Boulder Gulch

Have you ever had that moment on a trip where you go, “Wait. Who’s idea was this?” And if it was probably your idea, you go, “Wait. What was my thinking there?” I know we put a lot of thought and discussion into summer trips, and every year we learn something new. I find it hard to believe that the new thing we needed to learn this year was that it gets hot in July. I think we were taking that into account and were intentionally booking things at higher elevations for that reason. But Lake Isabella is right around two thousand feet and definitely not high enough to be saved from July temperatures. I think we were also trying to save money by not staying at private places with hookups. Maybe the lesson here is that sometimes the extra money is worth it.

But here we were. It was in the mid to upper 90s and we were going to give it our best shot. The reservations at this Forest Service campground are not site specific, so you have to find what you can when you get there. Oh right, we also learned that Saturdays are more crowded than other days. I feel that is not a new lesson either, but perhaps something that needed to slap us in the face so we consider that for future planning. Being a Saturday, all the places with nice shade were taken by the people who came on Friday. The campground loop road is narrow, with a maze of one way loops, so I wasn’t into doing a lot of circles to find the one with comparatively most shade. I took one with at least a shady sitting area and set about doing all the things we could to cool Dory off as much as possible for a two night stay. I pulled out the Aluminet to shade the sides, opened everything, closed the blackout curtains, ran 12v fans. Then we sat in our Nemo chairs outside and basked in internet connectivity.

For the next day, our original plan was to bike around the lake, but Richard was noticing how much more traffic there is on a Saturday in July as compared to the last time we were here on a Thursday in January. That idea kind of got set aside. We decided to run the generator, partly to help Dory’s batteries keep up with the refrigerator, but also to recharge my bike batteries in case we did any riding at all the next day. As we were wrestling with ideas, the campground host went by and shouted that we were the only ones in the campground. We took her likely meaning as, “Why are you not being normal people? Do you not know that there is a lake right over there?” She wasn’t wrong. Most of Bakersfield probably flocks to Lake Isabella on hot Saturdays specifically so they can get in the lake. But not us. Nope.

It took us a while to get off our butts the next morning, but the rising temperatures more or less forced the issue of what were we going to do for the day. We ended up driving a ways up the Kern River to check out the road conditions. We drove just about to the end of the section where Sierra Way follows the curves of the Kern before heading up into the mountains. We had enough information to say that it might be fun to ride part of that. We found a shady spot, parked, got out our bikes, and rode six miles up the road.

The Kern river is very bouldery and dramatic. Here and there it widens and slows enough to create little swimming holes. The road was rough and patched in places, but not too bad, and there wasn’t much traffic. What cars there were gave us a wide berth when they passed. We went a tiny bit up Sherman Pass Road, something Richard has heard of as an intense ride, but we weren’t prepared for that kind of effort. Instead, we turned around and just rode mostly downhill back to the car.

There are a couple of private campgrounds along the way, and a little tiny town called Riverkern, which had some stores, a couple of food places, and lodging. All in all, it’s a very inviting area. We saw many cars parked along the side of the road or in Day Use areas or Forest Service campgrounds, with people frolicking in the coolness of the river. We didn’t stop and do that, but I have no clear explanation as to why. At least when you’re biking, you cool yourself off by creating your own breeze, especially when coasting downhill. Our out and back was enough for Richard’s activity needs, and it was pushing 1 o’clock and high 90 degrees. Time to stop.

We had passed through the larger lakeside town of Kernville and noted two things: it looked fun and old timey, and it had an ice cream shop. Perfect place to sit in air conditioning for as long as we were allowed by the management. The mint chip by the way was quite good. The place is called Something Sweeter and you should go. We managed to linger for about an hour.

With the only other option being loitering in the local Von’s Market, we decided to be like normal people and get our asses in the lake. We had brought our swimming suits, so that wasn’t an issue. For me it was that these upper arms and legs absolutely never see rays of sunlight. I had to frost myself with so much sun screen, it left residue on the car seat. For Richard it’s that lakes are ew. I have no photos to prove we got our dainty bodies in the ew lake, so you’ll have to take my word for it. You’re welcome.

There are no trees around most of the lake, and I didn’t want to sit in the sun. Somehow I imagined we would be swimming or something, but even I was reluctant to plunge in because, ew. What turned out to be nice was finding a tall rock with a patch of shade right in a spot that was sandy rather than muddy. There we could sit with our legs and butts in the water, being amused by little fishies and gradually deciding that the ew wasn’t all that bad. And you know what? Sitting in a lake has a decidedly cooling effect. Who knew? We were able to tolerate that for the rest of the afternoon. We then went back to Dory and did another brand new thing for us: we used the outdoor shower for outdoor showering! We barely remembered Dory comes equipped with this handy piece of equipment and it was perfect for rinsing off the ew.

I had the energy to make a nice dinner of southern spiced chicken with hot sauce snow peas and bell pepper, over golden raisin rice. Yum. By then it was cooling off nicely. We were proud of ourselves.

Richard had found a hike that he took me on for sunset. It is the Isabella Peak trail, which goes about a mile and a half up, to get a really nice view of the whole lake. The dam looks like a really big pile of rocks. I’m assuming it’s a well engineered pile of rocks. We got back down to camp just as the last light of day was fading, triumphant heat warriors, overcoming the challenge that thousands of people go out of their way to experience every hot Saturday of the summer. Yay us.

For future trip planning, we want to remember to check elevation for potential heat once we hit July. We honestly have been so lucky with the weather this summer. This is only the second stay that’s been uncomfortable, and neither time was bad enough to make us bail and get a hookup site somewhere. We also want to remember to notice where we’re staying on a Saturday. This campground emptied out completely on Sunday. We could have had our pick of any shady site we wanted. Plus, the traffic wasn’t nearly as bad. Just something to keep in mind. Trip planning is hard though, and I think we did a pretty damn good job for the most part.

Total miles from Alabama Hills: 127.8, 18.1 mpg, 4 hours 34 min. Site 39 no hookups. Excellent cell signal. Water spigots, flush toilets, no dump, trash & recycling.