Wildrose Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features Views · Wildflowers

The trail was heavily impacted by the 2008 Clover Fire and has not seen any maintenance since. Between miles 4.6 and 7.1, you'll hike directly through the burn area. The trail is very faintly visible and in some places not at all. Good route finding skills and an offline map are recommended. In some areas - both within the burn area and before that - the trail is very heavily overgrown, requiring bushwhacking. In one place, the willow thicket is now across the trail and you'll have to hike around it.

Not suitable for trail running.

Leaving the sandy dirt road behind, the trail immediately starts gaining elevation. The tread is covered in lots of loose rock and pine cones. As you ascend through juniper and Jeffrey pines, you occasionally get a glimpse of Kennedy Meadows to your right. After a third of a mile, the trail heads generally north, weaving in and out of multiple gullies, then drops into a wider dry wash at about 2 miles. Follow the wash all the way up to a saddle, then head downhill again towards Wildrose Meadow. Cross the meadow at 3.5 miles, then continue uphill through another wide creek bed that slowly narrows.

Reach another saddle and the southern edge of the 2008 Clover Fire burn area at 4.7 miles. Views are now far reaching, but trail finding also becomes more difficult. Descend along a sandy wash, cross two perpendicular dry washes to yet another saddle. It is downhill again for about half a mile, then uphill for about 1.5 miles to the last major saddle. You enter pine forest again and descend a mostly dry, grassy creek bed, then ascend yet another one. From here, a series of switchbacks leads you down to the South Fork Kern River where you join Haiwee Trail.