Headwaters of the Kern River, California

July 1-5, 2002

This top stretch of the Kern River was first run in the summer of 1981 by Reg Lake, Royal Robbins and Doug Tompkins. It has to be one of the outstanding adventures in California. The crux of the trip, to quote the guidebook, is the 23 mile approach hike over Mount Whitney to Junction Meadow. From Junction Meadow, one descends 50 miles and about 5000 vertical feet to Johnsondale, where a road crosses the river. Some past teams have hired mules or porters to carry in their boats, but suffice it to say that the river doesn't see many descents. We had been contemplating this trip for a while and finally got around to it at the beginning of July 2002.

	Lone Pine, California. Looking for a ride out to Whitney Portal.
	Marching the plastic backpack up the Mount Whitney Trail. The trail starts at Whitney Portal, elev. 8300, and crosses the Sierra Crest at an elevation of 13,600. We estimated that the fully loaded kayaks weighed 80+ pounds. Let's hope someone figures out how to build a 30 pound creek boat.
	Bagels and cheese at Trail Camp, elev. 12,000, on the morning of Day 2. Muir and Whitney are in the background. The pass is just out of sight to the left.
	Climbing toward the pass.
	It's all downhill from here... We reach the pass after an arduous climb from Trail Camp.
	Looking west from the High Sierra crest. There was surprisingly little snow for the first week of July.
	Descending switchbacks from the pass. The Kern Canyon is in the background.
	Heading toward the Tyndall Plateau on Day Two. Mount Whitney is behind to the left.
	After traversing out of the Wallace Creek basin on the morning of Day 3, we round a corner to catch our first glance of the Kern River. To the north is Kings Canyon National Park.
	Junction Meadow, elev. 8000 feet. The put-in for the Headwaters section.
	We find the Kern running about 300 cfs and had about 400-600 once we got downstream. A couple hundred more would have covered up some of the rocks.
	The upper section of the Kern runs through a giant cedar forest. A lot of trees end up in the river. Here Bill takes a break in the middle of a steep log-congested section.
	Bill Robinson running a rapid on the upper Kern.
	This is why we kayak.
	Drying out after the first day of boating. Our camp was just below Kern Hot Springs, where we probably should have stopped. However, this island had plenty of wood for a fire.
	A beautiful calm stretch just above Grasshopper Flat on Day 4. Below here are the toughest rapids, a stretch of continuous class V with healthy amounts of wood.
	Descending through a narrow section of the Kern Headwaters. Note the ubiquitous river-wide tree, this time well out of play.
	Whitewater on the Kern.
	Kern Falls. The most difficult seven mile section on the headwaters run ends at Kern Falls. Here the river drops forty feet onto rocks. Rumor has it that this has been run, though with sub-optimal consequences. We happily carried high on the left.
	The Forks section starts below the Little Kern confluence. The scenery is spectacular in this area. Drops are formed by huge granite boulders. This looks to be a great raft run with more water.
	Bill Robinson probes the Vortex on the Forks section. Despite the nose-dive and a prolonged encounter with the sloped rock below the drop, he comes out smiling.
	Back at the parking lot, we contemplate the six hour drive back to the Bay Area.