We just couldn’t get motivated for a long drive this weekend, so we had decided to simply hike up, down, and along the bluffs first thing in the morning before the day got too warm. However, Jane proposed that, since we’d be up on the east side of town already, we should just keep going up to Mill Creek – this was where we think Chris contracted his case of poison oak on our first visit here in early March. So, poison oak be damned, we made our way up the Kern River Canyon, arriving at the trailhead by 8:45. On our first hike up this trail, we had just gone in 2-1/2 miles, so today we figured to do double that, hoping to gain some more open views from the steeper slopes at the south end of the little valley. We made good time up the gentle grade, reaching the first creek crossing in just 20 minutes. Whereas water had been plentiful back in March, the creekbed was now completely dry, just a sandy wash. It was the same for the next three crossings as well, although there was a shallow puddle below some rocks just upstream of crossing #4. As expected, we began to spy poison oak along the trail – it was thickest between crossings #3 and #4, but it was not encroaching on the trail too much and wasn’t a problem. We began ascending out of the Mill Creek drainage after the fourth crossing, climbing through several short switchbacks to a saddle south of Pt. 3,295 on the topo map – this was where, on our previous visit, we had picked our way northward cross-country to some boulders at the point, and is the place where we think Chris might have brushed against some poison oak as he was climbing the rocks. We kept going this time, stopping at a large granite slab where there are several Native American grinding holes. Last time, we had turned around just past this slab, and, since we were only an hour or so in this time, we were looking forward to getting past the familiar trail and into some new territory. South of the slab, the trail passes through some small, flat meadows before climbing, quite steeply in spots, up the eastern side of a north-south ridge – the further we went, the more the views improved, yet, strangely, our motivation did not. We had spent Friday working around the house, and, since we had also talked about doing some additional things today, we started to ponder turning around and heading home. About a half-mile up the slope, we came to a switchback where there was a curious Forest Service marker labeled “camera point” – we’re not sure if this was meant to denote a nice view spot, but the views, though nice, weren’t quite the vistas we were expecting so we kept going. After a couple of more switchbacks, we topped out on a flat atop the ridgeline – while the main trail continued south directly up the ridge, there was a worn path leading north as well, so we turned off to see if we could reach any sort of overlook. About 50 yards from the main trail, we found a boulder about ten feet tall that appeared to be the high point of the immediate vicinity – we looked around for poison oak and, not finding any, decided it was worth a little climb. Jane went up first, choosing to start from an adjacent rock and having to stem across while hoisting herself up and over the gap – Chris was impressed. When it was his turn, he tackled the main face, finding good holds and easily reaching the top. The only issue was that the views were still not very good – the ridge itself blocked the view north, although we could see Lightner Peak to the east and had a nice perspective further up the Mill Creek drainage. The bouldering was the fun part, so after Chris climbed down, Jane decided to have another go. After that ego booster, we returned to the trail and made our way out, encountering two ladies and their dog as we approached crossing #4, the only other people we saw all morning. We arrived back at the car just after 11:30, and it was nice to have kept the outing short – we’d be back home within another hour and had the rest of the day available. Despite no water in the creek, we enjoyed this trail – it’s a good workout and, at least if done earlier in the day, the heat isn’t too bad. We’ll be back.