Lovely Bench

I will be doing the bench hike to get rid of some of the extra sugar from all the goodies from Christmas.

We are meeting at the Kern River Trailhead at 9:00am. We are parking on the dirt lot on the left of the Delonegha Bridge, or below the bridge at the Day Area located in the Kern River Canyon.

For directions from your home see map below or put the coordinates 35.547652, -118.616306 into Google Maps. Please arrange carpools in the comments section. Make sure everyone in your carpool is hiking the same distance.

This is an up-and-back hike on an awesome trail. We have two options:

1. Hike 6 miles round trip. Hike about three miles up to see and photograph wildflowers.
2. Some hikers may want to hike all the way up to the bench, eat lunch, (about 10.5 miles RT, with about 1300 feet of elevation gain), and then hike back. There is information about the Lower Kern Canyon in Ruby Jenkin's Book Exploring the Southern Sierra: West Side T13.

The club hiked portions of this trail many times during past super blooms. I expect that we will see a few flowers, but it's still early in the season. Keep your fingers crossed that we get some sun before then and we get a few more blooms!

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*** PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY *** No one in the group is a guide or in any way responsible for your comfort or safety. Please be prepared with adequate gear and supplies for the trip. Please remember that going out into wilderness has risks associated with it and you should be aware and prepared to address any changes in weather, road conditions or to look out for/avoid random acts of nature, including insects, wild animals and natural hazards. It is your responsibility to evaluate the difficulty of any activity you participate in, and decide whether you are prepared by having the experience, skill, knowledge, equipment, and the physical and emotional stamina to safely participate.

*** WAIVER OF LIABILITY *** The Organizers and members in this group are not professional leaders, guides, or mountaineers. The function of the member or organizer is only to organize the trip. Each person who shows up for a trip/meetup (and their guest or guests) is responsible for his or her own safety. By attending a hike, or any other event organized by this group, you are acknowledging that you and any guests that you bring are aware of the risks, dangers and hazards associated with the activity and freely accept and fully assume all such risks, dangers and hazards, and further agree to release and discharge the Organizers, Members of the Kern Valley Hiking Club + Meetup Group from and against any and all liability arising from your participation in the group activities.

By RSVPing you and those you bring with you as your guests ARE agreeing to the above statements.