Golden Trout Wilderness Adventures - Jordan Hot Springs

in #nature7 years ago (edited)

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So I heard about a hot springs in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains from a friend and fellow youtuber davidsquall351.
(David's channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd6DvWHUFgacm1lMXqg08pA)
It was called Jordan hot springs and after hearing about it I had to check it out myself. I drove up highway 395 to Nine mile canyon rd. Which is the road to Kennedy meadows. I drove up into the mountains passed Kennedy meadows and all the way out to the Blackrock trailhead where we started our adventure. The trail started nice and gradual as we hiked through beautiful Casa Vieja meadows.

524473_452257241472086_1074592032_n.jpg Pup checking out Casa Vieja meadows

399557_452257324805411_1553063733_n.jpg Reaching Nine Mile creek

From Casa Vieja we headed down Nine Mile creek. Crossing it several times before reaching our destination at Jordan Hot springs!

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Wildflowers and butterflys

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Dropping down Nine Mile creek

561177_452257514805392_729499357_n.jpg Arriving at Jordan hot springs

Once we got there we had to walk around and check it all out. The place is full of old cabins and other ruins from the early 1900's when "Jordan Junction" was a popular resort.
(Here's a couple links where you can read more about the interesting history - http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/sierra_names2/jordan_hot_springs_history.pdf and
https://goldentroutwilderness.wordpress.com/inyo-nf-trips/1-day/jordan-hot-springs/ )
We also found some of the hot springs, and we found a spot to setup camp not far from the springs.

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The remains of the Jordan Junction resort

524288_452257564805387_1412189551_n.jpg Old cabins

527135_452257601472050_2055332875_n.jpg Nine Mile creek near the hot springs

255256_452257684805375_1686250655_n.jpg More old cabins

551024_452257744805369_1442882174_n.jpg Views from camp

After setting up camp I decided to go and explore up Redrock creek. I had wanted to try to get all the way up to Redrock meadow but the trail was really tough. (There was no trail pretty much) It was covered in brush and down trees and just completely washed away for the most part, but the creek was flowing good and was a great place to relax and cool off in the water. After that little adventure we made our way back down to camp and walked around and explored along Nine Mile creek, finding a bunch of the many hot springs that dot the area. Some of them are really really hot!! A little later once it cooled of I headed over to the main hot tub and had a nice evening soak before heading back to camp for the night.

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Some cool wildflowers by Redrock creek

526401_452257848138692_514803264_n.jpg Climbing up above Redrock creek

319323_452257888138688_483515326_n.jpg Redrock creek

580889_452257911472019_76365605_n.jpg More wildflowers

396826_452258054805338_2124670169_n.jpg Indian Head (the red dome) from Redrock creek

553413_452258174805326_1682241104_n.jpg Back down at Nine Mile creek

376315_452258248138652_1282440198_n.jpg Jordan Hot Springs

430297_452258304805313_461757202_n.jpg The hottest spring I found measured at 125* F!

418715_452258321471978_1283271986_n.jpg Hammock shadow

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Moonrise

The next day our plan was to hike down to explore the Kern river. So we headed down the trail through the remnants of the McNally fire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McNally_Fire) that had scorched the area in 2002. We got down to the creek crossing and then left the trail and headed downstream for our first little adventure of the day. Nine Mile canyon falls. An incredible 200 ft waterfall that plunges down into a deep rocky gorge!

mcnally.jpg Hiking through the burn zone from the McNally fire

422283_452258601471950_458907424_n.jpg Crossing Nine Mile creek

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Small waterfall on our way down to the big one

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Looking off the top of Nine Mile canyon falls

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Nine Mile canyon falls

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Nine Mile canyon falls

From the falls we hiked backed up to the trail and continued along across Soda flats where there there are some privately owned cabins that are still used. From Soda flats we continued down along the trail dropping more steeply now and taking the southern split in the trail down to the bottom of the canyon and the Kern river. We headed up river and found even more old cabins that I think are still used by horse packers. We kept going up river all the way up to the Falls of the Kern where the entire Kern river plunges over a 40 ft waterfall. It is an incredible sight to see, the power of the water is just incredible! Below the falls we found some really nice pools and I spent some time fishing and swimming in the river.

269652_452258768138600_1738857355_n.jpg Cabins at Soda Flats

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The Kern river

268293_452258911471919_1963629724_n.jpg The Falls of the Kern

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The top of the falls

kern.jpg Kern River above the falls

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Rock outcrop above the falls

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The nice pools below the falls

After enjoying my time at the pools we went back down to the horse packers cabins and from there we took the northern split in the trail up passed lower Nine Mile canyon falls. Another very awesome waterfall coming in at around 60 ft. We got back to the main trail and climbed back up and across Soda flats and back up through the burn zone to our camp at the hot springs. I spent the end of the day just relaxing at camp and enjoying a nice long soak in the hot springs!

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Lower Nine Mile Canyon falls

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View from the top of the falls

625583_452259134805230_934291815_n.jpg Soda Flats

418616_452259144805229_751160762_n.jpg The kids in full adventure mode

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Cold creek falls

388001_452259201471890_1162437696_n.jpg Climbing back through the burn zone

528577_452259224805221_522537955_n.jpg Getting back to the hot springs

394683_452259291471881_297367264_n.jpg Soak time!

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Views from the hot springs

427094_452259348138542_160211245_n.jpg Full moon

The next morning we got up and got our camp all packed up and headed up the trail. We climbed back up Nine mile creek, up through Casa Vieja meadows, and back to the Blackrock trailhead where we started. 18.2 miles of fun and adventure in a beautiful area of the Sierra Nevada mountains. And with a hot spring to top it off, oh man, it doesn't get much better than that!

603489_452259594805184_1420569952_n.jpg Going by the old cabins on our way out

488288_452259641471846_1467134282_n.jpg Climbing up the trail

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Crossing Nine Mile creek

427236_452259788138498_1387097356_n.jpg Casa Vieja meadows

302400_452259851471825_1584355369_n.jpg Casa Vieja meadows

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Selfie with the wilderness sign

Thanks for reading!images.duckduckgo.png

Youtube video -

Thanks for watching!images.duckduckgo.jpg

https://www.californiamountainadventure.com
https://www.facebook.com/CAmountainadventures
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!steemitworldmap 36.229646 lat -118.302445 long Jordan Hot Springs d3scr

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Congratulations!
DQmRkRjWHYQ1gmZyTVUDdhNb3ydbqLCZRQDQitFnsWMFAQk.png

Emoji_u1f44f.svg.png That's so awesome, thank you @ocd!! images.duckduckgo.jpg

Wow, you don't mess around, and you really get out there in the world! Thanks for taking us with you...<3 <3 <3

EPIC SHOT!!!!

Very nice picktures
Keep it up :-)

Thank you @tommyhansen! images.duckduckgo.jpg I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. I have many more adventure posts coming, so stay tuned! images.duckduckgo.pngimages.duckduckgo-2.jpg

We will be waiting
Reidar is coming soon to :-)

This looks like an amazing place to visit!!!! I am going to recommend this to my son - he loves hiking and this is just the beauty he loves :) Thank you so much for sharing . These photos are AMAZING!!!!! Great job Friend .. SUNSHINE247

It is an amazing place to visit, if your son is into hiking in the mountains he will love it! If he has any questions about the area feel free to ask me. I am always more than happy to help out a fellow hiker. Thank you so much @sunshine247 for all your kind words. I'm so happy that you enjoyed my photos!

Wonderful!!! Thank you so much for offering :) SUNSHINE247

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Beautiful place to be, great dogs.:-) and most likes me moon rise. Very good moment.

Yup, you pretty much summed it up! Those amazing moments when I am out on a mountain adventure with my doggies and the beauty of the natural world just makes you pause and appreciate it... thats the stuff I live for.

That is an epic trip, thank you for all the photos. I want to visit Jordan Junction now!!!

If you do plan to go, feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I am more than happy to answer them!

Thanks! I may take you up on that this spring. Cheers!!!

You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. If you are ever in that area and you can handle the 5.2 mile hike in, I'd highly recommend checking it out!

Heya, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in our Daily Travel Digest Post!

If I got it right it's your first time being here, so congratulations!!! I was hitchhiking in the states give or take two years ago, passed so close by this place without knowing it! But there is always next time right, haha!

Thanks!! images.duckduckgo.jpg That's so awesome. I follow @theaustrianguy and I saw his posts featured on there so I had to try it out for myself. And I can't believe I'm getting featured on my first try! Heck ya! And yes, if you ever find yourself on highway 395 in California again you should take a day or two and check out Jordan hot springs if you can. It is totally worth it!

You're so welcome! I'm glad the word is spreading through other travelers! Today we've actually updated the auto-comment to add a little "how to" in it, that should help for others trying to use it as well!
Definitely will do, from your post it looks hella amazing!

aaaww the doggie 😊. Beautiful place, amazing photos!

Those doggies are my kiddos. My hiking partners and my best friends. I really like the shot of them up on top of that big log. Full adventure mode! lol. Thanks for your comment, I'm really glad you enjoyed my photos!

Fantastic post. That place looks amazing. Love the pics

Thank you! It was amazing.

What a great post Derek 😊

Thanks @dewdrop! It was a really great trip. I had a lot of fun out there. images.duckduckgo.jpg

I can tell 😉. Watching you made me wanna do it. Haha

Wow. You always have awesome pics and hikes... I love going to the hot springs... although 125° is to hot for me.. that trip would take me at least a week (or until the weed ran out) with all the waterfalls and springs..
Those did look like well behaved dogs... Alaska would still be running..
Great pics of the moon... I bet the stars were amazing at night

Thanks Dave! Hot springs are so awesome. I am actually really lucky to have some very nice hot springs not to far from where I live. When I measured 125F that was one of many very hot sources of the hot water. Not all of them were that hot, and actually the pools to soak are all down by the (cold) creek and it was actually setup so that you can control the temp of the tub by controlling how much of the cool water you let in! And I think taking a week to do this trip would be great, (as long as you've got plenty of weed, I usually try to bring more than I need lol!) lots of time to enjoy it all! My kiddos are very good hikers and they always get compliments from other hikers on the trails. I do really like those full moon shots. They came out real nice, but a full moon kills the stars at night. The best time to see lots of stars is when there is no moon out. Thats when the Milky Way just lights up and I have been blown away. I swear it seems like if you could actually see ALL the stars it would cover the entire sky!

Amazing blog you have here. I love those shots too.

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U have worked a bit for this post! Congrats!

Driving, hiking, filming, editing, writing. It is quite a bit of work, but I enjoy it all!

Awesome photos!