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.
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| Poppy Lake in 2020 Castle Fire |
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| Stagg Tree (5th largest tree in the world) |
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| 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.
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| The Needles from Dome Rock |
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| 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.
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| Needles from lookout site |
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| Needles Lookout site (2026). Mt Whitney at left skyline |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Dry Meadow |
