I just got back from an awesome 5 day cross country backpacking trip through the Domeland Wilderness with my buddy Andy. I lost my picture and video cameras somewhere on Sherman Pass Road, just past the Grumpy Bear Tavern while driving back to the 395... Much sadness indeed, but oh well! If anybody finds a silver HP PhotoSmart cam out there, please at least send me the pics
Thank you!!
Here are Andy's pics anyway, which are much better than mine!
https://picasaweb.google.com/ajoyce4/Do ... directlink
We began in Kennedy Meadows, where the Kern River meets Sherman Pass Road, then followed the river south from there until we reached a giant rolling hills plain that had been heavily burned during the 2000's Manter fire as well as the 2002's McNally fire. [Pics #1-15]
After a few miles and a few river crossings, we finally reached the foothills of the Domelands. We proceeded to climb an unnamed Dome (~7,400ft.) and slept just below the summit. We were blessed with an unbelievable view of the surrounding peaks that night. [Pics #16-31]
Next day we came down the dome and circled around to the southwest to explore the core of the area. After a few miles west, we picked a canyon and descended it. This part was grueling. Rock climbing and bouldering with a 5 day pack for hours is one hell of a work out. Good thing we had nice little streams to fill up with. Speaking of which, in that canyon, we discovered some kind of underground river. There was no water coming from the plateau where we were before descending into that canyon. But out of nowhere appeared a healthy flowing underground stream. We spent some time exploring this area before heading back down and dropping into Woodpecker Meadow. We crossed the entire plains once more, but going North this time, until we ended up into a giant boulder village, or so I called it. There were a lot of obsidian chips there and grinding holes. Giant boulders with neat overhangs... Surrounded by springs and creeks... perfect place for a primitive village! [Pics #32-43]
We rock climbed and bouldered out way out of that maze and finally top out in Bakeoven Pass, just a few hundred feet short of the Black Rock Summit ( I also made that name up
) which is displayed as Unnamed Peak 8,017ft. on topo maps of the area. We circled across that peak and were greeted by a giant valley which we needed to cross. This was the lowest our morale had been so far in the trip. We didn't have a good map and were hoping to cut across the valley to reach the trailhead faster. Fortunately for us, after a few more sketchy river crossings and a whole lot of ups and downs, we reached a saddle on the eastern side of Pine Mountain. We then came back down towards the Kern River and eventually made it back to the car.
Go out there people, it's EPIC! No roads... no trails... no people. Epic!
