Southern Sequoia Camp4 Bone Creek

After 5 days camping, it was time to go to town and get supplies and to refresh the Van. So I left Horse Meadow and drove down to Kernville (on Lake Isabella) and loaded up with groceries and gas. I had to drive halfway around the lake to find a dump station, which I did, and then had lunch in town, so after several hours in the lowlands, was ready to climb back up into the mountains for the last few days camping.

I headed north into the forest, and then northwest upto this area which is near the well known Trail of 100 Giants. It was clear that this, the western side of Sequoia, is much more forested than where I had camped previously. There were lots of giant Sequoia Trees and still snow to be seen in patches on the ground. Definite Bear Country too :-)

I scoped out several possible camping areas, and ended up with this choice spot right next to a little waterfall on Bone Creek. My nearest neighbors were 1/2 mile and 1 mile away, respectively. There was a nice trail that led away from the camp, and in addition to riding around Bone Creek, also did a 25 mile ride on surface roads over Sand Hill Ridge as far as Lower Peppermint Campground trying unsuccesfully to find an open trail to cross over to the main highway. When that failed, I did a little off-roading near Elephant Knob, but in general, all the trails were still closed due to wetness.

On the last day I went on a final exploratory ride and I found what was probably the best trail of the trip, up Bone Creek towards Table Mountain. I went four or five miles up the canyon and was rewarded with really pretty forests and meadows, along with decent riding and great weather. There were still some patches of snow to make it even more beautiful. I didn't take any pictures, but it was so nice, I'm hope I get to come back to this spot again.

And so ended the trip with the Bikes to South Sequoia National Forest. It was sad to leave, but as I said before, I had a great time, and I'm sure someday I'll come back up here again for more riding and exploration.