After 12 years of planning, gathering funding then completing and re-doing – and re-doing again – environmental studies, the City of Bakersfield has finally gone out to bid for the northern extension of the Kern River Parkway Trail. “I’m very excited, it’s been a long time coming,” Councilman Bob Smith said of the 6-mile long addition to the nearly 40-mile-long path that runs the length of the Kern River from Gordon’s Ferry on the east all the way to the Buena Vista Lake Aquatic Recreation Area on the west. This extension will take runners, hikers and cyclists north at Coffee Road along the Friant-Kern Canal up to 7th Standard Road, about a half mile west of the Gossamer Grove development.