Lake Isabella area June 5-7

[DosMars]

Going to drive up to the Kern River/Lake Isabella area this weekend. This will be our first time, does anyone have any 'must see!' sights we should put on the itinerary? I was told by a friend that you can visit the Giant Sequoias from here. Are there any back roads we could take to get into some non-touristy areas?
Any good boon-docking we could check out? We've got a six and three year old that would love to have daddy teach them how to catch a trout...?

Thanks for any input. We've got a reservation for Friday night at Sandy Flat campground but I'm always pushing for non-campgroundy boon-docking areas to explore.

-Mark & Mary

 

[Gooseberry-SMB]

If you go up a little more you can get into Kennedy or Monache Meadows and camp. I know that a group is going to Monache this weekend.

 

[DosMars]

Awesome, just looked it up and ran across this thread from another forum:

http://www.camrytuner.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2614

We'll be meeting the cousins Friday night at the Sandy Flat campground but saturday and Sunday are open for exploration. This run looks beautiful.

Any other spots in the area to check out?

 

[Tapatio]

If you are hungry and like beer stop by Kern River Brewery. They had Citra on tap last weekend which is one of my all time favorite IPA's. :b5:

Monache is awesome but it's a haul and deserving of a dedicated 2-3 day trip by itself.

Trail of 100 giants if you want to see Sequoias.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/sequoia/recarea/?recid=79825

 

[daveb-SMB]

Awesome, just looked it up and ran across this thread from another forum:

http://www.camrytuner.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2614

We'll be meeting the cousins Friday night at the Sandy Flat campground but saturday and Sunday are open for exploration. This run looks beautiful.

Any other spots in the area to check out?

The trail over to Red Rock (Dove Springs trail) comes out at the upper end of the lake off 178 and is very cool if you want to check out the desert region. Might be a bit warm but who knows.
Check out Kelso Valley road in the Weldon area. You can read about it at the end of this article

 

[DosMars]

Thanks Dave, great writeup on your Death Valley trip. We've done a couple of trips out there but there is so much area to explore it's nice to have a writeup to get a feel for other areas.

Tapatio, sounds like we'll be making a stop at the Kern RI've Brewery

I still have to map out our itinerary so it's great to have a list of options to chose from.
Thanks for all the info!

 

[DosMars]

It looks like the cousins will be camping with us through Saturday so Monache Meadows will have to wait until another trip.
I'd still like to boondock somewhere Saturday night, preferably near some hungry trout... any thoughts?

 

[daveb-SMB]

I'd call the ranger district. Sorry but I've never researched the area and have only been through there a couple times. Here are some spots around Sequoia but I really don't know much about the info posted.

http://www.totalescape.com/outside/camp ... XC4ZFJF-Sp

 

[stanw909]

Kern river above Kernville has boondocking on the river and is on the way to the Seqoias mentioned above. River might be high and fast right now so careful with the little ones.

 

[stanw909]

I almost forgot that there's free boondocking at Lake Isabella. Go to freecampsites.net to find out more.

 

[REF]

We have been out through Sequoia NF and the park a few times, visited Sherman, we found an amazing 4WD trail that I can't recall right now, but maybe this will help
http://www.totalescape.com/active/camps ... .html#bkrd

 

[DosMars]

Awesome, thanks for all the help everyone!
With the drought we were thinking the water level might be down but will definitely be keeping an eye on everyone.
Just gathering up the last few things and hitting the road after kindergarten gets out. Looking forward to exploring a new neck of the woods! :a3:

 

[DosMars]

Drought? What drought? Three adults, four kids and two dogs in the SMB in a Kernville downpour!

 

[daveb-SMB]

Right now the thunder storms are almost reaching the valley floor. Lots of green yellow and some red on doppler. They're saying this weather is supposed to be around all weekend. Stay safe.

 

[DosMars]

Blew through after about 20 minutes. Spent the first 10 minutes under the big oak tree the dogs were tied to waiting for things to die down enough to make the dash to the van. Should have just waited it out there, we got soaked when I decided to make a run for it.

Beautiful once everything cleared out. Gotta love that fresh rain smell once all of the dust has washed away...