Headwaters of the Kern

Entrance Falls of the Villecito

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On the 7^th of July I rolled out of Jackson with everything I owned stuffed in every corner of my car. I drove down to Mancos Colorado to see the manufacturing of Alpacka Rafts and do some world-class creeking outside of Durango. After boating the mile long section of the Villecitio and seeing how the boats are produced I started off toward LA where the next big adventure would begin.

Luke Walker selecting what would be needed and what would not.

After 12 hours of driving I arrived in the sprawling city and immediately starting packing for a 75 mile, 5 day adventure. The trip would take Luke Walker and myself up the highest peak in the lower 48 and down 50+ miles of the Kern River. After finishing packing we ran the shuttle and fell asleep at the trailhead just after 2 am. Seconds after laying out our sleeping bags Luke gave warning call before jumping into the car to avoid any more confrontation with a black bear 15ft way. I quickly followed suit and we watched the bear strolled by our sleeping bags and onto the next campsite. 

With little motivation to set up any other sleeping arrangements we looked at each other shrugged, placed our bear spray where it was easily accessible, and passed out under the stars. 6:00AM came too soon, but we packed up, and were hiking by 7:00. The 5000 ft climb to 13,000ft  with 70lb packs put us in our place. We dropped our packs and slowly made it up the last 1,500ft. After summiting Whitney we stumbled off the opposite side of the peak back down to 11,000 ft and quickly fell asleep after a memorable sunset above Guitar Lake.

The next morning we hiked 12 miles and arrived at the headwaters of the Kern River. We excitedly and, as we would soon find, preemptively inflated our boats. The first four hundred yards was a tease as we easily floated through the shallow flat water. The next 3 miles and 3.5 hours, however, proved similar to being in the back seat of a car on a long road trip with an older brother. Although character building, the experience was far from fun as we bumped our boats down the shallow rocky creek bed.  The 6% snow pack the winter had provided was far from enough this late in the season. We finally called it a night, had a hot meal, and easily fell asleep on granite slabs.

By 7:30 we had strapped our boats and all our wet gear to our packs, found the trail, and headed down the canyon with hopes of more water. Seven miles down river we again set up or boats and happily took our loads off. With portages and a winding river we made slow, but steady progress until we hit gorge that provided continuous class V. That evening we painstakingly picked our way down the steep gorge through ten or so drops constantly scouting or portaging. After a few hours of this we began questioning if walking was a needed step to allow us to make it out in time so people wouldn’t start looking for us. Again we decided to hoof it and bushwhacked our way to the trail with our awkwardly big backs.

The third day we hiked until the river became manageable and had gained a few more CFS. At this point the canyon decided we had paid our dues and granted us two continuous days of exactly what we were looking for; fairly continuous class III-IV boating with few portages, fun drops, and perfect weather. The final days made the trip the best paddling adventure of my life and added to the hundreds of places I hope to return.

Getting buzzed by F16s, scariest part of the trip

Debating best line on Kern Falls if we were to ever run it. Not this trip