Friday, July 3, 2015

Kern River Camping Trip - Part 3

¡Sí se puede! WE MADE IT! The final installment of the McDot Kern River Adventure ;) In case you missed the first two posts, make sure to check them out at some point (both of them have videos of Walt The Wiener Dog foraging the river... you do NOT want to miss that!).
On the way home from our Trail of 100 Giants and Dome Rock adventure on Friday we saw a cool hike off the side of the main drag - "River Trail". Yup, you guessed it, IT WENT ALONG THE RIVER! We figured we would give it a go Saturday morning.

Since the truck doesn't have any type of curtains (we have talked about it, but we also like the breeze blowing through the open windows in the cab), when the sky is awake, we are awake. We got up around 6 or so, threw together more breakfast burritos (this time I didn't forget the red skin potatoes), and got ready for another day of exploration!

We are getting to be professionals at this breakfast burrito thang!

Ryan normally likes to do the cooking while we camp, but
he left me stir the potatoes, onions and "sausage"

Although the parking lot was pretty busy at the River Trail, it seemed as though everyone was just wading in the river or doing some rock jumps... No one was really on the trail itself. (Maybe we should have taken that as a warning that we were the CRAZY ones wanting to hike in the heat...)

The trail ran next to the river, over riverside bluffs. The terrain was a bit rocky in spots, but we all managed (at some points I thought Walt had the advantage because his center of gravity was closer to the ground than ours).  

I figured I would take some Hyperlapse video of us walking along (so you could get an idea of the hike). Ryan likes to stop to take photos and Walt needs to hydrate, but for the most part we were chugging right along.


The trail itself is about 5 miles long, but we decided to turn around after a little over a mile. Did I hear you ask "why?"? Well, we talked to a fisherman along the trail (one of the only people we really came across while hiking). He asked if we had our snake bite kit on us. He said that he had shushed two rattlers off the trail ahead of us, so to be on the look out. Well, we were already on the look out, but after about another 100 yards of walking after we parted ways with our fisher friend, I was so freaked out that I told Ryan we needed to head back.

Some of the views along the way!

Rushing rapids :)

The river sounds HEAVENLY!

Walt is a master at finding any little shade he can on the trail!

We were a bit of a ways off the water, but it was still cool.

You can see the Johnsondale Bridge in the background, which is where we parked

Walt even lucked out and got a "ride" for part of the way. (He totally could have made it, but one of us tends to baby the dog a bit more than the other and thought he needed a lift...)

An extra 20 pounds of dachshund makes the hike more
fun, right?! 

I think Walt's face says it all.. He knows he is getting away
with something here!

I always seem to forget to start my Garmin right when we begin hiking, but I would say we probably got in a good 2.5 miles during this leg of the trip. 

Our average pace is a little different than I am used to ;)

Even with the toasty temps, we had a great time (and saw NO rattlesnakes!)

Why not carry him up one last staircase?

Quick truck selfie before getting back on the road

On the way back to camp we stopped by Whiskey Flat Trail. Walt was pretty beat from our River Trail Hike, so we weren't really going to walk around - Ryan just wanted to show me the suspension bridge that was nearby. (Let me tell you that Walt did NOT like being able to feel the bridge moving as we were walking over it... FREAKED HIM OUT and he laid down right in the middle of it.)

There were guys riding their dirt bikes back here - pretty cool (but Walt
did not appreciate it...)

Sometimes Walt actually smiles for the camera...

Not sure if you can see, but Walt is already heading back to the truck.. He
was DONE!

After we grabbed a couple pictures we made our way back to the truck and towards camp. A couple PB&J's and it was down to the river! When we got back to our campsite it had been overtaken... It was like people were unaware of camp etiquette and were just walking through our site and using our little patch of the river (no joke, I think there were about 30 people and 4 dogs down on our little rock). Thankfully the sweet ladies next to us saw the debacle and let us use a portion of their beach. 

We ended up staying at the water until about 2 when the clouds decided to roll in. It was nice because it cooled the temperature down a bit, but it made the water feel a little too chilly for maxin' and relaxin'. 

He was like a little captain or something

This is what vacation is for...

Selfie Saturday... Cause WHY NOT?!

Ryan walked up the river a ways so he could "raft" down it. Our little tube wasn't the best, and he hit his limbs on some rocks along the way, but he said he had fun :)


What a ruff life this doggy has!

The clouds started to roll in...

Isn't he just the cutest dog IN THE WORLD?!

After changing out of our wet clothes, we decided to head into Kernville. I mean, it had to be hopin', right?! HA! We were able to get some Hawaiian Ice and Ryan stopped along one of the roads to shoot his BB gun for a bit.

I went with Pina Colada and Ryan ordered a Black Cherry!

Walt was more interested in someone walking by than the camera...

When we drove by, I thought the bear wanted to fight,
so I made Ryan pull over so we could get a picture

Thankfully he didn't have to use the BB gun on any bears ;)

He is very proud of his accurate aim...

Once we got back Ryan fished a bit, so Walt and I hung out on the river bank. Around 5pm we decided we would check out a quick little hike across from our campgrounds that our neighbors told us about (thanks to the cloud cover it was still cool enough to venture up into the hills).

It was still pretty warm, but at least the sun wasn't beating down on us!

Quickly our stomachs told us it was time for dinner - veggie chili dogs it was!

Weenie roast! 

And a meal isn't complete without dessert... Another s'more for me! (Ryan just eats the Reese's, but I love roasting marshmallows - just lightly brown)

Not sure why my pinkie is up... Must be a classy s'more...

Oh, campfires, you are so nice (if only you didn't make me smell afterwards)!

Hubby really likes that selfie stick...

Another successful day in the books! Sunday morning was really just packing up and heading out... BOO! But we had to get a quick picture in front of the Camp 3 Campground sign before we hit the road.

Until next time! Doesn't Walt look THRILLED?!

When was the last time you went camping?

1 comment:

Scarabocchio Girl said...

What a nice camp adventure!
I can say I camp everyday..I work as a secretary in a campsite :)
I've started to camp when I was 6 months old, and I'm still loving it, even if now it's my job.