2009-09-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

Fordyce Creek IV-V (V+)

Fordyce Creek is a wonderful run surrounded by outdated beta and hard to find water flows. Thanks to American Whitewater, Fordyce is back after a several year hiatus from scheduled releases. This run is a wonderful introduction to High Sierra boating, and a nice introduction to class IV-V if someone in the group knows the run well. Scenery and rapids similar to many of the classics, without committing gorges or a remote location.

Portaging is always fairly easy and generally consists of "granite sidewalks" with some bush whacking. Getting to the put in varies from year to year, depending on how recently PG&E has had to do work on the dam at Fordyce Lake. As of 2009 the road was rough, requiring a four-wheel drive vehicle. Taylor Cavin squeezed his Subaru Forrester up the road, but higher clearance is advised, I bottomed out my trusty '89 Nissan truck.

A long seven miles of rough roads leads to rewarding views at the put-in.

Ten minutes or so of hiking and you are at the heli-pad and gauging station, aka the get in.

Just around the corner is a log across the river, avoidable on the left, which sets you up just right for Eraserhead, the first and longest slide of the run.

Robbie Hogg

A nice train down Eraserhead.

Below Eraserhead is a exciting stretch of IV-IV+ that links together at higher flows. Eventually it mellows out into a large pool above Atomic Piton, which can easily be portaged on either side.

Atomic Piton is the most rarely run rapid of Fordyce Creek, due to its namesake, a shallow ledge at the bottom. Charlie Center boofs over the ledge.

Taylor Cavin on the same.

Typical boogie on Fordyce downstream of Atomic Piton.

This nice rapid leads into Bishop's Balcony, which is generally run on the far right, and occasionally on the tougher left line. Bishop's Balcony goes into a fun mini gorge that class IV boaters will want to scout and or portage from above Bishop's on the left.

Exiting Bishop's mini gorge, the river takes a steep bend to the right and maintains class IV character right to the lip of Rotator Cuff, a clean but potentially sticky slide to vertical fall. Eddy, scout and or portage on the left.

Taylor Cavin demonstrates a nice boof over Rotator Cuff.

Once past Rotator Cuff the gradient eases off, with a few nice drops mixed between several miles of meandering meadows.

Shannamar Dewey scouting one of the larger meadow rapids, "Big Squeeze", free of logs in 2009.

Taylor Cavin getting left on "Where's Barry", also wood free as of 2009.

A mix of rapids and flats lead to Insanity Falls aka Bad Seed, commonly portaged on the right. This drop is run more often than Atomic Piton and goes better than it looks. Charlie Center.

Flat water maintains with a few rapids for the next mile or so, until the pace picks up with some fun slides leading into Fordyce Falls aka In Your Face. A class IV entrance leads to a wide and fun 10' falls that should be finished on the left.

Shannamar Dewey on the entrance.

Shannamar Dewey finishes on the left.

Just a few rapids lead into Split Falls, which can be portaged on the right but has proven to be cleaner than it looks and is normally run.

Taylor Robertson enjoying one of the best on Fordyce.

Showing how split falls got it's name. Jesse Shimrock.

Bending through a meadow with nice pool drop rapids, the river picks up gradient again as it plunges over "The Hole that Ate the Donner Party". Terrible at low flows, the line opens up beautifully at 500cfs.

Ben Stookesberry getting left on the hole that ate donner.

Knobs lies below Donner, a solid class V rapid that can be portaged on either side, or run with a strong middle to left move. The run out from Knobs leads into Just a Big Class IV, a fun slide before the mank begins.

A legend runs a legend, Deiter King exits Just a Big IV.

Devin Knight on the same.

Just a Big IV marks the end of the good stuff, and the river turns into a manky boulder garden until reaching Spaulding Lake. It can all be run, or portaged via a trail on the left.

From the confluence it's a two mile paddling across the lake to the boat ramp.

Getting done with a great day on Fordyce.

A bonus to the summer weekend release is close by climbing for those who find it to be too mellow of a day...

2009-08-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

The Matt Thomas Rehab Raffle.

It's all here. Support a great person and win some of the best gear available.

2009-08-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

Blogging, hm...exploits? I am sure any followers of Jefferson State Creeking have noticed the gradual switch from a blog to a run listing.

I still do blog though, although I don't think too many people are aware of said thought repository. You can follow my random ramblings, reviews, and other such assorted assimilation of abstract deemed marginally worth making assessable to the general public at River Lover.

This is also where many photos end up from runs I repeat.

2009-07-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

North Fork of the Kings V-V+

A small amount of dubious beta existed for the North Fork Kings above Wishon Reservoir. From three different sources we didn't have much to work with. Two said simply "it looks good in there" and when they checked it out flows were either too high or too low. Our other source said they had done the run, it was class IV except for one gorge which they portaged, but at the end of the portage they looked upstream and the gorge was good to go.

Earlier in the year we had consider the run, but through some misinformation came to believe the Wishon gauge would reflect water levels in the North Fork Kings above Wishon. It doesn't, as the hydro project is of the more complicated variety. Courtwright and Wishon Reservoirs are in close proximity. There is a powerhouse at Wishon, powered by water from Courtwright. There is also a powerhouse downstream at Black Rock Reservoir, powered by water from Wishon. Straightforward stuff. Except that Courtwright is also used as a forebay for the Wishon powerhouse, and in the hot summer nights, PG&E will pump water from Wishon up to Courtwright, so they can make more power when people down in the valley switch on their AC in the afternoon, aka peak demand. Thus, the gauge below Wishon isn't much of a reflection on the inflow to the reservoir.

This lack of flow information is the most likely culprit for lack of exploration on the North Fork Kings. Upon arrival at Courtwright we hiked two miles cross country to get a glimpse of the river.

Somehow we decided that dropping over this dome would be a nice quick route. Perhaps a little too exciting, Charlie Center climbs down in flip-flops.

Rush Sturges overlooking the North Fork Kings and John Muir Wilderness. The river flows through the shadowed crack to the left.

The closest section of river visible was at least a mile away, if not too. A little zoom action and we thought flows looked ok.

On our way back to the car we opted to skirt the big cliff face, then drove up the road to Maxon Trailhead. From the trailhead map we estimated a six to eight mile hike was ahead of us the following day, so we found a nice campsite and called it a night.

Amazing place, you can drive to 8,000' and enjoy some nice views.

Hiking, we all hate it, but sometimes it has to be done. Rush Sturges getting his system setup.

Although we didn't get an early start, we were making good time and continually looking for a fork to the right at Post Corral Creek. We didn't have a map for the area and were relying on the Gazeteer and trailhead map. Five or six miles into the hike we decided to take a break with a group of boyscouts in this beautiful meadow.

One of their leaders had done the hike before, and said we had six miles to go. A little disheartening since we thought we were within a mile or two of the river. Most of the hike is perfectly flat, but there was one last climb before we finally got to drop to the river. I thought the hike was a lot like Upper Cherry, a touch longer but flatter too. As easy as hiking eleven miles with a fully loaded boat can be. It's not easy.

Only too glad to see the river, which looked a bit low. But hey, Post Corral Creek confluence should only be a mile downstream and it's a major tributary.

Glad to be on the water, we were all dismayed at how much scraping we were doing, but optimism remained high and within minutes were standing at a large horizon line. So much for the class IV, it was on. A multi-tiered slide that looked like more flow would pad it out nicely. Having cracked my boat the week before I opted to walk due to potential (mandatory) boat abuse the slide dictated.

Charlie Center probes the first larger drop of the North Fork Kings.

Rush Sturges on the same bouncy slide.

We pushed our way through many low water boulder gardens, able to stay in our boats but doing a fair amount of gorilla boating too, until we hopped out at an even larger horizon line. Scouting the drop we were all sure of one thing, that it would be epic with about four times the flow. Once again citing the cracked boat as an excuse, I portage again.

Rush Sturges probes the second bedrock drop.

Rush had a great line, and Charlie Center follows.

The boulder gardens got considerably steeper, but with the low flows we were able to stay in our boats and aggressively boat scout our way down another half mile of river. Class II culminated into a tough drop that had a narrow three foot wide goal post move at the bottom. Missing the line would be a massive piton, and not wanting to risk ankle damage we all portaged down the right, putting in right above Post Corral Creek and what turned out to be a beautiful camp site.

Up and out of camp we were forced to gorilla over more boulder gardens. If the North Fork Kings is low, Corral Creek equally is. To our relief after only a short bit of boulder gardens the river entered a gorge.

Charlie Center soaking up the scenery.

I'm sure that at higher flows the gorge would have been pretty tough, but have no mandatory portages. As it was, the slides were fun but some almost covered sieves required portages.

Charlie Center making a splash.

A quick sieve walk...

As we pushed deeper in, the gradient accelerated, tragically flows did not correspondingly increase.

We couldn't help but imagine how fun this section would be at the right flow. As it was, the deep crack stole all the water.

Some cracks were wide enough though, and this one offered up more slides and pinches than a day in grade school. Charlie Center.

Post pinch slide, the gorge walls scaled back and we entered over half a mile of Upper Cherry styled low angled slides. With the low flow Charlie led a read and run charge, but I had to hop out for one quick picture for posterity's sake.

Charlie Center enjoying some low stress slip n slidin.

RKS.scenery.NFK

A little more low angle slide action and then Charlie hopped out, signaling down the middle with a big thumbs up.

Charlie Center enjoys the slide to freefall.

We were on our toes for the gorge we had heard about, it always seemed to be looming around the next bend. Thankfully there were a few fun ones mixed in with boulder gardens.

Rush Sturges about to auto boof a nice ledge.

With a wall only on one side, Rush below the boof.

As we floated around the corner, the gorge uncloaked itself and was every bit as intimidating as we'd imagined. Below few technical boulder gardens we were scrambling out at the last access point to reconnoiter the situation. Immediately below us was a portage, but we could work around it just above river level. After that the gorge looked manageable, and besides, we had certain beta that the last cascade was "good to go". Of course, our inaccurate beta also indicated that everything above here was class IV...

Portaging into the heart of the gorge.

Rapids are always look flat from above, and the mellow section was more challenging than we had anticipated.

Charlie Center gets up and over while Rush Sturges looks on.

Scurrying into eddies above the gorge's final drop, things looked dubious. None of us particularly like crack drops. Hmmm...

Scouting unveiled a crack worse than we had feared. After dropping fifteen feet into a crack marginally wide enough for a kayak, the river stayed in the crack for another twenty feet before exiting into the pool. The good news was that you wouldn't need your paddle for the whole rapid, it was too narrow.

Not wanting to lose a boat into the "crackamole" we passed boats up to a ledge on the right bank and portaged into a nice throw and go below the niche.

Beneath the throw-n-go gorge walls spread open and we got out to scout the cascade we'd seen two days before while scouting. From a few miles away it looked like the line was on the left, but we weren't surprised that at river level the line was quite different.

Rush Sturges skips down the smooth granite.

Charlie Center lines it up.

It was obvious that several drops lay in quick succession downstream, and we hopped out to scout the series. As we walked further down river, our grins grew proportionally with each slide scouted. Amazed that everything was good to go, we took turns linking all the slides and getting footage.

Rush Sturges on the entry drop that could use a little more water.

Clean enough that flows don't matter, RKS.

I went next and was grinning ear to ear by the bottom, and got setup while Charlie hiked to his boat.

Charlie Center boofing the best of the North Fork Kings.

Celebration slide - Charlie Center.

Mellow boulder gardens set the tone below the slides, until Helms Creek added in a paltry 20cfs and we got to enjoy one last bedrock drop.

Once again a few more boulder gardens were scraped through, and we were on Wishon Reservoir early in the afternoon. We exchanged waves with fisherman on the mellow paddle out, glad to have explored the North Kings. As Rush embarked on the odyssey of hitch hiking the shuttle we commiserated about the flow window for this section. A consensus was reached that when Upper Cherry Creek was at or around a "perfect medium flow" that the North Kings would be at a similar perfect flow. Another classic like this should hopefully spread out the user load on Upper Cherry, or at least be an alternate for those looking for great whitewater with a bit of solitude.

Video by RKS

2009-07-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Matt Thomas Rehab Trip.

Matt Thomas has a long and challenging rehab trip ahead of him, even without the attached financial difficulties. Check out this awesome fund raiser on the Klamath River, it sounds like a great time, hope to see you there!

Stay tuned for a big fund raising raffle with tons of gear too!

Matt Thomas on the South Fork Salmon.

2009-07-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

I can't come close to putting into words how much my friendship with Matt Thomas means, and what an amazing person he is.

This is the news I heard on July 10th:

Matt was mountain biking in Southern Oregon with friends yesterday. He attempted a new jump, went over his handlebars and landed on the back of his neck. As a result, he fractured and dislocated his C6/C7 vertebrae. He had emergency surgery @ Providence Hospital in Medford Oregon. He is currently in the ICU and will begin working with physical therapy today.

At this time, he does not have feeling/movement from the chest, down to his legs. However, Matt is showing small signs of improvement in his arms. Last night Matt could only move his right arm. This morning, he was able to almost fully extend his left arm too. Matt is encouraged by these small improvement!

Matt is determined to recover and his spirit is strong and healthy. He is grateful for all his loving friends and family....both near and far.

Matt's quote from last night: "Life is precious, it can change in an instant. But I'm alive and life is good."

You can follow Matt's progress at Matt never gives up! Send all your prayers and good thoughts to this great person.

Even if a photo says a thousand words, I can't say enough MT.

2009-06-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Marble Fork of the Kaweah V-V+

Welcome to the jungle.

The Kaweah is a crazy place, within minutes you can go from sparse rolling foothills to forest so thick and verdant it's truly a jungle in there. A jungle of poison oak, so thick and vast that like taxes and death, there is an unspoken acceptance of it as part of life.

Earlier in the week we had driven to the top and nearly dropped in, but decided that it would not be a wise move considering the gradient shown on the map. Instead we hiked in three miles to Admiration Point. This trail is shown on the Topographical Map, but not on the map that's handed out at the park entrance, and as such is not well known.

What we saw surprised both of us, the river falls over a series similar to Seven Falls on the South Branch Feather, but in a gorge.

Ben Stookesberry surveys the scene at Admiration Point.

The last of the falls is where the trail from Potwisha ends. "Marble Falls"

The two above Marble Falls, somewhere in the 40-60' range.

Even steeper above...we guessed they were around 30-40' each.

The problem...a gorged out rapid of unknown proportions, obviously quite large.

Zoomed out view of the series, quite a disturbing lack of portage options.

It was an easy choice to head to the Upper Middle Kaweah instead of dropping into the Marble Fork from the top. Still, we knew that we would return, this brief glimpse was too alluring.

The day after our Upper Middle Kaweah trip, Ben hiked in four miles from Potwisha Campground while I rested an injured foot, and he came back with an interesting report.

The trail led to Marble Falls, dropped over some sieved out boulder gardens, and disappeared into three distinct gorges. Each was visible from the trail and contained at least one large drop and several potentially manageable cascades.

We decided to go light and fast, leaving from the trailhead at six, packed for one day. Mr Stookesberry was kind enough to bring his 70 meter rope, which weighs more than the average overnight kit.

Blessed by cooler than normal weather, Ben and I reached Marble Falls a little before nine am.

Admiration Point from river level.

Ideally we would have waited for good lighting, but we knew time was of the essence if we wanted to get off the river before dark. I opted to probe while Ben put in the work for a great angle.

I thought I would have time for a few strokes before the lip of the falls, but from the seal launch to the lip I just had time to get my balance and take one necessary right stroke to correct my angle. I am awake now!

The sun peaks over the ridge line as Ben Stookesberry runs Marble Falls in Sequoia National Forest.

While walking on the trail around a sieved out rapid, I felt a little hesitant about dropping into the foreboding canyon. Once it there would be no easy egress. Ben didn't seem so hesitant though, and following his lead I seal launched into a pool above a portage.

The bedrock was still marble, which was tacky, a relief from other Kaweah fork polished granite. Ben Stookesberry sets up our portage down the middle.

With a relatively fast portage behind us, Ben and I scouted a boulder garden and found a theme for the day. The boulder garden was full of sieves, but did have narrow line that looked neither fun nor safe, and a series of quick portages followed, until we stood at the lip of the second canyon.

Apprehensive about what might lie in the canyon, we scouted each drop to make sure we could work our way back upstream if necessary.

Ben Stookesberry runs a small entrance slide.

Another scout & slide followed.

One more set leads to the big horizon we'd glimpsed from the trail.

We kept our upstream escape options in mind, although the last waterfall would be much harder to escape from. Knowing we'd be more or less committing to working our way downstream, Ben Stookesberry runs the final diminutive horizon line.

Whew she sure is big!

As the photograph shows, portage options were looking a little thing too. Rappelling to the base was out of the question, because it landed in a punchbowl, then went right down a canyon into a sieve. Not that I was debating running this hundred plus foot drop anyways.

We then set out to find the best route for us to get around the beast, eventually returning to our kayaks an hour and a half later. We were glad to have found a way around that didn't involve any technical rope work, although we would have to rope our boats seventy feet up a steep scree field, then simply traverse through the poison oak forest and drop through "the green door" a nice, fairly open draw that led down into the heart of the canyon.

Another hour and a half later, we were only too glad to jump in the water and cool off, marveling at the beauty of the canyon and conscious that we might just be getting into an unplanned overnight stay.

It was time to push on again, off we paddled into the third canyon. The bedrock had changed between the canyons, any trance of marble was gone. What we now had was something we'd achieved familiarity with in far Northern California.

Metamorphic bedrock, always a little chunky but fun too. Ben Stookesberry combines sliding, bouncing, and a little bit of water into good times.

From above the gorge looked like it could be full of technical rope work, but to our relief the slides were going quite well.

From Ben's scout we knew there would be a big slide in this canyon. Finishing off the slides we scrambled for an eddy. Out of our boats we only had to walk ten feet to see that, amazingly, it went. The slide certainly was big, but there was no reason it would not go. There was a potential piton in the middle at the top, but after that the slide opened up, curved to the right and banked in that direction too.

Tired from our already long day, I gave it a thumbs up and hopped in my boat. I tried to drive left in entrance, but my bow was still pushed too far center and I took a small piton, but resurfaced upright and took off down the rest of the slide. It was only too apparent that the slide was steeper than it looked from the top, and I was going really fast as I hit what had appeared to be a roller, and launched in the air. Thankfully the slide was banked, and I was flying down the middle of the slide, bracing for impact, landing in a soft splash in the aerated base of the slide.

Wide eyed, I looked back up at Ben and gave him two thumbs up with a big grin. I marked where I took off and landed in this photo of Ben.

Ben had no hesitation going next, and drove harder left in the entrance, where a pillow pushed him back to the center and away from the roller. Ben Stookesberry, the slide is longer than it looks, he has already dropped about 20'

Ben Stookesberry with a strong finish through the bottom holes.

So fun!

Refreshed from the fun slide, we put our blades in the water and pushed downstream into an incredible amount of portages around sieved out boulder gardens. We got into the grove of it when suddenly the earth dropped away again.

To our delight this portage, although of a similar sized set, only took about twenty minutes. A slide on the left side had lodged in the ravine, creating a nice set of shelves to walk across. Without these the portage would have been henious.

Ben Stookesberry dwarfed by another Marble Fork cascade.

Light was starting to fade as we hauled our boats around countless nasty boulder gardens. I couldn't help but gaze at the left bank dreaming that the diversion would show up around every corner. The diversion continued to elude my wishes, but again and again we portaged around sieves, until suddenly I stepped out of my boat onto smooth granite to scout another big set.

A perfect twenty foot slide into a short pool followed by a thirty foot slide transitioning into a horizontal launch pad. We shook our heads in amazement at the cleanest large drop of the whole Kaweah, hidden between terrible boulder gardens.

Ben Stookesberry takes one last look before embarking down the slide.

Ben Stookesberry about to make a high speed transition.

We cruised across the pool below the slide and embarked on another of what was to be many more portages around sieves and undercuts.

Light fading fast, Ben Stookesberry runs one last piece of bedrock on the Marble Fork.

We grunted through the portages, ran some mank and were exhausted by the time we finally reached the diversion at eight pm. Not too much time to spare!

Ben Stookesberry after washing off in the diversion.

Was the Marble Fork worth doing? The good drops are wonderful, and the in between is equally terrible. It might have the worst portage to fun ratio of any run that I'd return to...yet I would return to it. Probably not every year though, and certainly not for multiple laps! I'd consider it "classic" in the sense of the Middle San Joaquin...a classic mission of hard work through a beautiful place, with a handful of outstanding and singular rapids.

2009-06-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

Upper Middle Kaweah V-V+

Best known from it's exposure in SLP's Burning Time 2, the Upper Middle Kaweah had only seen one other descent by the Huckin Huge crew. This is due to the infamous "Rusty's Rampage", a mandatory slide that pushes into a tenuous eddy. On the first descent three paddles were broken while folks tried to escape the eddy. Perhaps this explains why Ben and I couldn't find any compatriots for this mission, and were regaled to a twosome. We knew setting safety would be a rare luxury and lots of work, but didn't want to pass up the opportunity for good flows and cool weather, a key ingredient to hiking in the Kaweah.

The exploratory group came in through the East Fork Kaweah, entering the drainage higher up via a strenuous ten mile hike. While driving to the drainage, Ben Stookesberry and I sussed out some great beta from first descent veteran Taylor Robertson.

Hiking in from the Middle Fork trailhead, and entering the gorge at Panther Creek would put us right above the hardest "best" section of the river and take seven miles out of the hike. Running on somewhat of a schedule and lacking a shuttle, this car to car option fit the bill for our needs.

Ben Stookesberry loads up his boat for a quick overnight.

We planned to hike in, camp at Panther Creek and put in the following morning, hoping to make the push through in one day, but packed and extra nights food just in case...

The hike doesn't offer many views of the river due to thick manzanita and poison oak forests, so we kept out heads down and suffered through until we reached Panther Creek and saw the gorge.

Apparently once dropping in, we'd be "in it to win it"

Panther Creek is host to a beautiul campsite perched on the gorge rim above the Middle Kaweah, and we quickly made up our minds to camp by the fresh water and flat ground that seemed unlikely to be available in the gorge.

Geology major & map master Ben Stookesberry works his magic on the topo.

During the evening we scouted access to the river, which was a set of steep ledges that looked possible but time consuming. Ben declared it to be a "ten minute walk" to the river.

Sleeping perhaps too well, it wasn't an alpine start as we arose at eight and made breakfast. Once packed up we embarked on the steep descent to water level, being forced to rope our boats down several pitches and spend a little more than ten minutes to get below the scour line.

Looks like we should have just sent our boats down Panther Creek...

We geared up and shifted focus to downstream progress, something we'd have to get a lot of to finish in one day.

Ben Stookesberry gets a nice warmup through the first series of rapids.

The second move of the same, seems like perfect flows and already a disturbing lack of portage options. Just like the Hospital Rock section of the Middle Kaweah, the Upper was full of polished, slick granite. Slopes that normally wouldn't cause a problem were too slick to traverse.

Quick scouts helped us make progress through a few more boulder gardens, here is a quick glance back upstream.

Only a few minutes into the run, we were at a rapid that we couldn't quite scout the bottom of, and had no real options but to formulate what was happening from above, on what turned out to be a very friendly route.

Nested in the heart of the Sierra Nevada, it was no surprise that even with steep gradient, the river maintained a wonderful pool drop character. The pools were just long enough for nice recovery without any flatwater paddling, and the rapids were improving.

Ben Stookesberry boofs deeper into the Upper Middle Kaweah.

Still grinning from the nice boof, Ben and I pulled into an eddy at the top of what appeared to be a significant rapid. From the scout it was obvious that portaging would be quite an undertaking, the rapid was big, a little dangerous and there was a line.

Ben Stookesberry scouts one last time. He is standing level with the top of the rapid.

A technical lead in consisted mostly of dodging holes that fed into sieves, and one final move over a ten foot drop. The key was to get up high on the pillow and maintain enough momentum to not get pushed into the cave behind the drop.

Ben has an exemplary line at the culmination of the rapid.

A longer boulder hopping scout revealed a narrow pinch with a nice long lead in, Ben Stookesberry styling the pinch move.

One of the most amazing things about the Sequoia National Forest and the Kaweah River that flows through it, is the constant change in flora and fauna. This section of the Sierra contains the fastest transition from foothills to the divide, and as such it's only minutes of driving to go from desert scenery to giant Sequoias. Or a few hours kayaking.

We were really enjoying ourselves at this point, soaking in the unique scenery and both secretly dreaming that we had put in below Rusty's Rampage. Right on queue we were out taking a look at the infamous slide.

We both climbed up a monolith to scout the slide, and decided it looked good, although it did also have a big entrance that doesn't get snow in videos. However, the downstream horizon was in question, and Ben embarked on a long extended scout high up the left bank to make sure we could safely make it through the cataracts.

Ben returned to a high overlook where he could set safety and film a unique angle, signaling for me to eddy out between drops to receive more beta. On our initial scout we both agreed the ideal line was a different approach than that made by earlier runs. Everyone had tried to come in on the left, but driving hard and trying to force their way to the right side. The slide banked from right to left, and this obviously didn't work, with the success ratio hovering around 40%. The higher you climb, the higher you fall, in this circumstance back to the left and the subsequent eddy.

We decided to come in on the far left, but nice and slow. In a situation like this angle is more important than momentum (since you couldn't get any up the banked turn) The key would be to wait until past the banked turn and take two strong left side sweep strokes to make sure our bow was pointed to the right in the outflow of the slide.

I came down through the entrance, cruised through the slack water between an eddy on the left and the main flow, and dropping into the slide on the far left, nice and slow, and waited until I was past the temping boof flake to take my left strokes. I took two big left strokes but was in complete whiteout, not sure where I was heading until I hit a fluffy pillow on my left, rolled quickly and was fired up to be floating in the river right eddy. Ben then gave me verbal to run the next mean double drop, and helped me out of my boat to set safety. Climbing around on the polished, sloping granite slabs was much more frightening than running Rusty's Rampage, but safety needed to be set.

Ben Stookesberry lines it up on the left.

As Ben vanished in the bottom I was worried he was going to the left eddy, but he held a strong angle and resurfaced upright on river right.

Ben Stookesberry runs the mean double drop exit of Rusty's Rampage. A picture says a thousand words, and the holes were not nice but no swims.

The river twisted to the right, and after a low angle slide one more horizon blocked exit from the gorge. An extensive scout didn't make us smile, it was a sieve filled, unfriendly finale to the Panther Creek Gorge. A left side sneak move involved a eight foot boof with a narrow landing, followed by what seemed to be a pothole on the right and crack on the left. The crack had most the flow going into it, and lining up a good boof down the center with left angle would be ideal.

Down in the rapid, Ben fired up his headcam and gave the thumbs up. I came down apparently online, but after boofing I found myself surfing the pothole, and Ben came in hot and managed to boof over me, getting some epic footage. I continued to surf in the pocket, knowing a swim would be dire as potholes don't tend to let swimmers go. Eventually I caught a surge and grabbed a crack in the right wall, and managed to pull and push myself downstream, glad to have gotten away with one.

Once out of the Panther Creek Gorge the walls opened up enough to give portage options, although none were needed as we continued into a pleasant surprise.

I think Ben was surprised as I was about this clean waterfall.

More mini gorges awaited us, Ben Stookesberry locked in.

We pushed downstream noting we must be close to the road because there were two fisherman perched above another gorge. We made a quick portage around a dangerous entrance move before dropping into a nice rowdy triple set.

Ben Stookesberry below the triple set, the last rapid of the Upper Middle Kaweah is true representative of its character.

At this point there is a trail up to the trailhead, and this section is occasionally run in conjunction with Hospital Rock, although the quality is not on par with either section minus one or two better rapids.

One of the better rapids below the trailhead and above Buckeye Flat campground.

We had flows of 600-700 on the Middle Kaweah at Three Rivers, and thought it was perfect. Ben thought it would be possible to portage Rusty's Rampage, and while it would not require any technical rope work it would likely be as dangerous as the rapid. On the whole this run is destined to become a classic with the short hike in, locked in gorges and no mandatory portages. Arguably the hardest single day of kayaking in California.

Panther Creek put-in. (The Green marker)

2009-06-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Silver Fork of the South Fork American River V-V+

All kinds of opinions float around about this run, from highly positive mentions of big rapids and some slides to dismal stories of a steep, sieve filled boulder gardens. The latter reports made the run low on my must run list.

Matt Thomas and I were camped off Icehouse Road, a little sore from a full day on Golden Gate. We decided it would be nice to take it easy the next day. In the morning we met up with Scott Ligare and Thomas Moore, somehow fooling ourselves into believing Silver Fork would be a quick easy day...

The shuttle was nice and quick, and a picturesque put in had us in a relaxed frame of mind, except perhaps Thomas, who was aware of what we were about to drop into.

Matt Thomas scouts the first rapid of Silver Fork.

As we came to the first horizon line two things were rapidly ostensible. It was a big rapid, and flows were high. I was still recovering from a sprained ankle & bruised heel, and relied on beta from Matt Thomas.

Thomas Moore was willing to probe, and sold us on the rapid.

Matt Thomas finishes the first rapid, it was considerably larger than it looked from the top.

A short pool vanished around the corner, and as we made the turn gradient picked up and we bombed through a set of slides, trying to avoid large holes when possible and melting through some mandatory seams.

During a brief surf Thomas realized the river was higher than he had ever seen it, and the lines weren't the same. Scouting more drops was in order, and we quickly portaged around a nasty hole.

Once done with our portage, the river dropped over an unusual slide with a big toilet bowl eddy on the left, and then dropped again.

Thomas Moore lines up just left of center for the toilet bowl slide.

Matt Thomas carries momentum into the second part of the drop that hides a somewhat retentive hole.

We made a quick portage around the next rapid due to the high flows creating a massive hole just upstream of a sieve, it might have gone but the risk vs reward factor was too low for my taste.

The river took a quick bend to the left, then got incredibly steep and not clean. Thomas mentioned that with less water you can push down into some lower eddies, but we deemed it prudent to start our portage a little higher up.

A quick ferry avoids lots of extra climbing in the steep section, and Matt Thomas gets it done.

Looking back upstream at Carwash. There is a big rapid leading into this, and according to the rumor mill the whole set has been run, but no one has stayed in their boat either.

"Bruised Balls Falls" is immediately downstream of Carwash. It has been run many times, but is notorious for a shelf in the bottom, and famous for a run that resulted in a broken bulkhead and damaged goods.

Matt Thomas and Thomas Moore debating the line for bruised balls.

We all decided to play it safe with the high flows, although arguably the waterfall might be safer with more padding. Looking back upstream with the falls at the top of the photo.

Below Bruised Balls we were able to stay in our boats for the majority of the run out, which consisted of steep mank and not so steep mank, all the way to the confluence with the South Fork American. Somewhere in the mix of the boulders was a very exciting slide to auto boof over a meaty hole, quite fun and out of character.

Thomas Moore firing away in the steep boulder gardens.

I know I will be back on Silver Fork again, yet do not consider it classic. Some do.

Because of water levels it was not the quick run we were expecting, the three miles and change took us longer than eight had on Golden Gate. If flows are medium and a group member knows the line it is reportedly a quick run.

If I remember correctly we had around 800cfs at Kyburz.

Silver Fork Put-In

Silver Fork Take-Out

2009-06-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Yuba Gap V-V+

Chris Korbulic in the Yuba Gap.

Legend of Yuba Gap has surfaced during many shuttle drives on the upper echelon of California kayak runs. I first heard of the run from Devin Knight, one of the few who had done the run prior to the 2009 flow study. He referred to Yuba Gap as one of the best runs he had ever done, full of locked in gorges, bedrock slides and long boulder gardens, all in a wilderness quality setting. Calling any run a "best" in California is a big statement, considering Big Kimshew, the South Branch, Upper Middle Cosumnes and many others, the state has many of the best day runs in North America. So why has the Yuba Gap escaped the media blitz and notoriety of it's fellows?

It's not that Yuba Gap is the most remote run, the put-in is only five minutes off highway 20, and the shuttle is straight forward. It's not the amount of portaging as only two are mandatory, and none are technical or require rope work. It is a longer day, but possible to do in a day even if you have never seen it, and only a four hour run if someone knows the lines.

Water, or lack of, has kept Yuba Gap a secret for so long. The run previously only had water from the unpredictable Lake Spaulding spill, and no gauge. Everyone that wanted to do the run had driven to it at least several times to find too much water, or fish flows. Generally the lake would spill 1,200 for a few days then get shut off, offering no window at all. Thanks to the hard work of American Whitewater, we had our first flow study on the South Fork Yuba in 2009, with a release of 300cfs for three days on Yuba Gap.

The run is seven miles long, from Bowman Lake Road to Golden Quartz day use area. All the flow comes from Lake Spaulding, and although the run has a short shuttle, it's very remote and once past the initial gorges, hiking out would be an epic undertaking.

Our first day we were lucky enough to meet up with Little Dave, Charlie Center and Lane Jacobs, who had all done the run before. What followed was an intense routing fest with our over sized group of ten. The following day we went back with a nice three pack of Chris Korbulic, Taylor Cavin and myself. We set slightly mellower pace, taking time to get a few shots but still moving fast.

At the put in a steep "trail" leads to the river, and we floated a short pool to the first boulder garden. This rapid sets the tones for rapids on the run, a blind boulder garden, that while not exactly manky is only clean if you are dead on line.

A pool below the boulder garden reveals a tall horizon line, and if you don't know the lines, it's time to scout the whole gorge. Thankfully we knew the lines from day one, relayed the info and boofed into the gorge.

Yuba Gap has the best start of any run I have ever done, a 15' boof onto a pillow with a short slide after it, then a perfect calm pool, followed by a 20-30' high slide, a ledge and another nice big slide into a pool where the walls spread out and offer egress from the gorge. There is nowhere to get out at river level, so perhaps one day I'll hike down and get shots from the gorge rim. If you are gripped and not enjoying the run at this point, it's time to hike out, it only picks up in difficulty downstream.

A multi-move boulder garden leads into one of the longer portages down the left, ending at "Emerald Pools" and the start of the second gorge. Smaller slides lead into the first scout of the day.

Taylor Cavin finishes the hourglass slide in an unusual style - upright.

Devin had raved about the hourglass slide, and the feature was intimidating as it pinched int a 10' wide slot before opening up again, but the friction climb portage was even more intimidating.

With a big pillow on the right, and an even larger pillow on the left, it's hard to stay upright through the hourglass.

Chris Korbulic getting a face full of the first pillow.

There is a nice big recovery pool before the next drop, a slide that mandates a quality plug into the depths.

Litte Dave

Four drops from 10'-30' high are required to finish the second gorge, many of which can't be scouted at river level. If the run has regular flows, an afternoon lap & hike back up could be done on this section.

Below the gorges, the river turns to big boulder gardens, interspersed with bits of bedrock and the steepest gradient of the section. A few portages are mixed in with the long, complex and occasionally sievey boulder gardens.

A quick portage around the Island on Yuba Gap.

Taylor Cavin enjoys a great end of the portage.

This side of the Island has not yet been run...

Steep boulder gardens, follow, until another quick portage around the entrance to a nice big slide. I consider this section the crux of the run.

Chris Korbulic is ready to bounce...

Taylor Cavin bounces down the same goods.

More boulder gardens link together after the slide, and then the river bends left and enters one last gorge of two big drops. The first is the cleaner of the two, a mandatory boof into a large pillow. The second drop is a twenty five foot high waterfall. Tragically there is a rock on the right side of the landing, and there is a line to the left of it, but it's barely more than a boat width wide.

Taylor Cavin runs the first drop of the final gorge.

On both of my runs those who portaged went up and over on the left. During the portaged we inspected other options, and agreed that next time we would run the first drop (or portage at river level) and portage the top half of the second drop on the right, allowing us to run the slide at the bottom of it and shorten the portage by a considerable amount.

Lane Jacobs running the first tier.

Charlie Center getting left on the twenty five footer.

Below the gorge the river opens up, and there are optional portages around a few questionable drops that some run, then a bunch of IV-V boulder garden boogie, a quick portage around two mean holes with undercuts, and one final moderate effort portage.

The Crane Falls.

Large caves await a missed line, and we all chose to portage both days, although the rapid has been run.

Once past the crane, the river relaxes into a class IV character with the occasional easy V for the next two miles to take out.

With only two mandatory portages, you can go as big as you want in Yuba Gap, although most portage at least five times. Consistent class V for five miles won't leave you wanting at the end of the day. With a prospective future of reliable releases, Yuba Gap is sure to become a modern classic.

Take out at Golden Quartz Picnic Area, and put in at Langs Crossing on Bowman Lake Road.

Six pack on the Previa!

Flows can be found on the new gauge on Dreamflows. 300 is ideal.

2009-05-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

West Branch Feather - Ben and Jerry's Gorge V-V+

The West Branch of the Feather River is the most overlooked river in the watershed. The Feather River complex is one of the most confusing watersheds in North America, with a North, Middle and South Fork, as well as the Little North Fork, South Branch, and West Branch. Confused yet? Many have more than one run on them too.

I believe the West Branch was once a tributary to the North Fork, before the erection of Oroville Dam. Now the West Branch is a tributary to Lake Oroville, and the Ben and Jerry's run ends in the lake, with the paddle out varying from 0-3 miles dependent on lake levels.

The Feather River varies the remote and pristine Middle Fork, to the North Fork, which has a highway on one side, train tracks on the other and plenty of dams too. The West Branch falls in the middle, while the shuttle is literally through the town of Paradise, and at one point there is a hospital not even a quarter mile off the river, the run itself has a rather remote feel with good water quality and committing mini-gorges.

The run starts off with a nice warm up of class IV before making a gradual transfer to easy V, and after perhaps a mile, the first portage. A gradual class II entrance quickly gains momentum, turning into a large, marginally run-able cascade. The portage is from the top on the right.

Danny Salazar, Chris Zawaki, Jared Nocetti, Ben Wartburg and Thomas Moore take a look downstream.

Looking back upstream at the portage. Not sure if it's ever been run, I always pick up my boat and start portaging.

Without this small ledge, the portage would be a heinous affair, so Danny Salazar is happy about the presence of the ledge.

Skirting a small patch of poison oak is the hardest part of the portage.

Ben & Jerry's Gorge is not the deepest gorge, but in several sections it's a committing mini gorge with no escape routes. Excuse the bad lighting as Danny Salazar and Jared Nocetti drop into the first mini gorge.

What follows is a tricky inescapable two set. Offset rocks block what would be an easy route in the entrance. Water pushes right, while the line a move to the left.

David Maurier making the crux move in the first drop, which at higher flows contains a notable hole.

Once below the first move, you are "in it to win it". I have fond memories of assembling a Lendal breakdown while clinging to Chris Korbulic's boat, bobbing in a surging eddy while he held onto the only hand hold after his paddle had snapped in the entrance. All because the downstream ledge varies from moderately retentive to highly retentive, not a place to hand paddle.

Thomas Moore is sure to boof over the ledge.

The gorge may not be tall, but it's locked in. Ben Wartburg boofs out of mini gorge #1.

The first gorge is short and sweet, ending in a pool to collect swimmers the ledge may incur. Then the West Branch opens up, although typical to all Feather Country, the canyon walls are steep and infested with poison oak. A few larger rapids are interspersed throughout the open section.

David Maurier boofs into China One.

From afar, Nick boofing into the same.

There is a good bit of nice class IV in the open section. Thomas Moore.

As the proverbial belt tightens, be on your toes for another quick portage. This one has a tempting lower eddy that is hard to catch, the small, less obvious upstream eddy is the safe choice.

Ben and Jerry's saves the best for last, with the hardest rapids of the run lying deep in the final gorge. Portaging options are minimal on most rapids, and some channels dead end, this is where the run earns it's reputation.

Danny Salazar runs move two of the largest rapid.

Thomas Moore buried in the crux.

Danny Salazar finishes strong in the final 10' drop.

Below the largest rapid there are still several significant cascades. One of note is a two tiered drop, with the first tier being run on the far left, and the second required a strong ferry across to river right avoiding a large hole in the center. A recent rock slide has changed the line here, and the right side is now a pile of rocks, but thankfully the new line through center hole flushes more than it used to.

If the reservoir is full, the paddle out begins below this rapid. If the lake is at ideal levels, there are still a few more big rapids. Some years the lake is low enough that the West Branch flows all the way to the boat ramp. Tragically this also uncovers "Slam Hoggin" a mean V+ mess. The portage is a tedious affair in the bathtub ring of the lake.

Dave Maurier hikes out from ideal lake levels, maybe a mile and a half paddle out with no Slam Hoggin.

Ideal flows are 350-550 at Whiskey Flat Bridge. The run has been done as low as 300 and as high as 700. Shuttle is accurately described in the Best Whitewater of California.

2009-05-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Tiger Creek IV-V

Tiger Creek is a small tributary of the Mokelumne River. It's so small that it has avoided any exploration, perhaps to the benefit of all parties involved. We left the greater Sacramento area with no intention of running Tiger Creek. Instead, our sights were set on Panther Creek, run by Jared Nocetti and others at low flows. If one thing was certain about our day, it was that flows were not low. American Whitewater has done a lot of work with PG&E on the Mokelumne, and there should be some great summer releases...and nice parking!

Leaving one vehicle at the Tiger Creek powerhouse we zipped up the dirt road to Panther Creek, stopping to look at flows before reaching put in.

Jared Nocetti and Scott Ligare

One thing was quickly apparent about Panther Creek, it wasn't low. If only there was a pool at the bottom....

Unfortunately Panther Creek was way too high, and driving back down we debated on our options, the more well known Tiger Creek run of the Mokelumne, or if it was high enough, checking out Tiger Creek into the Mokelumne. Exploration's draw couldn't be ignored, and soon enough we slid into out boats into the still paltry flow of Tiger Creek.

Jared Nocetti

We all expected to be making quite a few portages on this micro creek, but we certainly didn't expect to be portaging over old motorcycles in this deep canyon! In correlation with it's namesake, the creek crept down the mountainside, before pouncing on us with a powerful package of gradient.

Maybe this won't be so bad after all, we thought as Scott Ligare ran the first bedrock drop.

The gradient certainly was steep, the canyon deep and while wood was present, we made quick work of a portage or two and reaped the benefits with more bedrock drops, in a very Oregonian setting.

Jared Nocetti in the verdant Tiger Creek.

We all exchanged comments about the surprising quality of the creek, that if not exactly smooth California granite, was at least bedrock. Pushing through more rapids, the gradient continued to pick up as the river rounded a corner.

Scott Ligare enjoys a better drop on Tiger Creek.

Coming around the bend, we saw the eye of the tiger, as the creek started down a steep series of bedrock drops, tragically dropping into a pile of boulders at the bottom. The whole cascade series dropped about seventy feet from top to bottom, but we couldn't see a way to pick off any drop in particular and started a long portage up and down the steep, slippery right bank.

The portage took us about twenty to thirty minutes, and ended in a large obnoxious blackberry patch, where we were able to put on to some steep, very Nor-Cal styled mank, similar to the notorious Bridge Creek, minus the clean waterfalls and slides. Many more wood portages abounded, light seemed to be fading deep in the canyon, and we accordingly picked up the pace when the river allowed.

There was still a clean drop or two in the lower section, Jared
Nocetti.

The last mile of Tiger Creek was one long boulder garden, with the obligatory bit of log ducking here and there. The little creek fed right into a low bridge at Tiger Creek powerhouse, and we were forced to exit through the most accessible route we could find through the proliferate blackberry patches.

The best thing about Tiger Creek? Exploring something new is always worthwhile, and we kept up good morale the whole way down, but were more than happy to take out. We enjoyed the adventure of the day, but I would not recommend Tiger Creek.

Just in case you didn't know where to do it....

2009-04-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hotel Charley IV: At Your Own Risk

Two teasers for the new film which has just started touring. Thanks to Rush Sturges for putting together the custom track.

Hotel Charley IV - At Your Own Risk ( The Trailer ) from Jason Rackley on Vimeo.

A separate trailer for the Indus River in Pakistan.

2009-04-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

South Fork Yuba - Purdons to 49 V

It was a good thing I had heard nothing about this run prior to putting on. According to most available beta it's a terrible run. We had a flow of 1,200 on the standard gauge, and a three hour window to get Taylor Cavin back to work on time. When we met at Bridgeport I assumed it would be a standard 49 to Bridgeport run, but Justin Patt had many laps on Purdons under his belt and felt confident in our ability to route through the run.

"Downstream of Purdon's Crossing to highway 49 is a gnarly class V+ run with many entrapment points and not all that much fun stuff." - CaCreeks.

From the put in I was surprised at how consistent and big the rapids were, perhaps because we were paddling through all the pools too. I was also grinning ear to ear as we bombed through multiple boulder gardens, linking classic boofs and lots of hole punching.

As you get down into the run, a large pool leads into this rapid on a bend and marks the beginning of a steeper section filled with large rapids. Good large rapids, more great linked moves.

Justin Patt with flows around 1,150.

Looking back up at the same rapid, which has a sneak route via a river left channel.

The first day all the rapids blurred together, but on the whole the river is filled with big fun boulder gardens, until the remains of an old dam that yields a good boof on the left, or if you are feeling bold, a stout line in the main channel.

Justin Patt boofing left over the dam.

Looking downstream from the dam...this is what the run is all about, steep granite boulder gardens.

About two thirds of the way through the run is a rapid to take note of. Some years it's a portage, yet other times it will fill in, opening up a boof down the center. Granted this boof is right over the sieve, so like the rest of the run, stay in your boat at all costs.

Scott Ligare squeezing over at 900, a minimum flow for both the run and getting through this narrow notch. It cleans up into a nice boof at 1,200.

Eric running the ever changing rapid, good gradient downstream.

On our first trip down we did manage to make it through both runs in an exhausting three hours. Corner Pocket was still the most stressful drop of both runs. I've done the runs at flows from 900-1,200 and thought 900 was perfect if you were going in for your first time, and I wouldn't go in too much higher than 1,200, although oldschoolers ran it at 2,000 in long boats.

I can imagine at high flows it deserves a V+ rating, while personally I'd rate it class V, on par with Golden Gate at medium high flows, but with more sieves. It has also been run much lower, but I wouldn't touch it with less than 900.

The character of the run dictates that swimming is to be avoided at all costs, there are a lot of underwater sieves, but provided you stay in your boat this run is very, very fun, it delivers a lot of goods in a half day run, and makes for a nice quick one day when linked with 49 to Bridgeport. I'd consider the run a classic, I'll go back to it time and time again.

Take out at Bridgeport or Highway 49, either are easy to find. Put in at Purdons Crossing, easy to find with this Google Maps marker.

2009-04-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

Siang River Festival 2009

Logistics is the hardest part of an international kayaking trip. What has made our trips so successful is local contacts, Rafa Ortiz in Mexico, the KNL in Newfoundland, and on our last adventure, Roland Stevenson. Pakistan was the smoothest trip I have ever done logistically, and that was all due to Roland's expertise. For 2009 Roland is providing free logistical help, camping, and good times in India. If you've been looking to paddle big water, they've got it in spades, so is the year to go on a budget and still have incredible connections. Check it out!

2009-04-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

East Fork Kaweah V-V+ (P)

“Is this run destined to become a California classic as equipment, skills and the daring of kayakers continues to notch ever upwards?” (Kaweah River Log)

Through word of mouth the East Fork Kaweah has rapidly been gaining a reputation as a true California classic, with Taylor Robertson going so far as to call it “one of the three best one-day runs in California.” Needless to stay, coming from a legend like Taylor our group was fired up to get on the East Fork Kaweah.

Devin Knight, Shon Bollock, Garrett Brown, Jason Hollerman, Eric Petlock and Taylor Robertson peering down into the East Fork Kaweah.

The East Fork Kaweah is becoming well known for nearly continuous bedrock rapids and strenuous portages through poison oak and over rattlesnakes, all for nearly eight miles. On the way up we weren’t disappointed with our first rattlesnake sighting of the day while peering into the gorge.

Looking down into the East Fork Kawah at Triple Drop/Dead Man's Alley.

This was going to be Taylor’s twenty-first run of the East Fork Kaweah, so we were able to take our time getting started in the morning knowing we would make good time down the run. We arrived at the normal put-in bridge around noon and you could feel the excitement while we geared up.

Over the 06/07 winter a rock fell into “the cave drop” that lies below the standard put-in bridge. On his last trip Taylor and others spent over two hours portaging this drop, so we put in a little ways downstream of the bridge, near a shady trailer that had a nice trail to the river.

Once we hit the water it was quality bedrock drops from the get go, filled with good boofs and classic creeking lines. There are so many good rapids on the East Kaweah it’s almost absurd. After paddling through ten or so high quality drops we got out for a great photo opportunity.

Garrett Brown boofing away on the East Fork Kaweah.

I can’t even come close to remembering all the good drops in here, let alone all the different lines, as each rapid was of IV+ to easy V character requiring easy but necessary moves. We were all glad to have Taylor leading us down the lines negating any scouting that would normally be necessary. We had already paddled as many good rapids as most runs have when we arrived at “Skyhook” a long, big bedrock rapid that Taylor has ran twice with a 50% percentage, taking a big hit on the wall the second time he ran it. The portage around Skyhook is a long affair down the left bank, not overly strenuous but it has several ledges high above the river, with poison oak growing off the wall, so it’s a fine line between getting all up in the oak and not falling off the cliff. We spent around half an hour portaging Skyhook and jumped back in the river to wash off and start the next portage immediately downstream.

Garrett, Shon and Eric starting the next portage with the bottom drop of Skyhook in the background.

Skyhook has been run by quite a few people, and caused more than its fair share of carnage, but the next drop downstream is an absolute mandatory portage where the East Fork Kaweah flows under the rocks. This portage requires an eight foot seal launch into a pool with an undercut and a nice ten foot drop downstream. After this we portaged a few more times around sieves and then the run got good again, really good. Mixed boulder gardens and bedrock drops led into a sweet double drop I went off blind to get setup for pictures.

Here is Taylor running the first half of the unnamed double drop.

Garret Brown is finishing up one of my favorite rapids of the run.

Numerous rapids and slides continued after the double drop until we got out to take a look at Triple Drop aka Dead Man's Alley. Triple Drop is the largest clean drop on the East Fork Kaweah, and normally gets run because of the scary portage around it. Unfortunately for us, flows were a little too high and the second hole in Triple Drop looked like it was pulling back in from about fifteen feet downstream.

Jason and Garret passing boats to Taylor at the lip of Triple Drop with the climbing chain visible on the left.

Thus began the terrifying portage. The only route around Triple Drop involves using chain attached to a very rusty ¼” climbing bolt attached at the lip of Triple Drop. We had great team work and moved all the boats across in about fifteen minutes and it was my turn to climb up. I walked right up, gritted my teeth and made the climb studiously ignoring the bolt while Devin Knight spotted me from below. Big thanks to Devin for going last, people often don’t believe that I am scared of heights, but I am and was a little gripped about this one because of the exposure and rusted bolt. The last person also gets no spotter for the moment when the bolt does rip out, so they would fall right into the drop. [Note, as of June 2008 the bolt has been replaced with a sturdy setup in a better position]

More exposed climbing to finishes off the portage.

At lower flows Triple Drop is very fun, although the rest of the run is not.
Galen

Devin Knight on the second tier.

Ryan Knight with nice extension on the boof.

Ryan Knight and Chris Korbulic exit triple drop.

If I remember correctly one or two mandatory sieve portages were up after Triple Drop, then another incredible long section of rapids, slides and falls, all which went on verbal and were incredibly fun.

Devin Knight freewheels a waterfall on a 2008 trip.

After many of these we eddied out above a large horizon line where Taylor said to wait a second, then come down and make sure we caught the eddy on the right. Jason proclaimed this to be a V+ move and started a portage higher on the right. The move is a clean ten footer with a mandatory “eddy” that is more slackwater on the right. About half our group went high and the other half took turns running to the eddy where Taylor was waiting to help out.

Shon running the ten-footer into the small eddy above another large drop.

My angle here does not do this twisty sliding drop justice. The right wall sticks out halfway down with the majority of the flow slamming into it, and then into a very retentive hole downstream. It’s been run, but none in our group had seen it cleaned, the few they had seen run it took a big hit and then proceeded to get torn up in the hole. Knowing the caliber of people Taylor kayaks with we didn’t even give this one a thought.

The character of the Kaweah stayed constant in here and good drops continued for quite a ways with the classic mix of big boulder gardens and many, many bedrock slides and falls.

Ryan Knight enjoying a slide on the East Fork Kaweah.

A few of us got out to get pictures of this one on Tay’s advice, it’s quite clean, fun and photogenic.

Eric running one of the countless clean slides.

View of Seth from below with lower flows.

Many more good rapids later we scouted this drop that doesn’t look larger than anything else on the run, but has a stomper of a hole around the corner, and a sketchy sieve that at least one person has swum under.

Jason styling on through another classic.

Just a handful of rapids later we portaged a falls that has been run, but doesn’t really have a line where you clean it, seems to be one of those random luck disappear in the fold and hopefully pop up at the bottom kind of falls. The gorge down here is gorgeous and we took a break after the portage.

Getting back in our boats Taylor yelled out “no eddies” and started to take off around the corner with all of us following as closely as possible. This section of the river is simply unreal, containing six to ten back to back fifteen-twenty foot high slides, all of which are clean and low stress, so much fun!

Some of the goods in the "no eddies" section taken on a 2008 trip with Ryan and Devin Knight.

Once we got through all the slides the character went into technical boulder gardens where we were grateful we had someone leading us down, lots of sieves and pitons lay hiding in the wrong routes. These technical but fun drops carried on all the way to where the East Fork Kaweah hits the Middle Fork and we paddled a short way to the take out.

The East Fork Kaweah is an absolute classic, and I’ll certainly make the trek down to get on it again. We had flows peak at 900 on the Kaweah Gauge on our descent, and while flows were perfect for everything else, slightly lower flows would have made the trip that much better by letting us run Triple Drop.

Access is straight forward for the East Fork Kaweah. Take out at the confluence, or if you are camping at Three Rivers Hideaway you can paddle all the way down to your campsite. From Three Rivers Hideaway drive upstream until you see Mineral King road on the right, and follow this road until you hit the East Fork Kaweah bridge. Park at the bridge and hike back downstream until you find a decent trail to put in. If there are non-kayaker vehicles near the trailer, I personally wouldn’t go anywhere near it. If you have haven’t done the run before, plan for a very long day with a lot of scouting. Poison oak is everywhere, and rattlesnake sightings are common so watch your step. We did the run in five and a half hours, but moved at a decent pace and only scouted two rapids that weren’t portages, and we had no carnage. I could see this run taking twelve hours if you don’t know it, so be warned.

[2009 Retrospect: After experiencing much more of what California has to offer, I have gone back to this run several times and don't find that it falls into the list of what I would consider classic to be. The "bullshit" factor is rather high with three unpleasant portages, a fair share of mank and a lack of good boofs. After a few laps most the slides are too easy, making you wish for more interesting moves. If you are fired up the big drops still aren't inspiring, and if flows are high enough to make the majority of the run good, then "Triple Drop" is a portage. Once Triple Drop is good to go, then the run is a little bony, and the mank is nearly on par with the notorious Bridge Creek. I would consider Hospital Rock more of a classic, it's a run I would do laps on. Not that the East Fork Kaweah is bad, but once a year is enough for me.]

2009-04-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

South Fork Yuba - 49 to Bridgeport V

49 to Bridgeport is a classic run on the South Fork Yuba that is often used as a stepping stone for aspiring class V kayakers. If you're comfortable on the Cal-Salmon, Burnt Ranch Gorge and Giant Gap, this is the place to be. For solid class V kayakers it's a fun half day run, or if flows are appropriate it makes a nice combination with Purdons.

Highway 49 bridge overhead and 1,200cfs in the South Fork Yuba.

Daniel Brasuell has a nice mile by mile write-up at A Wet State, and an IK biased write-up exists at California Creeks.

The minimum flow was once thought to be 1,000cfs, but as boat length has decreased, so has the minimum flow, which is currently considered to be 450 on the dreamflows gauge. The minimum flow is also a very nice friendly flow if the run is a step up for you, most of the major hydraulics are out of play and there is only one portage. At 1,200 Mr Squiggly lives up to his name and there are some nice big hydraulics, and a sneak on the left avoids the only mandatory portage.

At lower flows the run is all about the boofs, and they are in good form all over the run.

David Maurier runs "ski jump".

David Maurier making sure to boof "dues".

Justin Patt on "dues" at 450cs. Running this line at high flows dictates a good chance of paying your dues with a swim.

At 450 some of the key rapids mellow out, most notably "Eat the Meat" and "Corner Pocket". With flows above 1,000 the boofs get a little shorter and these rapids get spicy.

Taylor Cavin runs the aptly named Eat the Meat at 1,200cfs.

Justin Patt eats the meat at 1,200cfs.

Taylor Cavin rides a big tail stand out of Eat the Meat at 1,200.

if we run the harder Purdons section upstream, there is no relaxing until past Corner Pocket, which contains an undercut with a lot of water going into it. From my experience at 450 it's pretty mellow, 900 is tough because the boof isn't in but there is still plenty of water, and at 1,200 there is a nice boof in play.

Justin Patt gets the boof at 1,200cfs.

Looking downstream at the bottom of Corner Pocket at 1,200. The large hole feeds under the wall on the left, not a place to swim.

Downstream are many more fun drops, one of particular hazard. At 450 "Hairy Ferry" is indeed that, a class IV ferry just above a sieve. Above 700 you can just paddle over the covered sieve, taking away the hazard. You certainly don't want to be out of control, or out of your boat above this one.

There are some hazards in the run, giving it a class V rating, but most are easily avoidable. Thankfully most of the spots that could produce swims don't have hazards below, excepting Corner Pocket. Shuttle logistics are easy, you can shuttle on either side of the river, but river right is faster. Use Pleasant Valley Road to a right on Birchville Road, and another right onto 49. Google Maps link to the put in on Highway 49.

The take out at Bridgeport has a covered bridge well worth checking out.

2009-04-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Kaweah River, Middle Fork “Hospital Rock” V-V+

It's that fun on the Kaweah. Ryan Knight and Chris Korbulic.

From my original write-up: "The Hospital Rock run on the Kaweah River is surrounded by quite a bit of dated information making the beta rather dubious as it pertains to the run and dynamic sport of kayaking, but logistically relevant. In “The Best Whitewater in California” it states that kayaking in the Sequoia National Park is illegal. Other sources report that it’s not illegal but “highly discouraged”. These days it’s neither, we were in the park two days with loads of boats, talked to rangers, hung out at access points, and had no issues at all."

Since our initial foray I've come back to this river twice. All I can say at this point is that the Hospital Rock section of the Kaweah is a true classic, one of my favorite one day runs in the state. It's full of multiple move rapids, clean boofs, fun slides and a little bit of vertical. The portaging is minimal, just 1-2, and a big zero if you are fired up. Although Big Kimshew Creek and the South Branch Feather sit higher on the list because of larger drops, Hospital Rock is up there on the list due to the fun factor. It can be a good low stress run with smiles all around, or a fun place to step it up depending on your abilities. The "bullshit" factor is nearly zero.

Coming back early in 2009 we decided to "check out" Chuck Kerns drop, a big slide I had seen before and doubted I would ever run. Parking for this drop is a problem, because the road ends at a campground that has no day use access. Serendipitously we arrived before the campground was open for the season, and were able to park near the gate.

Nice and green early in the season.

Scouting Chucks; Chris Korbulic, Ryan Knight, Devin Knight.

Chucks drop has to be experienced in person to appreciate. Much respect to Chuck Kern for first descenting this drop back in the day. Chris Korbulic follows in good form.

Ryan Knight runs the same.

It's a lot larger in person, but at our flow of 730 on the gauge it was friendlier than it looked. Darin McQuoid

For some reason I was under the impression that below Chucks Drop it would be mellow, but I was sorely mistaken, this section of river is full of good slides and rapids.

Devin Knight on an unnamed one.

We made one quick portage around a boulder garden that fed into a sieve. There was a line, but it was too thin for our taste, and the portage just too easy.

During my first run on Hospital Rock I was confused by the Doc's Proplugs ad that ran for years. It showed a rapid titled "0-60". The one we had run on previous trips looked somewhat similar but not like the ad rapid. As we scouted the next drop it all came together. Most people call the rapid "v-slide", although I bet some call it "0-60". Either way it's a damn fine slide! Beware of a clandestine hole lurking in the left channel of the lead in.

Chris Korbulic and Ryan Knight planned to blue angel the slide, but the hole disagreed and spaced them out. Chris Korbulic.

Devin Knight.

Ryan Knight.

It just keeps going, with "Little Niagara" wrapping around a bend into a boof - Chris Korbulic.

Little Niagara is occasionally portaged due to a cave awaiting paddlers who fail the boof. At lower flows it's a pretty easy boof though, and we couldn't resist more blue angels. Ryan Knight and Darin McQuoid.

A few read and run rapids led into one more slide that dropped us in the pool where we previously put in. Devin Knight.

...back to my original write-up

Here we are unloading boats a little ways downstream from the normal Hospital Rock put-in. Putting in here takes out the steepest section of the run.

Holbek & Stanley state: "This section of the Kaweah isn’t a classic…” and the Kaweah River Log
says “Be reminded that this section and the continuence of the Middle Fork to the park boundary is very difficult and dangerous whitewater and should be attempted ONLY by experts under the most favorable conditions in strong groups.”

These sources and the long driving distance had been enough to steer me away from the Kaweah drainage. Word of mouth made the Kaweah drainage sound a lot better, and a lack of water anywhere else had us heading down to the Kaweah Drainage. We had medium low flows of 650 @ Three Rivers. Traffic was bad on our drive down, so we arrived late and lazed around in the sun at Three Rivers Hideaway, some boater friendly camping right outside the park.
We put on late in the day at three thirty in the afternoon. Taylor Robertson was leading the charge on the water, and with his uncanny ability to remember all the lines on an astounding number of runs, we made quick time down Hospital Rock. We made one quick portage and stopped to scout twice, one of the times being the “420 Gorge”.

Upstream view from the scout.

Ryan and Devin Knight running the fun gorge.

You can't really scout the last move that's on the left, but just drive back to the right side of the left channel.

Standard Hospital Rock fun...Ryan Knight.

We ran a lot of class V blind with good instructions from Taylor, and soon enough arrived at zero to sixty, the most famous rapid of the run where he told us to scout while he probed away. This is a great drop, but not as large as I had mentally pictured it to be, as it's not the drop named "0-60" in the Doc's Proplugs ad.

Shon Bollock running 0-60 from an upstream view.

The major hazard in zero to sixty is a cave on the right, although at lower flows people can paddle out of it. Devin got in it his first run and hiked back up for a redemption run.

Here is Devin Knight getting redemption with Taylor Robertson in the foreground.

And one more view from a different trip with similar flows.

Hospital Rock is a class V classic that generally has a decently long flow window in the spring. If you don’t have someone in your group that knows the run, plan on a full day with lots of scouting and a portage or two where necessary. We took out at Potwisha, but the run stays high quality class V for a long ways when flows are higher. At lower flows it’s just a bit too boney to make continuing on worthwhile. All logistical info can be found in The Best Whitewater in California, or a AAA map. This one is easy to figure out. You will have to pay to enter the park, either $20 for a week long pass, $30 for a year or $80 for an all year all parks pass.

2009-04-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

Upper Middle Cosumnes V-V+

The Cosumnes River is a very unique watershed located between the American and Mokelumne drainages. Pronounced "ko-Sue-mees" the river is thought to have been named as the Mokelumne and Tuolumne rivers were, using the -umne suffix meaning "people of" as well as the cos- prefix meaning "salmon or fish".

Put-in on the UMC.

It is also arguably the only un-dammed river in the Sierra Nevada. Not that any other river isn't dammed, but that the Cosumnes only has minor dams near Rancho Murieta. Perhaps it deserves a "least dammed river of the Sierras designation". It is also one of the smallest watersheds of the Sierra, with an estimated total length of eighty miles.

Because of it's short length and low elevation headwaters, the Cosumnes has a water schedule of it's own, and for many years lacking a gauge, the Upper Middle Fork was rarely run, with downstream reaches seeing more recreational use.

Over the last few years forays by local paddlers, namely missions headed Jared Nocetti, have redefined the UMC. This exploration has been augmented by a new online gauge at Mt Akum, a few miles below take-out. Once given a V+ rating when 800cfs was believed to be the ideal flow, trips have now been made with flows as low as 170cfs. I consider ideal flows to be 275-325, which mellows the run out to nice hard class V run. I'd imagine it's everything of V+ at 800cfs. Everything has been run, but I always make at least four portages.

I joined up with Thomas Moore, Taylor Cavin and Ben Wartburg for my first trip down the UMC. The shuttle is short in length, but time consuming due to an unmaintained road and many turns - more details on that later. The run requires a short hike in on what has become a decent trail.

Initially the hike is on a road, then a trail, followed by a short float down a tributary before it cascades into the UMC. Thomas Moore about to start the final leg of the hike.

Thirty minutes of hiking is just about perfect to warm up, which is good, because the UMC gets going in good form. Thomas Moore, Ben Wartburg and Darin McQuoid @ 275cfs.

Granite abounds as gradient drops away, and if a group member knows the run there is no need to scout several fun rapids. Stephen Wright on an early slide @ 275cfs.

The first portage comes up quickly, and is very dicey if it's early in the season, the rock stays damp and slick. It was once the largest rapid of the run, but a log moved out of the drop and put the mean pothole on river left in play. Tony Hawk "a friend forever" - Taylor Cavin

Below Tony Hawk a short pool leads to another portage around some mank that has been run at higher flows. This portage requires more friction climbing, and while it doesn't look too bad, Thomas Moore is standing above a small sieve. This one always gets my heart going.

Gradient continues at a steady pace.

The next two move drop has more bark than bite, although it is possible to get stuck in a toilet bowl eddy in the bottom, it's also possible to work you way back out. Ben Wartburg making the first move on the wall @325cfs.

Thomas Moore drops the second tier @ 325cfs.

The same from below, Stephen Wright @ 275cfs.

Next up is an oh so sweet boof formed by a singular rock whose essence is quite hard to capture. Stephen Wright @ 275cfs.

Several steep technical drops link together, keeping the paddler busy until bedrock appears. Looking back upstream, it all goes quite nicely.

It's about to get really good - Taylor Cavin, Ben Wartburg, Thomas Moore.

It's really good. Taylor Cavin enjoying some of the finest on the UMC @ 275cfs.

Thomas Moore enjoys a nice soft landing @ 275cfs.

Thomas Moore and Ben Wartburg below the boof @ 275cfs. This rapid continues around the corner, and you want to be sure to run down the right side and eddy out for a portage.

The portage is one of the reasons to do the UMC with flows below 350, because at high water you either need to run the drop or perform an exposed high route portage. At normal flows you can seal launch in and ferry across the bottom of the drop, landing in the pool above a personal favorite.

Skate Park is a rapid of my preferred flavor: big & intimidating, but with very little consequence, and no two runs are ever the same. The line is marked by a rib of rock that stays visible under several inches of water.

Thomas Moore stays dry in Skate Park @ 325cfs.

It's common to run Skate Park and not get your head wet on the entry move, but occasionally people hit the seam and sub out for twenty feet.

Stephen Wright about to mystery move @ 275cfs.

Ben Wartburg punching the bottom hydraulic @ 275cfs.

Skate Park = Super fun = big smiles = Thomas Moore.

One last look...

Below is another quick portage around a mank pile that has been run, then several fun boulder gardens leading into Lars Holbek's drop. It's worth a quick scout to get a feeling for what the water is doing at the lip.

A delayed boof is ideal because the landing isn't too deep. Taylor Cavin pulls the trigger @ 275cfs.

We were all surprised at how much spicier Lars Holbeks was at 325 cfs. Thomas Moore.

Canyon walls peel away and the gradient tapers off below Lars Holbeks drop.

As Tony Hawk faded into the past, motivated kayakers moved a log to open a previous portage. Ben Wartburg runs "brace for your face" at 325cfs.

Darin McQuoid "brace for your face" @ 275cfs.

One last big rapid marks the end of the steep section of the Upper Middle Consumnes. This drop goes a lot better than it looks, but is friendlier at higher flows than vice versa.

Taylor Cavin runs the transition rapid - 275 cfs.

John McConville from above at 275cfs.

The river character changes completely, the granite is gone and read-n-run boulder gardens fill the river until "V-Slide".

"V-Slide" is a bedrock (but not granite) slide that drops into a large hole, notorious for making anyone stuck in it swim. From what I have heard if she has you, she doesn't let go.

Taylor Cavin looks very focused on the entrance move.

You need to land with your bow to the right as Taylor shows us.

This shot of Taylor Cavin in the eddy shows the boil and backwash of V-Slide.

More fast moving boulder gardens continue until "Blue Angel Slide' a rapid more reminiscent of the Roadside Alseseca than California. At high flows the Blue Angel Slide links right into Cheesegrater, an aptly named slide.

Taylor Cavin gets his grating on.

Once past cheesegrater the river is more fun read and run, with one rapid hiding a notorious undercut rock on the left, where thankfully what goes in comes back out. As take out approaches the gradient continues to slack, and quartz rocks appear like icebergs which in turn make the water glow an iridescent green. This sight would make the run worth doing, let alone the miles of quality rapids.

While the UMC does have a hike in and its fair share of portages, I find it to be a classic where the thought returning brings a smile to my face. I'd consider 275 cfs an ideal first time flow, while 325 makes the top notably more pushy, the run out gets quite splashy and entertaining.

Video of the run with 275cfs.

The shuttle logistics from 50 East:
Take Missouri Flat Exit, right off the off-ramp. Follow for several miles until you T into a left turn on Pleasant Valley Road. Continue until a stop sign and right turn on Bucks Bar Road. Stay on Bucks Bar until another stop sign and right turn on Akum Road, which you stay on passing over the Middle Cosumnes (alternative take out) eventually making a left turn on Fairplay Road. Climb up Fairplay Road until a left turn on Perry Creek road, which you will only spend a few miles on until a right turn onto Slug Gulch Road. Stay on Slug Gulch road until there is a private road sign on the left for Vineyard View road. Don't take Vineyard View, but this unmarked road (Rocky Ridge) on the left. Google Maps Marker for Take-Out.

This unmaintained road leads to the river, when in doubt stay to the right on the most used road, until a gated (but open) road comes in from the right, follow this a short ways to the river. Years ago this run required high clearance 4wd, but as of 2009 it's possible in a Subaru provided you leave your boats up top to cut down on weight.

To put in: Drive back up to Slug Gulch road and turn left, follow to a stop sign and left turn on Omo Ranch Road. Follow Omo Ranch Road through Omo Ranch. After climing you will start to drop, and at the bottom of a saddle is Indian Diggins Road. Turn left onto Indian Diggins. The sign is on the right side of the road, and there is a post for a missing sign on the left, possibly because locals like to claim it's a private road although it is public. Please drive slow to keep the dust down. Stay on the main road and don't turn off into any driveways, at any Y intersections stay left, one is numbered PT 3. Park at the gate, off to the side as much as possible.

Hike down the road, and keep your eyes open for a trail on the left as you get near the tributary creek. Follow the trail down the creek until you can float for several hundred yards of flatwater and class I-II. At the first horizon line get out on a big slab on river right and follow the trail to the river. Google Maps Put-In Marker. They show the road with the missing sign as Mill Rd and a right turn onto Little Mountain Road, but no turn is needed, the road switchbacks naturally.

There is a lower take out so the road could be done without needing high clearance vehicles, but it requires an extra six miles of paddling through what is reported to be a very overgrown riverbed and not worth it.

2009-03-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

Traverse Creek Falls

Live in California and looking for a (relative) park and huck thirty footer? Look no further than Traverse Creek, North of Placerville.

Jared Nocetti, Traverse Creek Falls.

Perhaps aptly named as Traverse Creek, this little gem is more of a hike n huck than park n huck, with most of the hike being a traverse along a tributary. Either way it's an incredibly clean waterfall with nice pools above and below.

It takes a major rain event to get Traverse Creek high enough to be soft, and once we had one Jared made the calls and got a crew together for some vertical falling.

Joe Bosquin

Refresh my memory on the name?

We all ran laps on on the falls, even though it's still a bit of a hit. Thomas Moore and I both agreed with Daniel that "there is only once chance to run it blind" and fired away off Jared's beta.

Thanks to Jared Nocetti for manning my camera while I decided to give the paddle a throw.

Leon Turnbulls page; Waterfalls of California, has great pictures and perfect descriptions to find this gem of the foothills for those looking to get their vertical in without committing themselves to a big run. From Traverse Creek we boogied back to Placerville for a nearly in town rain fed classic, Webber Creek, which is also featured in Jared's video of the day.

Traverse Creek and Weber Creek from Jared Noceti on Vimeo.

2009-03-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

Coon Creek IV-V

Coon Creek is an incredibly low elevation yet steep creek just minutes out of Auburn, California. Of all words involved with a kayaking run, during the shuttle one of the most delicate was dropped during the shuttle. "Coon Creek is a modern classic". Classic? I couldn't help but think that it was a bold statement, especially in California.

Now I was really curious about the quality of the run. From take-out things didn't typical of a classic creek, but it's always best to keep the mind open about waterways soon to be delved into. Looking upstream from take-out.

While many Sierra runs require hours of driving on bad roads to remote locations, here we are on the other end of the spectrum.

Thomas Moore poses in front of a gate that cost more than my car.

Boats in the water; we floated in the current, being sure to stay in the channel with the least amount of willows. Minutes into the run the group scurried to small eddies on the right. Scouting on the right bank I noted the rock looked more like something from Colorado or Newfoundland. Not exactly California granite, but hey maybe it would clean up downstream. Not liking the manky look of the drop I portaged down and got setup for Thomas, who gave it a thumbs up.

Thomas Moore firing away on Coon Creek.

Crux of the entry rapid.

Thomas Moore in the run out and Alex Wolfgram setting safety.

Coon Creek retained a steep character below the entrance drop, and we eddie hopped, bush ducked and ran some entertaining drops until a nice horizon line.

Crazy Corey runs a Coon Creek Classic.

The classic little slide led into a few linked boofs, ending with a faux boof, a plug line down the center to avoid rocks jutting out. Thomas Moore resurfaces clear and clean.

A quick glance downstream confirmed that the presence of a more significant rapid...

On the first descent Ben Wartburg wasted no time in running and dubbing the drop "Super Mario Bros". Corey decided he was a gamer and probed Super Mario Bros for the rest of the crew.

Thomas Moore battles it out in Super Mario Bros.

The bottom hole was a bit sticky too, Thomas gets ready make the finale move of SMB.

Not liking the style of the river so far, I quickly portaged with Alex and we continued downstream to the cleanest drop of the run, a somewhat East Fork Kaweah reminiscent drop, but with stickier rock.

Alex Wolfgram on the cleanest of the Coon.

Below the clean slide, the creek turned character. There was lots of "Oregon Tucking" but unfortunately not the waterfall variety. Thomas and I exchanged glances as Alex warned us that we were going to have to duck some bushes. We'd already been dodging willows and ducking a little bit of blackberry overgrowth. Lets just say a little bit turned into a lot, mixed in with a few steep, manky boulder gardens. Take-out didn't come any too soon, and I was glad to be off this one. Perhaps a novelty due to it's low elevation, the chunky rock and brush more than made up for the fact that there was some bedrock. I still stand by my belief that every run is worth doing once, but be prepared to do some dealing and take some blackberry hits on this not so classic piece of the Sierra Nevada (foothills).

2009-03-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Pakistan, Indus River - Day Eighteen -

Rain started to drizzle down. Was in late in the night, or early in the morning? Either way it didn't matter, I had gone light and had no shelter. During the evening I had scouted out an alcove in the boulders, and was glad I had scoped it out. Under the dim light of my headlamp I squeezed through the entrance and went back to sleep safe from precipitation.

Waking up in the morning, this certainly isn't was I expected the day to greet us with; beautiful blue skies!

With a strong desire to make the confluence, we wasted no time putting on. Brief calm water led us to an extended scout over sculpted bedrock.

The rapid was tempting, but any mistake, or simply having a wave break at the wrong time, would land the paddler in a pocket where the situation would turn dire. Having made it safely so many kilometers we deemed it prudent to make quick work of it and portage.

Phil Boyer with a scenic portage route.

The bottom of the bedrock section had a nice early morning delight, enjoyed by Ben Stookesberry.

During the portage we had made contact with Roland via radio, and he warned of us of a very long rapid downstream. This perked our interest, at this point we knew that a rapid called "very long" must indeed fulfill that description.

From the top it was indeed long, and Ben led the group down a half kilometer class III lead in. Once out of our boats we were all in awe at the length of the rapid. Including the lead in, it was a true kilometer long beast.

Extensive scouting revealed several entrance moves, followed by, surprise surprise, a large hole. I was daunted by simply the challenge of memorizing the amount of moves needed to even get the hole, let alone the drive left needed to skirt the Goliath of hydraulics. Along with the rest of the group, I opted to sneak down the left side of the rapid, staying in my boat and making easy progress. Living up to the legend, Ben decided he would mainline the lengthy cascade.

Ben Stookesberry riding a big boil about halfway down the cataract.

Benjamin again, getting ready to get left of the hole.

Ben Stookesberry gets ready...

While behind the lens it's generally pretty hard to tell what is happening, but in this circumstance it was obvious things were not looking good.

Collectively we were stunned as Ben started the largest hole surf we had ever seen...

Quickly surfing to the right side of the hole, Ben proceeded to throw down with a quick succession of ends. Often he wasn't visible, but we could tell he was getting air, then he resurfaced on top of the pile and drove back into the pit and disappeared, resurfacing downstream of the boil.

Ben Stookesberry emerges in his boat after surfing the largest hole of his life.

Amazed by what we had seen, but numb from so many days of hard whitewater, we returned to our boats, the river, and beautiful weather.

Chris Korbulic and Ben Stookesberry, blue skies and gorgeous vistas.

One or two quick rapids and we were out for one more long walk. A rowdy lead in and a few big wave holes, but nothing too sticky. If we had all been wishing for a finale worthy of scouting but good to go, we couldn't have dreamed anything better.

Darin McQuoid enjoys a fun rapid.

Chris Korbulic approaches the exploding wave...

Ben Stookesberry looking minuscule in the lead in.

Coming in hot and airing through a wave, Ben Stookesberry styles the dream rapid.

With yet another large rapid behind us, we pushed downstream expecting more scouts and possibly a portage or two. As the Indus neared confluence with the Gilgit, gradient tapered off and we were able to stay in our boats, run some big wave trains and soak in what we had just accomplished.

As we paddled through splashy wave trains we were all relieved to have one-hundred kilometers of big water class V behind us. Emerging with no swims and the most complete descent of the Indus behind us, we were in awe of the river's power and might. Certainly nothing had been tamed, and we felt fortunate to have survived the dynamic force of the Indus, and reveled a the splendid glory of its sights. Respect to all those who came first to the Lion River.

Due to political unfriendliness downstream, our police escort advised taking our above the next town, so we took out at an abandoned bridge a kilometer below the confluence.

The group at take-out, with Naga Parbat in the background. From left to right: Ben Stookesberry, Phil Boyer, Chris Korbulic, Roland Stevenson and Darin McQuoid.

Our return tickets left us flying out in a few days, and weighing our options we decided to make the relatively short drive to Kunjareb Pass, the Worlds highest international border.

16,000' (4877m) at the China/Pakistan border and really cold.

In all directions the Himalayan views are epic.

While a recent Time Magazine called Pakistan "The most dangerous place in the world" our experience was the opposite. Like anywhere in the world, Pakistan has dangerous areas. So does the United States and every other country in the world. Traveling with a good guide and using common sense, the most dangerous part of Pakistan is the driving. Get a good driver, it's well worth the money. We used Shani Tours.

Thanks to:

Everyone who supplied gear: Jackson Kayaks, Kokatat, Sawyer Paddles, Snapdragon Design, and Greg Garrison of Integral Designs. All team members paid for this trip out of pocket.

The readers who motivated me to write this terribly long winded summary of our trip.

Special thanks go out to Roland Stevenson, the motivator, organizer and logistical master without whom this trip would never have been possible.

Most of all thanks to our drivers and the wonderful people of Pakistan, who made us feel at home and went our of their way to extend a warm welcome to their incredible country.

Look for this trip in Clear H2O Film’s upcoming release: Hotel Charley IV.

2009-03-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

Pakistan, Indus River - Day Seventeen -

Big boy duly noted on the drive to Skardu.

Now that we were approaching the Haramosh Valley on the river, we knew it was time for our anticipated visit to the school. Roland and Chris had visited the previous day and read two English books owned by the school.

School was just starting as we arrived, so they went through morning assembly, including a beautiful rendition of the Pakistan National Anthem. Most Shiite schools in Pakistan teach girls and boys, unfortunately in the more conservative Sunni districts, woman's education is uncommon.

Three Cups of Tea covers Pakistan's education problems in depth, and is a wonderful read. Peace Through Education

We were only too glad to give a little time to the school, and I personally felt hypocritical while talking about the importance of a multilingual education, something still overlooked in the United States.

The Haramosh Valley School.

After we all gave a brief talk, the school resumed it's normal schedule and we got out of their way, and on the river.

One more glance back...

Big time rapid, and we would have no warm up, because we had taken out above this beast. And to think at one point we thought it just looked like a wave train.

Yet another long boulder scramble to see what the rapid had to offer, and it had plenty. It appeared initially the right side was easier, but would require a big move to make it far to the left at the bottom. The other option was a harder initial move left, followed by some boogie down the left to finish.

Phil Boyer probes down the right.

Phil Boyer getting a little tipsy on the entrance.

Rolling up quickly, Phil was already too far downstream to make it left, so he lines up for the meat of the rapid.

Phil emerged unscathed, and we felt some relief about the rapid, perhaps too much. From the scout I had liked the left line, a little more technical to start out with, but a gimmie once the top move was made.

Hiking back up I took plenty of time to scout my entrance move, noting a wave hole that would serve as a marker for me to start my drive left, and once in my boat I quickly peeled out. Coming down the initial wave train I was glad for time spent scouting this move in depth. Visibility was limited due to wave height, but as I passed the wave hole I put the heat on and scurried left of the rock; whew, glad the hard move was past.

Now just to finish up down the left Now where exactly was I going? Dismissing the bottom move I had made a large mistake, in a river of this size small holes are larger than named holes than most rivers. I came down the left side not really sure where I wanted to be, semi-confident that it didn't really matter. As I dropped over a wide but seemingly benign hole, I back endered into it and started getting my surf on.

No big deal I told myself, it didn't look too bad so I should flush pretty quickly. I rolled up only to still be in it, and proceeded to get a few ends and surf more, starting to get short on breath and more than a little concerned about the situation. An attempted blast out the side got me nowhere, and I was pulled back into the maw to flip again. I decided to wait upside down a little longer this time to make sure I would flush, and as I felt the current get less chaotic I rolled up, confident that I would be moving downstream.

My concern about the situation skyrocketed once I had rolled up and the hole pulled me back in from over a boat length away. I couldn't help but think that this might not end well as the hole pulled me back into the meat and a quick series of enders. Rolling up again, I was very surprised to be clear of the hole and still in my boat, not really sure how I had gotten away with that one.

Insult to injury followed with another brief surf in a downstream hole, then I was clear of the rapid, glad to have that one behind me.

Unfazed by my plight, Ben Stookesberry works to the left.

Ben Stookesberry finishes down the center of our warm up rapid.

Now that we had that behind us it was just a few hundred yards down to perhaps the single largest hole in the river. It had looked big on the drive up, but someone in the team and proclaimed that it would get run. Standing at the lip we weren't so sure about that claim.

Ben Stookesberry scouts the entrance to the large hydraulic.

The lead in was a stout enough rapid on its own, but the final plunge into the hole was something that I am not articulate enough to give justice to. My stomach turned over just contemplating the power.

Suffice to say if it was a warm sunny day, and you were as fired up as can be, then just maybe you would consider running it. Or, if it's just above freezing, you're in a third world country half-way around the world from home, hours from any kind of help and you name is Ben Stookesberry, you'd fire it up.

Not that Ben was reckless in his attempt, he gave it a thorough scout from both sides of the river before giving the nod.

Ben Stookesberry "taming the Lion", beautiful shot by Roland Stevenson.

"It felt like running a big waterfall" Ben Stookesberry.

Everyone held their breath as Ben melted into the hole and submerged deep into the flow. Smiles all round as Ben resurfaced and rolled up.

Magnificent sculpted rocks showcase the rivers beauty with Ben Stookesberry in the run-out.

Ready to get out mileage on, or should I say kilometerage. Either way, we were ready to make some downstream progress.

A quick shore scout and Phil Boyer probes another Indus gem.

Swell forecast on the Indus - overhead to double overhead.

Ben Stookesberry nearly lost in the radiant Karakoram.

Rounding the corner we were greeted with celebrity status by the students of the Haramosh Valley School. We pulled over to talk with them for several minutes before heading on.

Deep in the canyon, the sun would drop over the horizon in a matter of minutes, sending us scrambling to find a camp site remote enough for privacy, or a trail to the road. With the sun over the horizon Ben Stookesberry cleans up a representative hole filled rapid.

In the eddy below the rapid we conversed about camp options. On a plateau there were a few sandy spots mixed into a boulder field, or we could gamble and push downstream further. The deciding factor was an abundant supply of driftwood, we couldn't turn down a campfire opportunity as the temperatures dropped quickly.

Minutes into setting up camp we were greeted by a large convoy of locals...

Chris Korbulic enjoys some post paddling sustenance.

We quickly gathered around a glorious fire as clouds rolled in overhead, promising a strong chance of rain, rare this time of year in the high desert setting.

No television needed.

As we warmed up by the fire, the topic of discussion was both our previous ten days on the river, and the following. Surly this was one, if not the best river any of us had ever been on. Consistent rapids every day, class V almost all day, every day. What loomed even larger was the promise of making to the confluence the next day. I for one always look forward to take out; warm cloths, plenty of food, external heat and rest, and that's after just one day on the river! After ten days of cold, challenging whitewater, I hoped the confluence would be attainable in one more day.

Look for this trip in Clear H2O Film’s upcoming release: Hotel Charley IV.

2009-02-25T17:36:00.000-08:00

Pakistan, Indus River - Day Sixteen -

In my short career of paddling, Pakistan wins the prize for the lowest cost of living once in country. Being a notoriously cheap kayaker, this motel was right up my alley at thirty cents per person. We never spent a night in a heated building while in Pakistan, so as an added bonus, this one was warm.

Over cups of chai in the morning Chris decided his stomach still wasn't up to par, so he would go media from the road with my old camera. Down at water level we got into the mix of things right away.

Myself hiking down to put-in. Just like one of the locals...well maybe not, mutual goodwill was shared.

Ben Stookesberry leads the charge under ideal lighting.

While on the trip I really thought so many days of similar big water would blend together, and I would write about them in one big summary. Each day had its own challenges and stand out rapids, and on day sixteen one of the most memorable came early in the day.

Ben Stookesberry - the look says it all...

The river split around a bedrock island, and rejoined into a maelstrom of waves, holes and folds, all leading into a fifty foot wide hole that could potentially surf a kayaker into a pile of boulders. After that it was simply a hundred yard long run out of monster breaking waves.

First off though, a stout boof move. Ben Stookesberry.

We would come down the alley way, wait to pass a lateral ledge, then drive far to river left, completely avoiding the monster hole. At least that was the plan.

Ben Stookesberry gearing up to cross some currents.

The Indus set the example for the complexity of scouting big water, and Ben quickly realized he wouldn't be going left of the hole. He squared up and dropped in, disappearing for a tense moment but resurfacing clear of backwash.

Ben Sookesberry in the run out.

Phil Boyer decided to go next, but opted to cut left earlier rather than later.

The large horizon downstream is the big hole, Phil Boyer gets setup to punch.

Phil emerged from the hole unscathed, so I told myself it was really just a big class IV...as long as you don't screw up. I gave a thumbs up and hiked back to my boat, knowing that it would be big and a lot of it would have to be figured out at river level. On a river of this proportions, features constantly change and luck can play a large role in lines.

Oh shit - Darin McQuoid

I came into the boof hot and got enough of one to be stable and in control through the alley way. I knew the rapid was too long to paddle at full speed the whole time, and this seemed like a good time for a break, when Phil made the move through the lateral folding hole it looked pretty mellow.

As my bow dropped into the fold I realized it wasn't going to be mellow at all, and I should have a lot more momentum but it was too late. I went deep and resurfaced upright but facing upstream. As I turned around a wave broke over my head and knocked me over, forcing a quick roll. I told myself it would be ok as I rolled up. While scouting I had liked a right of center line where the big hole looked more like a wave, so I lined up for the wave train. To my displeasure the first big wave broke as I came into it, and with no speed I was surfed to the left and once again, not facing the right direction and the hole was approaching too fast.

Already short on breath I spun my boat around and got ready for the ride...

It felt like dropping into the base of a big waterfall, but I remembered what I had heard from big water veterans, tucked in tight and protected my skirt and paddle.
Darin McQuoid with some big water playboating.

The hole quickly had its way with me, typewritering me to river right where I had planned on going originally.

I felt immense relief as the hole released me to finish the rest of the rapid, where two more waves knocked me over, but I stayed in my boat and sought the haven of calm water.

Humbled yet again by the power of the "Lion River" we continued on. Ben Stookesberry, Phil Boyer and Darin McQuoid.

Our next cascade had looked very questionable from the Karakoram Highway, but from river level it looked friendlier than expected. Or perhaps the last rapid had just put things in perspective.

Ben Stookesberry approaches a boulder garden of Karakoram proportions.

A quick scout and there was no doubt the right side was good to go, so Phil Boyer fired away through the beautiful garden.

Darin McQuoid on the same spectacular rapid.

One truly breathtaking section of whitewater...

Happy to have two huge puzzles behind us, we split off from the road. Chris and Roland drove downstream to speak at the school while we finished up the section.

The corner revealed one more long scout, and my eyes widened but mouth stayed shut as Ben routed Phil through a big rapid.

Phil Boyer showing his experience and having no problems.

The walls opened again, and gradient eased off, letting us get away lots of read n run with the occasional quick scout from shore.

Ben Stookesberry and Phil Boyer enjoying some of the more relaxed whitewater on the Indus.

Sometimes we had more spectators than most rodeo events.

At take out we met our new Police escort. We had just moved from Skardu police district to Gilgits zone, and the new officers were very friendly.

They knew there wouldn't be lodgings for quite a ways downstream, so we returned to our cozy accommodations of the previous eve.

Special thanks to Roland Stevenson for dealing with logistics, and Chris Korbulic for taking some epic shots.

Look for this trip in Clear H2O Film’s upcoming release: Hotel Charley IV.

2009-02-17T16:39:00.000-08:00

Pakistan, Indus River - Day Fifteen -

Having a campfire with breakfast made it harder for us to motivate. It wasn't mentioned, but in the air there was a feeling that we were near the end of this chapter of the Indus. Our desire to finish was larger than our want for creature comforts, and after the first splash in the face, downstream progress was our only focus.

Phil Boyer and Chris Korbulic glad to be making downstream progress on our fifteenth day in Pakistan.

Admirable progress was made through several miles of read and run until the team was perched above a distinguished cascade. From the Skardu Highway it looked to be one of the best rapids on the trip, a glance from above confirmed it's quality, but thorough inspection revealed a problematic final.

Phil Boyer soaking it up...

Water ramped through a narrow section of river and pulsed over haystacks, plunging over a mighty folding ledge sending all surface water into the wall. Literally into the wall. Ten to fifteen foot deep pockets existed in the wall, and with a heavy heart we knew it was another portage. It appeared impossible to escape contact with the wall, and none of us desired to become a permanent feature of the Indus.

Nothing in this to set the scale, but from the above photo you can image how small a kayak would look in here.

As we portaged over the rocks the terrain pushed us higher and higher, eventually near the road. Chris had been feeling ill again, and decided that some downtime would help his heath more than a lengthy portage. I wavered on the fence, but lacking a good excuse decided to continue downstream with Ben and Phil.

Phil Boyer fires away another classic.

Thirty minutes of clambering over boulders and we could finally see the bottom of the rapid. Another thirty minutes of scrambling to find our boats and get setup. Phil chose to probe while Ben and I did our media roles. A three part, several hundred yard long rapid. In the above Phil runs right of a large standing wave, and below Phil runs the second half, where we were surprised to see a wave rise up and swallow him, forcing a quick roll.

Phil easily rolled in time, and sets up to punch the gateway hole.

Zoomed out view of the whole rapid, a personal favorite of the trip. If anyone was in this photo they would barely be visible, the small looking feature at the top is the same that a few above Phil skirts to the right of.

All exits through the gateway were successful, canyon walls peeled away and classic led to classic; Phil Boyer in some big fun class III.

Boisterous cascades continued in pleasant open settings. We enjoyed all the rapids and the feeling that ground had been covered, and in the early afternoon we pulled into an eddy within easy walking distance of our nights accommodations.

Ben Stookesberry and Phil Boyer.

We had skipped lunch on the river and welcomed a delicious meal with more variety than we had seen in a while.

Ben Stookesberry, Roland Stevenson and Mustaffa enjoy some traditional Pakistani fare.

Of course no meal in Pakistan is complete without savoring some chai.

Repast history and appetites satiated, we made the most of the afternoons light to capture small town life on the Skardu Highway.

Phil Boyer sharing the love.

Home base for a few days.

Haramosh Peak

Although much of the area has cell phone coverage, our current location didn't, and our driver's son was in the hospital, so we drove a few kilometers to Haramosh, which had a land line and a few small stores.

While browsing the selection we were treated to more Chai by Mr Zarir, principle of a coed school.

Our gracious host.

Mr Zarir said that although they teach English (Urdu and Arabic too) at the school, pronunciation was the hardest part, and he would be pleased to have us visit the school, read a book or two and talk with the students. We estimated that another day on the river and we would be near the school. We happily accepted his offer before heading off to our motel, looking forward to talking at the school in a few days.

Look for this trip in Clear H2O Film’s upcoming release: Hotel Charley IV.