I mentioned before about rattlesnakes and this ride was no different! Kern Canyon Trail is long – one way it stretches 17 miles. We didn’t ride the whole thing, just an out and back on one section.
We started our ride just off the Route 178 at Freeway Ridge 4X4 pullout and headed west on the singeltrack. this ride contours along oak-studded hillsides, in and out of several drainages, and up and down several ridges, paralleling the Kern River. There is a bit of exposure on narrow singletrack but the riding isn’t technically hard if you are comfortable with some ruts and punchy climbs.
Again, the rattlesnakes! It’s tricky because the trail was a bit overgrown after the “winter” so the tread is less than a foot wide in areas and it’s hard to spot hiding snakes. We encountered two. The first was just meandering across the trail but we turned around after the second one was curled up in strike position rattling at us from some trail-side rocks.
That sure gets your heart rate up if the riding doesn’t!
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