Sidewinder Low Level

Welcome to my guide for planespotting on Sidewinder Low Level! As you may have noticed, this is a rather long guide. The table of contents here allows you to go to specific sections so feel free to jump around. For those wanting to know how many planes to expect and when they fly, that information is contained in the What can I expect to get and When should I go sections. The locations are at the bottom and link to their own individual pages. At the very bottom is a section that show passes at different spots for specific times, Anyways admin over, happy spotting!

An Overview

Spotting Logistics/FAQs

What can I expect to get?

When should I go?

Locations

Kern River Valley

Outside of Kern River Valley

Spots I haven't been to, but should work

A Comparison of Spots

An Overview

Welcome to my guide for spotting the Sidewinder Low Level. This is quite an extensive guide, but the general layout is route map, logistics and FAQs, and then locations. The bolded information are the easy answers to common questions.

The Sidewinder Low Level allows spotters to see fighter jets and other tactical aircraft in the wild! The Sidewinder is a military low level flying route located within the R-2508 training complex located in Southeast California. Military aircraft fly relatively low (1500ft AGL or below) along a path laid out by a set of waypoints. A map of the route is detailed below.

My Sidewinder Low Level Collection

The Route

The list of waypoints and a fully interactive map of the route are below. In the interactive map, waypoints are the blue pins, locations I've been to are in yellow, and locations I haven't been to are in orange.

Spotting Logistics/FAQs

A Foreword

The Sidewinder Low Level carves its way through nature. Whether it's the towering mountains of the Sierras, the vast valleys of the Eastern Sierras, or the diverse desert landscapes of Death Valley National Park, the landscape that the Sidewinder cuts through is stunning and pristine. It is up to each person going to Sidewinder to keep it that way. Please pack in and pack out trash. Do your best to leave as small of a trace as possible.

What can I expect to get?

This is where I will try and temper expectations. Yes spotting fighter jets flying down low is cool, but as with many things, social media makes things look much better than they are in reality.
Okay, that whole tempering expectations aside, jets that fly the Sidewinder tend to come from a few bases. NAS Lemoore, the California Air National Guard Base at Fresno, Edwards Air Force Base, NAWS China Lake, March Air Reserve Base, and Nellis Air Force Base all house jets that commonly fly the Sidewinder. Occasionally aircraft from Miramar fly Sidewinder, but Miramar has a closer low level that they more commonly fly
- What makes the Sidewinder unique compared to any other low level in the world is that you have the opportunity to spot the entire fast jet inventory of the USAF, US Navy, and US Marine Corps (well except for the F-35B for now, one day VX-31 will get them🙃, but for now it's just RAF 35B's at Edwards you can get).
Below on mobile and to the right on desktop are some graphs generated from all passes I've seen while I've been on Sidewinder. They give an idea what you could get, but are not necessarily prescriptive
- Note that as squadrons transition from one type of aircraft to another, the numbers change. For example as more Lemoore squadrons transition from super hornet to F-35 or Block III super hornet, the chance of seeing super hornets goes down and the chance of seeing F-35C's and Block III super hornets goes up

More numbers!

Here's some stats since I'm a nerd! In the 273 hours I've spent spotting Sidewinder (yes I know that's way too much and I need to get a life), I've seen 380 passes. That's an average of 1.39 passes per hour. In simpler terms, you can expect around 11 passes in an 8 hour day if that stat holds.
- As you can probably tell from 1.39 passes per hour, there is a lot of dead time while spotting on Sidewinder. Whatever you bring to entertain yourself, be ready to drop it quickly to photograph a pass.
Contrary to what you see when scrolling through social media, not every pass is low. Going through my trips to sidewinder, only about 63% of the passes I saw were low. I averaged 0.88 low passes per hour. If that holds, you can expect around 7 low passes in an 8 hour day if that stat holds.

Note not all aircraft fly the whole sidewinder route. Many jets only fly alpha -> charlie or alpha -> delta. Somewhere between 50-70% of jets run the entire route
If there’s a special livery jet (CAG, boss bird, etc) you want to photograph, odds are you won’t get it on sidewinder. Of the 380 passes I’ve seen, only 45 have been special livery jets (pretty much a 12% chance of getting a painted jet). If there’s a specific jet you want to photograph, go to its home base to get it as your odds of seeing that jet are much higher.
- i.e. if you want to get VX-9's VANDY ONE jet, you're much better of going to an airshow to get it or going to Gray Flag to get it

When should I go?

Many parts of the Sidewinder get very hot during the summer months. The Eureka Dunes spot listed below can get to 120+ during the summer! June, July, August and September tend to be pretty hot. The coolest spot during the summer is Kern River Valley, but even that gets to 100+. Check weather forecasts to see if you think it will be too hot for you. Always remember to pack enough water for days out.
Clouds do not necessarily mean jets won't fly Sidewinder. Low clouds and fog, however, do bar jets from flying low level. In general VFR conditions are needed for jets to fly.
The military doesn't publish a schedule of what will fly when. In general, most jets that fly Sidewinder will fly between 9AM and 2PM. From my all trips to Sidewinder, the average time for the first pass is around 9:25AM. The average time for the last pass is around 2:45PM.
Below is a graph of when I've spotted passes. The blue bars represents the total number of passes I've spotted within a given time (rounded to 5 minutes). The red line takes the total number of passes and divides it by the number of times I've been on Sidewinder during that time. The red essentially gives the percent chance you will see a pass at that time. Again this gives a rough idea as to when you may get passes, but isn't necessarily prescriptive. It's a little confusing, but the way to read the graph is as follows:
- - I've spotted 17 total passes at or around 11:35AM
  - In 41% of my trips, I've spotted a pass at 11:35PM -> which indicates that this may be a common time for passes

What type of photography gear do I need?

Type of camera isn’t too important. Of course a camera with an autofocus that can track fast moving objects well is best, but not crucial (I started spotting Sidewinder with a Nikon D3400 beginner DSLR and got some pretty good shots still). As always, higher quality cameras will capture higher quality pictures.
The focal length of the lens is much more important for Sidewinder. If you look through sample shots that aren’t of heavies from all spots, all but one picture required more than 600mm of focal length. You need a long lens for Sidewinder. If you don't have a long lens, a high quality sensor can make up for that.
Your best chance to get sharp shots of jets down low is to shoot at the fastest shutter speed possible for your camera body (this tends to be 1/4000”). I tend to shoot ~1/640 to get a blurred background.

Do I need a scanner/what information will a scanner get me?

A scanner gives you a heads up of when jets are coming. This allows you to relax a bit until you hear someone is coming as opposed to constantly keeping an eye out for a jet. Every jet that flies Sidewinder is cleared onto Sidewinder by Joshua Approach. From there, the aircraft calls out every waypoint they are approaching on the low level frequency.

That being said, you will hear much more on scanner from some locations compared to others. For example, if you're at the Packsaddle spot, you're down in a river valley and Fairview Ridge blocks your line of sight to aircraft. You hear much less from Packsaddle compared to to being up on Fairview Ridge. While you can hear much more on Fairview Ridge compared to Packsaddle, you won't hear nearly as much as you would in Owens Valley. Being in a wide valley and in an area where you can hear the controller side of Joshua Approach, you have much more situational awareness as to what is going on.

Misc FAQs

Q: Is Star Wars Canyon open?

A: No. Military aircraft will NOT fly through Star Wars Canyon anymore. Note that civilian aircraft do occasionally fly through the canyon. For the past few years, there has been a Saturday in late January where a bunch of civilian aircraft have flown through.

Q: Will I see an F-117?

A: The odds of seeing an F-117 are practically zero, but they are nonzero. If you’re very lucky maybe you'll see one .

Q: How do people know when special jets fly Sidewinder (F-117, RAF Eurofighter Typhoons, CAGs, etc…)?

A: The vast majority of people just get lucky when catching something special.

Q: I want a picture of a jet flying fast enough for there to be shockwaves

A: Not to be pedantic, but while what you see are supersonic flow effects, they are not shockwaves. Anyways, a lot of those passes are coordinated, but if you're lucky, you may snag a shot of a fast jet. Over all the passes I've seen, only 2 have been flying fast enough to see supersonic flow effects

Q: How common is it to photograph two jets flying in formation on low level?

A: Not common, those passes are usually coordinated. Over all the passes, only 2 set of passes had jets flying in close formation with each other (one of them being a coordinated pass with the Raptor Demo).

Locations

Finally the locations! You may have some questions as to what's the best spot or where's the most popular spot. A lot of this is subjective so I won't try to answer that. That being said, the most popular spot on Sidewinder by far and away is Fairview Ridge. The next most popular is Packsaddle and the third most popular is The Haystack. Right now, West Side of Kern River Upper seems quite popular.

There are a variety of spots on Sidewinder that offer various backgrounds and angles. You can have a background of forest, mountains, or desert! That being said, it does take work to get to each spot. There is a range of accessibility for spots based on the ability to drive to them and ability to hike from the parking area to the spot itself. Below is a table that compares some of the spots listed here.

*While some roads may be plowed in Kern River Valley in the winter, do not plan on them being plowed. Have a plan in case roads are covered in ice and/or snow

Note I did omit a spot on the Jedi Transition. Following the crash at Star Wars Canyon, the Jedi Transition was rerouted north of this spot. Due to this, any jet flying the Jedi Transition won't necessarily fly past this spot. Pictures and videos taken from here are probably coordinated passes

Kern River Valley

Kern River Valley is the most popular and most commonly used location on Sidewinder. It is also the most convenient to get to. The Kern River Valley lies between points alpha and bravo. To get here, drive to Lake Isabella and towards Kernville. Drive north through Kernville and continue to get to the spots below. Note part of the road does close during the winter due to snow.

Spots listed are organized in the order you pass them driving up the river valley.

Corral Creek

This is one of the spots you can just drive to. It is a bit of an adventurous drive, but if you hate hiking and like offroading this may be your spot!

Fairview Ridge

This is the most popular spot on Sidewinder. If you're scrolling through Instagram and see a Sidewinder shot, odds are it was taken from here.

Packsaddle

Packsaddle is just 'around the corner' from Fairview Ridge. This is the spot to go to during the spring and fall for those picky about lighting.

West Side of Kern River Lower

It's an adventurous hike to this spot, but don't let that deter you! This spot gives you good lighting all day during the winter months and good lighting in the afternoon in the fall and spring.

West Side of Kern River Upper

This is one of the most, if not the most popular spot in the fall.

Outside of Kern River Valley

An important thing to note here is that not all jets fly the entire Sidewinder (yes I know this is repeated in many places, but I don't expect everyone to read everything). From my experience, about anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 of jets that fly Sidewinder will fly the entire route. If you go to one of the spots outside of Kern River Valley, don't expect as busy of a day.

The Haystack

This is the second most popular spot outside of Kern River Valley. The hill lies on the east side of Owens Valley with jets flying low around both sides of the hill. If they fly to the west, you have the snow capped high sierras as a background. If they fly to the east, you have the layered Inyo range as a background.

Chocolate Drop Hills

Every once in a while you'll see a picture from here, but don't let that deter you. This spot offers incredible views of Panamint Valley and jets dropping in for a low level run down the length of the long and flat valley!

Spots I haven't been to, but should work

Below the Needles

This is the other spot that is quite popular in the fall right now. It consists of two spots.

As far as I know, this is the only spot you can drive to (coordinates on the right on desktop, below on mobile) and still have elevation on jets. Here, jets do one of two things. They either stay close to the river and fly below you to the east or they perform a ridge crossing maneuver over the Needles. This is a good afternoon spot. This spot is roughly a 45 min - 1 hour drive further north up winding mountain roads from the Packsaddle trailhead parking lot. Since most of the hikes in Kern River Valley are 45 min - 1.5 hours, the extra time spent driving isn't necessarily lost.
The west-east ridges that the road passes perpendicular to just south of The Needles is the more popular of the spots (I haven't been to see which one exactly). From here, you can get shots of jets performing ridge crossings of The Needles. The tall mountains in the background should make it easy to land lock jets even if they are pulling up to execute a ridge crossing.

The "new" Star Wars Canyon

Don't let this name fool you. It is one of the least accessible spots if not the least accessible spot listed here. I only list it here because I have seen pictures and videos from here and people may wonder where it is. That being said, I do not necessarily recommend people go here.

Some jets may drop into into this canyon on their way between Point Echo and Point Foxtrot, but I wouldn't bank on every jet that flies the entire route dropping into this canyon.

Eureka Dunes

To spot from here, all you have to do is climb up the tallest sand dunes in North America! That being said, a lot of the roads to get here are not paved and not well maintained. Only attempt to get out here if you have a vehicle capable of doing so. This is not to discourage people from going here, but since it's a haul to get out to this very remote area, I would recommend only going here if you want to see more than just planes.

Jets should approach you from the northwest and pass Point Foxtrot. In pictures and videos I've seen, the jets will bank around the north side of the dunes with the Last Chance Mountain range in the background (yes that's their actual name!)