Bristol Mountains Sept 15-16

 

Craving a quick desert escape despite punishing heat, I packed Spartan to go visit a rock collecting site I was last at when I was 18. It was also a chance to stretch my new Subaru's offroad muscles a bit. I left pavement in the afternoon near Ludlow, drove north towards Broadwell Dry Lake, then turned east on a pleasantly graded powerline/pipeline road. There wasn't a lick of shade but distant puffy clouds. Eventually the road turned very sandy, having me test the deep snow/mud Xmode, which helped but also was less responsive than I expected. Sections were two-rutted in deep sand such that I could not stop and had to maintain speed to avoid getting stuck; it reminded me of the old Disneyland Autopia ride where the track was essentially driving me and the steering wheel served no purpose. Thankfully the sand abated and the road improved. I was treated to nice views of the Kelso Dunes once I breached the saddle and began a gradual descent into the broad basin. It was a punishing 104F when I stepped out of the car and began my hike up the wash to the old strawberry onyx mine that I used to love collecting at with my dad when I was a kid.

Arriving at the mine camp, I was delighted to see the unusual flat-roofed mining shack was not only still standing, but actually had been repaired since my previous visit when I was 18. It is a novel design, made of stacked railroad ties with a chickenwire-concrete roof. I had very little recollection of the onyx collecting area itself, so enjoyed walking over the nearby hillside looking at the discarded rocks and outcrops. It is still a mysterious deposit with a roughly 2 acre deposit of layered carbonate tilted about 25 degrees to the southwest, seemingly bounded by pyroclastic volcanic rocks on all sides. My best guess from a cursory look is some sort of surficial hydrothermal deposit with an algae/cyanobacteria component based on some of the rock textures. Anyway I was mostly distracted by the beautiful banded strawberry onyx, which was focused in two bands. It was nice to see there was plenty of material scattered around to enjoy.

Note same corner as photo below

Self-processed and printed B&W from when I was 18

I caught a beautiful sunset from the top of the onyx hill looking northeast towards the Kelso Dunes (frontispiece). After dark I was delighted to look around the onyx area with a UV light, discovering at least a half-dozen scorpions in the process. A subset of the honey-colored onyx had a vivid emerald green fluorescence that was fun to look for. It seemed I could potentially have been the first person that thought to search this site for UV rocks. I killed a good chunk of the night just looking around and enjoying the cooler nighttime temperatures before cowboy camping in the nearby wash.

In the morning I looked around a bit more and then headed out before the heat of the day set in. It was a quick but rewarding escape with a nice combo of nostalgia, a light solo adventure, and some neat rocks. A bit premature but had me excited to do some more desert exploring this winter.

Flanks of the Kern Sept 4-7

 

Recently I have had reason to spend some time in the greater Kern River area, prompting me to revisit some locations I had not been in nearly two decades and to search out some new interesting things to do in the area. Since I typically go to the Kern during boating season, I found the river particularly low and slow-moving and instead looked more to the flanks of the river.

In the headwaters of the Tule River just west of the Kern is the Alder Creek Sequoia Grove, well off most people's radar but with some impressive trees on a steep hillside. The area partially burned in the 2020 Castle Fire (among others) but the core of the grove remains a verdant island of giants. Notably the Stagg Tree here is apparently the fifth largest tree in the world and is estimated at about 3000 years old.

Poppy Lake in 2020 Castle Fire

Stagg Tree (5th largest tree in the world)

Alder Creek Grove (and below)

Dome Rock is a short dirt road detour off of CA-107 that offers expansive views over the Kern including the Needles. Nearby a short hike leads to Nobe Young Falls, which has a neat shaded alcove behind it, perfect for a picnic.

The Needles from Dome Rock

Nobe Young Falls

Heather and I hiked 2 miles out to the site of the Needles Fire Lookout, which has become a very popular hike it seems. I have fond nostalgic memories of the lookout on a June 2008 climbing trip with Jeff and Richard. After climbing some of the walls of the Needles, we stopped by the lookout. Beyond the amazing view and remarkable strapped-to-a-rock construction, we were greeted by a cheerful volunteer living in the lookout (watching for fires) baking fresh cookies on the wood-burning stove. Unfortunately the lookout was completely destroyed by an accident involving that same stove in 2011, leaving behind a stairway to nowhere. The hike did not have quite the same appeal as before between the many people on the trail and the lack of the lookout, but the views were still great including views of the backside of Mt Whitney and the backside of Farewell Gap in Mineral King. I was grateful I got to see it before.

Needles from lookout site

Needles Lookout site (2026). Mt Whitney at left skyline

Needles Lookout in 2008 (before 2011 fire)

Heather and I also did an interesting drive on a neglected Forest Service Road 23S16 south of Johnsondale. Despite being paved, it was overgrown to the point of being barely one-lane, with many logs nearly blocking the road. For being Labor Day, we saw nearly no one on this forgotten road traversing interesting chapparal and scraggily forest. We stopped briefly to check out Indian Rock labeled roadside on the topo, which indeed had several old mortar grinding pits in the granite slab there. We took a detour near Baker Point to what I previously identified as a digging, stumbling across a very cool rose quartz claim. Though limited in area (60ft x 30ft), the colors and patterns were spectacular.

We hiked about a mile out to Baker Point Lookout, one of the few remaining fire lookouts in the area (frontispiece and below). Looking a little weather-worn and neglected, it was nonetheless interesting to look inside and to enjoy the views from its surrounding catwalk including of Lake Isabella, Kernville, and Mt Whitney again.

Baker Point Lookout (and below)

Continuing on we drove more of 24S16 past meadowlands, then down the dirt road of 24S15. On the way I stopped to check out the Tip Top Mine, which turned out to be an old quartz lode gold occurrence. All in all this Greenhorn Mountain area was more interesting than I expected and I look forward to checking it out further in the future, particularly to see another fire lookout and some potentially interesting marble outcrops.

Dry Meadow

Osgood Creek Aug 24

Our third canyon to round out our time at Jervis Inlet was Osgood Creek, which some alleged was the best. We knew it would be a big day between the 3.2 mile roundtrip paddle, 2 mile bushwhacking approach, and bonus 0.6 mile bushwhacking exit. As we started paddling northeast along the coast, sunbeams through thick clouds and silvery shimmers of waves gave way to sun. Once again we had a headwind but thankfully much more manageable intensity than the previous day. My shoulders were sore from the previous day such that I felt like I was dragging an anchor as I paddled. On the way we spotted some red pictographs high up on a cliff and a sea otter clambering up into the forest at the sight of us. It took us about an hour to get to the mouth of Osgood, and quite a bit more time to get the boats settled to start hiking.

The forest hiking was easily the worst of the three approaches with the oldest overgrown logging roads giving us dense regen to wade through. The technical canyon section ended 0.6 mile up from the ocean so we had bonus approach and exit. I mostly led the way through some washouts, past an old rusty shell of a car, and up some steep slopes. Once again it was obnoxiously humid and sweaty in the forest. Near the end the bushwhacking only got worse, at one point sending us through a dense stand of 3" diameter trees that felt like we were squeezing through prison bars. After covering 1.9 miles ascending 1200 ft in 1hr45min (good considering), we finally arrived to the start of the canyon. After a deserved snack break, we suited up for the descent.

Overall I found Osgood to be a mixture of styles between Soda and Seshal, and relatedly it ended up being my second favorite canyon. It had more greenery and was more enclosed than Seshal, but also had some lengthy boulder sections that broke up the good bits. There were some logs to traverse, some jumps, and even an interesting slab of rock that formed a brief cave-like section. 

The clear standout feature was a 40ft steep chute slide with two slight bends in it that rocketed us cleanly into the biggest pool in the canyon (frontispiece). Nearly everyone lapped this two or three times because it was that good (Osgood As It Gets" the first descenters named it).  

At one point I got into the lead position and was constantly rope or carabiner poor which was a bit silly. Kenna and I checked out something that seemed like a borderline slide (perhaps a bit too rough with mid-slide drops and turns?). Kenna went for it with ragdoll results that looked unpleasant; I tried a slightly different line but ended up similarly thrown around so we made everyone else rappel. Later I noticed the beta said this had been slid but would result in the slider being a human pinball! As we neared the end of the technical canyon we had one excellent 33ft jump then a scenic but very slippery rappel. The last rappel was supposed to be off a log, now absent, so we improvised with a meat anchor and me rappelling off a meager little rock arch. We soon recognized the side stream where we crossed the creek on our approach so we desuited for the hike back down. After a little more than three hours and about 13 rappels we were through the canyon. 

The paddle back to camp took about 40 minutes, despite me hugging the coast to try to catch as much shade as possible since the sun was perfectly positioned to blind and burn me. Pulling into camp was jolting to the senses as the other group of canyoners had arrived. Eleven people, enormous tents, four full-size coolers, a propane grill, music, !Starlink!, hammocks blocking our path to water, and gear on our clothesline; though friendly, it was hard not to feel invaded and our little wilderness retreat turned into a car camping weekend. Though I'm sure we had common interests and probably could have made a useful connection or two, I had no interest in socializing with them given the circumstances.

We had an early final day packing ahead of an 8am water taxi pickup that the boat captain was actually early for, and a smooth ride along the inlet back to the dock. The rest of the travel went as smoothly as it could. We said our goodbyes to Lukas and Suhei, and new friends Jack and Kenna on the ferry. The border crossing only took about 5 minutes coming back which was a relief. There was enough warm sun to dry out my gear on the Weidert's back patio, which was appreciative for airplane packing. At one point Ryan and I went out with his dad on their boat to drop some shrimp traps. Later we had a nice meal outside including a stellar homemade cobbler. The following morning I was on my way back home.

Thanks to Lukas for the impetus for this British Columbia canyoning adventure, to Heather and Ryan for the airport pickup and driving, to Ryan's parents for their memorable hospitality, to Ryan and Keith for the gear loans, and to everyone in our group for making such a fun and awesome team (Lukas, Suhei, Keith, Rob, Jack, Kenna, Ryan). While I think I still prefer the style of South Island canyons, it was nice to get a taste of these Pacific Northwest canyons and to realize just how much is still unexplored in the region.

Soda Creek Aug 23

We started our second full day camping in Jervis Inlet with low clouds draping the hillsides and high clouds blocking out most of the blue in the sky. More worrying was the notable wind swell and whitecaps in the inlet that we would have to cross 2.2 miles in a headwind to reach Soda Creek on the other side. This being the shorter of the three canyons, we had a more leisurely morning waiting to see if the wind swell conditions were stable or would improve. Around 9:45am we inflated packrafts and decided we might as well give it a try, the general consensus being we would return to camp if we found the conditions to be too borderline. Ryan's sea kayak became quite helpful for storing and transporting some of our canyon gear.

I led the charge hugging the coast for a touch of shelter, paddling to the headland 0.7 miles southwest of our Seshal camp. I paused to wait for everyone to collect here, every lapse of paddle strokes having the current and swell push me back towards camp! Eventually we assembled and all were keen to try the 1.4 mile crossing. I picked a landmark a quarter-mile upwind of the white sliver of the last falls of Soda Creek, started paddling and virtually did not stop until I reached the other side. Unsurprisingly the GoPro footage does little to convey the topsy turvy feeling of the constant swell, occasional whitecaps, and gusts of wind. Despite my upwind landmark, my GPS track showed my crossing as being more perpendicular towards a destination 0.5 miles downwind of Soda Creek, a testament to the strong currents. I was the first to arrive by about 15 minutes, taking me 1hr15min including the wait for everyone to gather. The last waterfall of the canyon plunging straight into the ocean was an awesome sight that got me excited for this canyon. Carefully I carried my packraft over the sharp barnacled rocks to a position well above high tide, then worked to arrange everyone else's boats with the limited space at our landing. 

In contrast to the other two canyons whose approaches follow overgrown logging roads, Soda Creek had a more direct line steeply climbing through the forest, which was much more pleasant. This being our only north-facing canyon, we immediately recognized the forest as lusher, with more ferns and mosses. Later when we reached the canyon we realized this north-facing canyon also translated to it being the most slippery and coldest of the three canyons. Our 0.5 mile approach took us about 35 minutes to gain 500ft in elevation.  

The canyon was immediately recognizable as very different in style from Seshal. Soda was mossy green, slippery, cold, lower flow, and more enclosed than Seshal. We suited up and began our descent, enjoying a great mixture of rappels, slides, and jumps.

Previous canyoners rated this as the worst of the three canyons so I went into it thinking it was just a short "add-on" canyon. What I found turned out to be my favorite of the three canyons, even if it did leave me wishing it was longer. For a 0.3 mile long canyon it was at least very consistent with little boulder hopping and mostly a continuous chain of waterfalls and pools and enveloping greenery. Crossed logs also added to the allure. Slipperiness aside, it was a beautiful canyon. 

The final section of 3-4 waterfalls was the best as the tunnel of greenery let in a view of distant peaks across Jervis Inlet and fantastic pool horizonlines. My favorite waterfall was a nice jet plunging away from the wall straight into the middle of a dark pothole with a view of the ocean beyond (frontispiece).

I was initially surprised to see a fixed boater rope at the last rappel but it made sense that boatgoers would do the quick jaunt to the last waterfall to plunge 35ft since the waterfall is very visible from the water. We debated jumping this final waterfall into the ocean but in the end all of us rappelled. It almost looked like it could be a steep slide too but I had visions of hitting the wall at the end or being cheese-grated by barnacles. The initial plunge into the ocean was a shock at how warm it was compared to the creek. The canyon descent took a little less than 3hrs with about 11 rappels and 6 slides.

We had some difficulty in pulling Lukas' rope (again!), resulting in Ryan actually climbing back up and around to free it from the last anchor. Ryan also won the day by pulling out a bottled margarita to share before our paddle back across the inlet. The wind swell was only slightly improved from the morning but at least now we were going at an angle in the downwind direction. It took me a fairly deliberate 45min of paddling to travel 2.1 miles back to our camp, this time recording a sinusoidal path that started and ended more perpendicular to the shore. 

Everyone was stoked to have done the canyon successfully and to have made the somewhat intimidating crossing in our modest boats. We had a nice chill evening in camp, enjoying the shifting light and tides, the lack of bugs, and the great company.