This was another item on the first year of retirement bucket list as I've heard about this river for a long time. The upper Kern is natural flow from the west side of Mt. Whitney, so I started inquiring in May when it would be running and when I would need to reserve. The natural flow does not necessarily mean a longer season, just a later one. In average years the best time is around Memorial Day. This year there were 9 trips canceled for water being too high including the July 5 trip I had considered after my last Mammoth trip. Forks of the Kern can be run commercially between 1,000 and 4,000 cubic feet per second. My trip was at 1,400cfs and the river will be too low within 2 weeks.
There is a 1,200 vertical ~50 minute hike down to the put in at 4,600 feet where the Little Kern River joins the Main Kern.
Each person carries his/her own gear down the trail in a big dry bag with shoulder but no waist straps. The difficult access means that the rafts and supplies must be sent down the day before by mule at a minimum cost of $1,700. A minimum of 5 clients is required as 2 oar boats worth of supplies are need for support. My trip had 11 clients, 2 paddle boats and 3 oar boats with supplies. Due to the above logistics a 2 day trip is $747, nearly double the cost of other Sierra 2 day trips where the put ins and camp sites have easy road access.
Forks of the Kern has some Class V rapids, 3 of which are scouted before we run them and one of these we portaged because the guides thought we needed ~2,000cfs to get through it safely. There are lots of long Class IV's that would be the highlight rapids on most other Sierra rivers.
On the first day with briefings and the hike down, it's already time for lunch and we start down the river about 1PM. After a few light warmup rapids we stopped at Freeman Falls (just a couple of minutes walk from the river) for a swim.
In the first rapid below Freeman Falls I fell out but fortunately within reach of an extended paddle to get back in quickly. Pictures with a disposable camera were limited to scenery on Saturday afternoon.
Guide Josh gives the thumbs up to the Needles in far background.
Although this is California's toughest commercial rafting trip it does work well for fit participants with limited experience because the first afternoon gives you a chance to practice on 7 miles with several Class IV's before the twice as long second day with the biggest rapids.
We spent the night at Durrwood Camp, originally built for mining in the 1950's but mostly used for a couple of decades as a fishing camp. Some of the buildings are still in fairly decent shape.
View downriver from our campsite.
This was the most comfortable weather I've had on a river trip. Lows were probably upper 50's, I was one of few that bothered to bring a tent. Highs were mid 80's with a steady upriver breeze in the afternoons. Elevation is 4,000-4,500 feet while most CA whitewater trips are ~2,000 feet lower and blazing hot midsummer. Water was around 60. In normal years when this trip is 2-3 months earlier it can be cold. We wore helmets and farmer john type wetsuits for safety reasons because of the long rapids.
There were many large rocks just below the surface and occasionally the rafts could get stuck on them, as the other paddle boat is here.
We would unstick the rafts by shifting weight to the high or low side depending upon the situation.
The first Class V we scouted was Vortex. View down:
And up:
The largest opening in the picture above was changed by flooding 5-6 years ago and the hole below is considered too dangerous for rafting now. Rafting is now done through the smaller drop at left which the guides said was inadequate at 1,400cfs.
So they portaged the rafts on the other side of the river.
The paddle rafts were secured upside down between the rocks to make a slide for the heavy oar boats to get down. I forgot there was a gear bag in our paddle raft that had been loosened when we went to scout. So my watch is now somewhere at the bottom of Vortex!
The Maze was a good example of a technical Class IV requiring much maneuvering of the paddle boats to get through.
West Wall was the next Class V we scouted. It was distinguished by its length more than its big drops. View up:
And down:
We had one recreational stop on Sunday at a natural rock water slide.
Late in day is Carson Falls, probably the biggest drop.
The drop is 10-12 feet, no perspective in the picture. One of our group shot some great video of the oar boats in Carson Falls. I hope to get that online sometime.
At any rate, Forks of the Kern fully lived up to its billing. If you want lots of adrenaline filled whitewater, this is the place.
Trip info from Whitewater Voyages: http://www.whitewatervoyages.com/rivers ... forks.html
I also found this site with rapid descriptions and some pics: http://cacreeks.com/kern-fks.htm
There is a 1,200 vertical ~50 minute hike down to the put in at 4,600 feet where the Little Kern River joins the Main Kern.
Each person carries his/her own gear down the trail in a big dry bag with shoulder but no waist straps. The difficult access means that the rafts and supplies must be sent down the day before by mule at a minimum cost of $1,700. A minimum of 5 clients is required as 2 oar boats worth of supplies are need for support. My trip had 11 clients, 2 paddle boats and 3 oar boats with supplies. Due to the above logistics a 2 day trip is $747, nearly double the cost of other Sierra 2 day trips where the put ins and camp sites have easy road access.
Forks of the Kern has some Class V rapids, 3 of which are scouted before we run them and one of these we portaged because the guides thought we needed ~2,000cfs to get through it safely. There are lots of long Class IV's that would be the highlight rapids on most other Sierra rivers.
On the first day with briefings and the hike down, it's already time for lunch and we start down the river about 1PM. After a few light warmup rapids we stopped at Freeman Falls (just a couple of minutes walk from the river) for a swim.
In the first rapid below Freeman Falls I fell out but fortunately within reach of an extended paddle to get back in quickly. Pictures with a disposable camera were limited to scenery on Saturday afternoon.
Guide Josh gives the thumbs up to the Needles in far background.
Although this is California's toughest commercial rafting trip it does work well for fit participants with limited experience because the first afternoon gives you a chance to practice on 7 miles with several Class IV's before the twice as long second day with the biggest rapids.
We spent the night at Durrwood Camp, originally built for mining in the 1950's but mostly used for a couple of decades as a fishing camp. Some of the buildings are still in fairly decent shape.
View downriver from our campsite.
This was the most comfortable weather I've had on a river trip. Lows were probably upper 50's, I was one of few that bothered to bring a tent. Highs were mid 80's with a steady upriver breeze in the afternoons. Elevation is 4,000-4,500 feet while most CA whitewater trips are ~2,000 feet lower and blazing hot midsummer. Water was around 60. In normal years when this trip is 2-3 months earlier it can be cold. We wore helmets and farmer john type wetsuits for safety reasons because of the long rapids.
There were many large rocks just below the surface and occasionally the rafts could get stuck on them, as the other paddle boat is here.
We would unstick the rafts by shifting weight to the high or low side depending upon the situation.
The first Class V we scouted was Vortex. View down:
And up:
The largest opening in the picture above was changed by flooding 5-6 years ago and the hole below is considered too dangerous for rafting now. Rafting is now done through the smaller drop at left which the guides said was inadequate at 1,400cfs.
So they portaged the rafts on the other side of the river.
The paddle rafts were secured upside down between the rocks to make a slide for the heavy oar boats to get down. I forgot there was a gear bag in our paddle raft that had been loosened when we went to scout. So my watch is now somewhere at the bottom of Vortex!
The Maze was a good example of a technical Class IV requiring much maneuvering of the paddle boats to get through.
West Wall was the next Class V we scouted. It was distinguished by its length more than its big drops. View up:
And down:
We had one recreational stop on Sunday at a natural rock water slide.
Late in day is Carson Falls, probably the biggest drop.
The drop is 10-12 feet, no perspective in the picture. One of our group shot some great video of the oar boats in Carson Falls. I hope to get that online sometime.
At any rate, Forks of the Kern fully lived up to its billing. If you want lots of adrenaline filled whitewater, this is the place.
Trip info from Whitewater Voyages: http://www.whitewatervoyages.com/rivers ... forks.html
I also found this site with rapid descriptions and some pics: http://cacreeks.com/kern-fks.htm