Seg #55 Kern River Trl NE Bakersfield, CA to I-5, 5_1_15

Start North	NE of Bakersfield, CA	N  35.45901  W 118.90872	S-N mi 9.9
End South	SW of Bakersfield, & W of Stevens,CA	N 35.30265 W 119.25692	TrlLgth 25.5 Ride 27mi

Ride hr    3:16     AVS 13 mph          MXS 27 mph         DST  27mi       TMP 80-95        KCal 1585

We left the Adelanto area a little after noon and got to the north part of the Kern River Trail just after two p.m. There were areas of the north half of the trail that were steep so I had Geoff drop me off at the most elevated part and I rode pretty much downhill to Hart Park Lake. The downhill component of the north end of the trail helped me set a personal best average speed of twenty mph. However, the south section of the trail was another story in that there was only subtle downhill sections. The southwest trail went fairly slow because there wasn't enough downhill to counteract a sixteen to twenty mph head wind. My average speed dropped to six mph and an overall average less than twelve mph. That still 12 mph isn't bad given my overall average speed for TAvRTO is 8 mph.

Out in the distance, just beyond the evergreens is where I started the Kern River Trail. Geoff  hauled me back up there so  I didn't have to pedal up four hundred feet elevation change. Without his hauling me, to the top of the trail,  I would not have made it to the end of the trail before dark. Unfortunately Geoff had to drive highway 58 to San Luis Obispo. 

After living in Nebraska for ten years, I have learned of the beauty of grass. Even the

dormant wispy golden brown grass was pretty to this farm boy's eye. Some fields of grass along the trail appeared like the wheat fields of Kansas, with miles of grass and no fences. Because I made such good time, I was waiting for Geoff at Hart Park Lake ahead of schedule. I guess to enhance loading my bicycle, Geoff drove right up to the picnic table I was laying on. There was no one around but no sooner had Geoff driven onto the grass, when a park ranger pulled up and took out his ticket book. He was ready to write us a citation. I whined out my TAvRTO project and being from Iowa. It. worked. It wasn't long before we were talking about my forest fire fighting days in Oregon and Washington states---he was from Washington state. The ranger decided we were OK guys and didn't write a ticket.

 I got through Bakersfield by four o'clock. Maybe because I was tired from battling a headwind that my appreciation of the Kern River Trail dropped a couple degrees.  The Kern River is really not a river. The drought may have have something to do with it, but there wasn't any water to be found.along the bike trail. The whole river basin was full of scrub brush, tumble weed and a lonesome tree or two. I insert a picture of the river only as proof I got there. 

I am at the bottom of the Kern River. I imagine the river has been as high as the embankment to the right side of this image but that had to be eons ago. based on the age of the trees it is likely there has not been water here over 20 years.

We were ready to drive to San Luis Obispo by 7:30. The shortest route appeared to be  Highway 58. I will forever know this road as the "Twisty-Turny Highway". This is a highway that has four official names; the Blue Start Memorial Highway, the Kern County Korean War Veteran Highway, the Rosa Parks Highway and the Barstow-Bakersfield Highway.  It seemed like there were enough 15-25 mph sharp turns to make more than one hundred circles. And then there were the roller-coaster hills on most of the straight sections of the road.  Geoff made better time driving this squirrelly road than I could have even back when I was driving across Death Valley in the pitch dark back in 1965 (see Segment # 4/Heritage Trail). We pulled into San Luis Obispo after ten o'clock and checked into a hotel immediately.