Fairview Campground on the Kern River

This post was written on Thursday, April 21, 2011

Tomorrow's a school "holiday," so I took a personal day in order to have a 4-day weekend. We got up at 6, had some coffee and read the paper, and I filled the cooler. We stopped at McDonald's for a bite of breakfast, then hooked up the trailer and were on the road by 7:30.

The marine layer was pretty far inland, and we didn't rise out of the clouds until we got to the top of Cajon Pass. Then we hit gusty winds as we left Adelanto for the drive across the desert. When we stopped for gas in Inyokern, it was gusting pretty hard, but Don had filled up the water tank to give the trailer some weight so it wouldn't sway too much.

We crossed over Walker Pass and dropped down into the valley that led to Lake Isabella. When we got to our turnoff for Kernville, we were met with a giant "Road Closed" sign. That meant we'd have to go about 20 miles out of our way. We stopped for lunch at Paradise Cove, and then got to Fairview Campground around 1:30.

Fairview Campground is a Forest Service campground about 16 miles north of Kernville, right next to the Kern River. We're in site #34, and while we're not at river's edge, we can hear it since it's a big, loud river. It's about 65 degrees, sunny, and a little breezy. Lovely! Don's already geared up and is out stalking the wild (and stocked) trout.


The view north from our front door






7:00 pm:
We just got back from dinner at McNally's. All the money we saved by staying here went towards dinner! It's a very well-known steakhouse, and we each had a big meal. I had their "petite filet mignon"--it was 10 ounces. We have half of it left to make sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. Don had the ribeye, and ate every bite. The prices are pretty high, but you really can't come up here without eating at McNally's.



After dinner we drove upriver to the Johnsondale Bridge. This is where the road and the river separate--the road heads west up to Johnsondale, Camp Nelson and Giant Sequoia National Monument (different from Sequoia National Park). The river flows down from due north here, and this is where the Wild Trout section is. Just below here is a dam that separates the Wild Trout section from the rest of the river, which is stocked. The Wild Trout section has specific rules and limitations, and is accessible only by foot trail along the eastern bank. Don decided he'll come back to spend the day here tomorrow.








This is the Kern River, looking downstream from the Johnsondale Bridge.




Next to the Johnsondale Bridge, a road used to go down from the road level to the river. In addition to blocking it off at the top with a gigantic boulder, they Laid down fresh concrete and scattered it with large irregular-shaped rocks to further prevent anyone from driving down it.



We're going to sit outside for a while, then go inside and read before going to bed.

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