Day 2 of 2. After our warm up hike to Cleo’s Bath on Thursday June 25, Joe and I left The Cabins at Strawberry Friday June 26 and headed east on highway 108 for 29 miles. We turned into Kennedy Meadows Resort & Pack Station and parked in the overnight parking lot. After getting geared up we walked through the camp grounds. Temperature was in the mid-60’s with crystal clear skies. Gotta love that early morning air in the High Sierra. Lots of horses. Kennedy Meadows is a very popular place for traditional small cabin, tent, and RV, camping. But what sets it apart is the large stable and camp sites made for horses and their trailers. After clearing the campground proper we head out to the actual Kennedy Meadows walking along the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River. Soon after leaving the meadow the trail continually moves up a steep and narrow river canyon with many side falls tumbling over the canyon walls in into the high volume very fast moving river below. After much increase in altitude, passing through classic high sierra meadows, staggering views, tall cliffs, and some horses to navigate, we arrived at the west end of Relief Reservoir. Trails to the lake terminate approximately 200 feet above the lake. Scrambling is the only way down to the water level. The west end featured some amazing backpacking campsites; level, gorgeous view, nice fire ring, and only a few biting black flies (likely brought up to altitude by the horses). All images captured on iPhone 11 Pro.
Kennedy Meadows
