Upper NF Kaweah

Photos By Eric Giddens, Mike Spradlin, & Alison Diller

Paddlers: Eric, Rebecca, Mike, Dave Diller, Brett Duxbury, Andrew Pernicano, Mike Martyr

Special Appearances by Copper, Lucy and Charlie

Last week brought about some really nice weather in the Southern Sierra; temps in the 70's and wildflowers galore tempted a group of us Kernvillians up to the Kaweah for a couple of days. Our destination was the upper North Fork of the Kaweah; a low elevation drainage that joins the Middle Fork of the Kaweah in Three Rivers. This section is probably least boated of the standard Kaweah runs - most likely due to the 5 mile hike in...

Eric and Copper Crossing Yucca Creek

As far as 5 mile hikes go, it is one of the easier ones; it follows an old mining/logging road so the grade is fairly mild. Still, schlepping your boat for almost 2.5 hours is never a picnic

Dave, Eric and Mike early on

This is a fun early season run for several reasons. First, it has some really fun drops, but overall it is not a super demanding or commiting run - so it is perfect if you are in need of an early season tune-up on your creeking skills. Second, the hike is great training for some of the later season hikes - you can test your pack system and start to build those shoulder calouses. Finally, when the river is running in the early spring, there is a good chance the wildflowers are going off - they provided a bit of distraction during the hike.

If your pack system gives out, the grassy road makes a low impact dragging surface

Surveying some granite goodness

The finals stats for the hike

At the end of the hike, the fun starts right away. A nice 20 ft granite slide provides a great way to cool off after the hike. We ate some lunch then did a few laps to celebrate our arrival

Dave

Mike

Brett

Eric, Rebecca and Mikey - Three's Company

After a few grins on that drop, we headed downriver. Within the first mile of the run are three more fun drops, the first one being a slide lead in to a ledge.

Mikey boofing the ledgeRebecca from a different angle

The next drop is a funky boof in to a boilng eddy that recirculates back under the boulder that forms the drop. At higher water this can be a bit sketchy, but today everyone styled it.

Rebecca on the lipThe next drop is the one pictured at the top; a slide where you have to stay away from the right wall. It is a bit easier than it looks, but you still have to put in a little effort.

Eric on said drop

VIEDO PENDING

After this, things start to get a little bouldery for a while. This is the part of the run where more water really helps. Still, everything was navigable. After a while you get back into another fun section, the highlight of which is a clean 8 foot ledge.

Andrew getting air

Brett at the lip

Mikey somewhere in the middle of it

All in all, it was a very fun day. Good drops and good folks


The take out

On a side note, the next morning folks that stuck around were treated to the arrival of helicopters and Park Rangers - apparently in the midst of a pot farm bust. For the record, if you are out there mister pot farmer guy, we did not turn you in! It was all a coincidence!

It's Spring!

One of my favorite times of year here in the Kern River Valley is Spring time. The flowers are blooming, the weather is beautiful and the rivers are about to start running. Probably my favorite springtime ride is the Kern Canyon Trail...

Rebecca near the end of a climb

Looking down into the canyon

Another field of poppies

Lupine

Rebecca's Garden

Starting the descent to the River (devil's lettuce in the foreground)

Yep, that's a nice poppy!

Babies Breath and Owl Clover

Baby Blue Eyes

If you are in the area, you need to do this ride soon - the picture do it no justice.

Postcards From Costa Rica

Boating Season is Coming Soon!

Brush Creek has been trickling out at about 1 on the gauge; the snowpack for this year is looking good though with lots of low elevation snow and close to normal snowpack at Sherman Pass. Here is a little teaser on the portage...

Barnard Hut

While the blog has been empty for a while, we have still been out there having fun; we've just been a little to busy to tell you about it. In January, we had a chance to head out to Colorado and play in the Rockies for a while.

Our destination was the Barnard hut; part of the Braun Hut system near Aspen Colorado. Our good buddy Bob has taken us out there a couple of times - including our first venture ever on backcountry skis back in 2005. That trip got us hooked and we have been getting out in the backcountry ever since. This time we were ready to show Bob our new shredding techniques that we had perfected in the Sierra Cement out our back door; unfortunately, our buddy was in the midst of a near-death experience - a systemic infection that left him in the hosiptal. The good news is that Bob is OK, the bad news is we had to ski without him (sorry Bob, we did many a turn for you!). Another Kern Valley Resident, Lynn, made the trip with us; a long time Tele-skier and outdoor nut like ourselves. We met in Glenwood amidst avalance warnings concerns for our friend. As luck would have it, Bob was among the living and we had nearly perfect conditions for the whole trip.

The Ski out to the Barnard hut starts by taking the ski lift up out of Aspen, then Skiing a little over 7 miles out along the ridge line. With packs full of stuff for 4 days, the going was a bit slow, but the scenery definitely kept us entertained

Eric about to be consumed by the snow alien

Rebecca and scenery

At the top of "Skin-up" Hill. Only 1/2 mile from the Hut, but still 1/2 mile too far...

The Hut itself is awesome; nestled at 11,500 ft at the base of McArthur Mountain. Actually more of a cabin now than a hut after its remodel back in 2000, the Barnard hut has great picture windows looking to the South, a patio, a wood stove and a cozy outhouse (still waiting for the syncilla seat cover) complete with a towering, frozen poopcicle. There is no running water, so you have to melt snow for water; the end result is that someone (usually me) is constantly running outside to fill the snow-pot. No matter though, the stove kept the cabin super cozy and the brisk air always feels good.

A view of the Cabin and the surrounding area from McArthur Mountain

The patio in the Morining

The Outhouse with a view!

Can't wait to get out and ski

The hut has some great terrain around - we were able to get to most of it. We started off on some low angle stuff until we got a feel of the avalanche danger; our snow pit indicated that things were more or less stable, but there were a couple of slabs forming in the pack. As we got more comfortable with the conditions we started skiing steeper. Still, the desire to not have to use our new beacons kept us off some stuff, including the Bowl on McArthur that we were able to ski the year before.

Pretty Conditions

Earning our Turns

More Blue Skies

The second day left us with some great lines and great times. Nothing left to do but go back to the hut and eat and drink ourselves silly.

Barnard Sunset

Lynn Making some good grub

Eric testing the wine...

Day three and we were starting to see even more stable snow conditions, so naturally we went into wipe-out mode

Eric Post-Big-Air

Rebecca Post-Cartwheel

Rebecca Squeeling into the trees

All in all lots of fun; it's always sad when it is time to go home...

Trekking back

Lunch Stop looking into the Maroon Bells Area

Rebecca Happy to be done with the ski home, and excited for an $8 hot chocolate and liquor

Cedar Creek Ride

With an extended period of nice weather in Kernville, we decided to hit up a high elevation ride one more time before winter. It was a beautiful day for late November; mid 70's in Kernville and 65 + in the high country - Cedar Creek was the destination.

We had a nice crew; Rebecca, Dave, Allison, Chris, Andrew and myself. We started at Sherman pass overlook and rode up over the snow, downed logs and rocks to get to Sherman Peak. The views were spectacular! After a brief snack (we had just started our ride) we descended into corral meadow (broken chain) and then down the Durwood drainage (flat tire) to the Rincon trail (another flat tire). From there we took an extremely exposed mining trail down to the four-mile trail (plunge over the edge, luckily everything ended up OK), afterward we rode out along the river (another flat tire for good measure). A nice night with friends at the brewery finished it off. All in all a spectacular ride with an amazing array of terrain and challenges. Enjoy some of the pictures from the day!

Damn, I miss boating

While we are waiting for the winter storms here in Cali, we have to be content with other outdoor activities, but sometimes I really miss boating...