks with amazing accuracy.  So, I can see that was I standing right on the trail.  But, I just couldn’t figure that out because it was so overgrown.  I can see that I was not supposed to cut across that marsh.  The trail actually goes around it.  There were a number of fallen decaying trees that just made that route look impossible.  So, I just took a fairly dangerous (because of the water / mud) short cut across it.  I can also see that I was just 300 yards from north road…that closed road that ultimately gets you to the trailhead.  It’s just that it would have been the most awful, brutal bushwhack through dense forest and fallen trees to get to that road.  I didn’t see any way to do it even without the backpack on.

this is an example of good visibility: because at least i can follow the road.

Ironically I insisted on doing that trek alone.  I have lots of fishing buddies that wanted to join me, but, like me they hike to fish… they don’t hike for hiking sake.  I wanted to figure it out before I subject anyone to any undue backpacking suffering.  I just knew these guys (and gals) were not up for a 6-7 mile trek just to get to the trailhead that went to fishing…and the misery and anxiety that went with a place or trail I have never been to before.  I knew it would be physical and anticipated frustration.  So, it was a blessing not having anyone with me on this failed hike.

I’m not giving up, of course.  My new plan is to simply wait until early June…just a few weeks for the roads to open.  Then I’ll drive that dirt road to the actually clicks creek trailhead and do the supposedly moderate 4.2 mile hike to the little kern river.

I can’t say I don’t have regrets.  I do have regrets.  But, when backpacking alone you have to be smart and savvy.  You have to deal with calamity.  You have to make tough decisions which end up being safe. Sometimes “safe” is the opposite of fun.