Mill Creek Trail

Great trail for a quick hike. If you're able to survive the first 14 miles of the Kern River Canyon with your lunch in your stomach, you're almost there. Exit the 178 at Kern Canyon Rd and go for approximately 2.5 miles to find the trailhead. The trail is maintained by Kern Back Country Horsemen of California. Judging by the tracks in the mud, mountain bikes, horses, and cows all use the trail, but on this particular day I just saw people and their dogs. Although the trail is 7 miles in length, we only did 3.5 miles. We started off at an elevation of 2400' and made our way up to 4200'. We encountered four streaks that were easy to cross by jumping on rocks. The trail itself was all uphill and for the most part had wonderful scenery.

If you live in Bakersfield and you are looking for a day trip, this is a really great hiking trail. I must admit the drive up the canyon to is rough (if you get car sick like me, take some Dramamine or Bonine first). The trail is right off the road which is nice. We encountered a few other hikers some with dogs. I suggest good, comfortable hiking shoes (I have good Merrels.) Take a small backpack with water, sunscreen, bug spray and a few other emergency supplies. We took snacks and had a little picnic by the creek. We did not encounter any wildlife. There was a lot of cow mess, but we never ran into any. The trail is really nice and wide, not difficult to navigate, but if you are not used to hiking in elevation, take it slow. There are some hills, I really only thought one was a little bit steep. I want to go back earlier so I can hike the entire thing.

Well I hear that a lot of people hike here from the 178 to the creek and turn back around. Well I hiked through to the other end. It was not easy, I was told it's mostly flat and not a lot of steep climbing, well that wasn't true. lol This hike kicked my ass. It took all of my energy, I was so tired, if I was attacked by any animal or person I would have died that day cause I had no life in me. It had been a while since I had been hiking previous to this so that could have played a part in it but all the hiking going up the mountain did it too. The creeks were really dry and drained out somewhere, so we didn't get to see it. As far as wildlife there I saw birds, cows , a rabbit , some lizards, and a bunch of annoying flies butterflies and wasps. There's some nice scenery of the mountains the sun when it rises if you go early enough, nature in general and fresh air. We ate lunch and rested when we got to the other side of the trail, that helped a lot with my energy level, plus it was easier coming down the mountain than going up. Although it was easier and I was faster coming down, it was hard to stop myself from going so fast, so my toes were killing me. I just couldn't win that day. On top of all of this my group went too far ahead of me, I yelled for them multiple times, they never heard me, the walkie talkie I had wasn't working anymore and there is no phone reception there, no one turned around to make sure the group was ok or still together; in the meantime I got lost and started going down the wrong trail. I only caught up to the group because there path zig zagged up and mine was going straight down. I was a lil pissed that nobody turned back or waited after being so far away cause anything could have happened to me, like maybe I could have gotten hurt attacked or LOST!!..... Here's some tips for this hike, bring food water and a garbage bag for your trash, hiking/walking sticks, wear comfortable pants or shorts with long socks, a light jacket like a windbreaker or long sleeve shirt to put over your shirt so you can easily take it off and carry it when it starts getting warm, bring maybe a knife cause you just never know, phone/IPod(for music, to bring noise, and there was two areas I got reception out of the entire hike so just in case), sunglasses, sunscreen, a hat, and sturdy comfortable shoes.