9/26/14 The fifth and final day on the trail was a short one as we headed the rest of the way down Bubbs Creek and back to Road's End. Successful completion of our amazing journey.
1 Morning admist the ferns. Since we covered so many miles yesterday, we could afford to really take our time getting-up and heading out today.
2 Back on the trail, following Bubbs Creek almost the entire way.
3 Bubbs Creek flowing into Kings Canyon.
4 A couple more deer on the trail.
5 Looking downstream from one of the bridges over Bubbs Creek.
6 Dustin checking out some cascades.
7 We're now all the way into the Eastern end of Kings Canyon with more great canyon views.
8 This is also where Paradise Valley merges with Kings Canyon and Bubbs Creek joins the Kings River.
9 Panorama of Kings Canyon and Paradise Valley coming together.
10 A California Mountain Kingsnake lying across the trail. A fine specimen of this relatively rare species.
11 Our lunch spot along Bubbs Creek. Also a good view of the Aether 70 pack that served me very well on the trip.
12 Back to the South Fork of the Kings River, crossing over it on Bailey Bridge. Bubbs Creek empties into the Kings River here.
13 View up the Kings River from the bridge. Still a lot of water, but definitely not the roaring river it normally would be.
14 Back to the loop junction. Hard to believe it's been over four days since we were at this exact spot. As tempting as it is to go four another four day lap around the loop, we continue on to the trailhead.
15 We made it! We had someone take our picture at the trailhead to mark the official completion of our amazing journey. Then we tried to reenter civilization. It's always a bit of a shock to the system seeing cars, and roads, and buildings again after five days of wildneress. It's very tempting to just stay in the wildnerness...