Hi friends!  I'm excited to announce that we're going to have two great field trips to the historic ranches of the South Fork country.  So please mark your calendars.

The first trip will be on Saturday, March 12th and will explore the Weldon-Kelso Area.  We will be meeting at Paul’s Place in Weldon at 10:00 a.m.

The second field trip to the South Fork is scheduled for Saturday, April 9th.  The trip will include the area of Highway 178 from Onyx east to Walker Pass.  Some of the places we hope to visit on these trips will be the Hafenfeld (formerly Prince and Alexander) Ranch, A. Brown Ranch, Hand Ranch, Landers Ranch (now the Onyx Ranch,) Onyx Store, Smith Ranch, Cottage Grove Cemetery, White Blanket allotment, and more.  We will meet at the Onyx Store at 10:00 a.m.

Our own Kathleen Creighton-Fuchs will be leading these trips.  Her family has been in the Kern River Valley for seven generations – Kathleen is a fifth generation native of the Kern Valley.  This will be a fascinating trip.  The South Fork has a very colorful history starting with the Smith ranch in 1861. [Read Bob Powers’ books, South Fork Country and This Old House]

These will be  Covid safe trips.  We will be going in our own cars and social distance. Please bring food and drinks for yourselves.

Hopefully, I will see you there.

     – Hal Chiprin Program Chairman