Kern River PWN3D by Coredweller & Crew!!!!

Last week I joined six friends on a 2-day whitewater rafting trip down the lower Kern River in central California.  We had enough people to take over one whole boat (+1 Guide provided by the company Whitewater Voyages).  The company also arranged lunch and dinner on day 1, and breakfast and lunch on day 2.  The first day, known as "Jungle Run" was everything up to Class III rapids, and the second day was a few Class III, and mostly Class IV.   Every sequence of rapids has it\'s own name, such as "Sundown Falls," "Dead Man\'s Curve," "Hari Kari," and "Pinball."  One rapids commonly known as "Eat Rocks and Bleed" was renamed "Fluffy Bunny" when the Whitewater Voyages owner objected to the scary name.  Everyone still calls it "Eat Rocks."  

The trip was absolutely amazing.  We never flipped our boat, and none of us got tossed… although one of my friends did a horrendous back flop into the river from a rock frequently used for diving.  I have pics of that!  

After the river, we hit a supermarket in Kernville and went up to the Sequoia National Forest for 3 days of camping, poker, and getting drunk.  We hiked around Dome Rock, the "Trail of 100 Giants" and climbed a 5 mile round trip trail with some SEVERE elevation changes up to a fire lookout tower at the top of Needles, a rock formation in the vicinity.  I can post more pics of that part of the trip if anyone cares.

It was an excellent trip.  My arms and ass were tired as hell from the paddling, but I\'m now recovered and rested and ready for many more months of soul-sucking work in the big city.

[GmanJoe]

Queue "Dueling Banjo" theme from Deliverance.

Looks like fun, the ONLY time I went white water rafting was on a river with Class IV rapids when I was about 17.  I hung on for dear life and was like wtf... people do this for fun!?

and please post more pics, I like seeing nature hikes.

Here are some images I just got from my waterproof disposable camera:





This is a Class VI called "Royal Flush"  NO WAY JOSE!  Can\'t do it on a rubber boat.  Had to portage around it.  I found a story elsewhere on the internet about a dude who almost drowned going through this in a Kayak.


This is what the portage spot looks like.  Carry your boat up a dirt trail, then dump it on the steel railing of this half bridge.  When the boat in front of you is out of the way, tie yours off, and push it over the side.  Then climb down the ladder and board.


The whole crew.  Our guide took this one, so I have no idea what he did wrong!

Jeff doing a crazy ass back flop!

Rafting is real fun. We have the Mendenhall River which I have gone down  only twice, but hope to do it again, its pretty weak though.

I prefer kayaking though- only because I have one.

BTW: I\'d give Jeff a 5 on that stylish dive.

You gonna post pictures of the hike?

Don\'t mean to hi-jack but in the spirit of nature, here\'s a photo of that mountain "Old Rag" we hiked again about 2 weeks ago.

[Titan]

Looks like fun.

OK, you asked for it, you got it.

First to complete the river pictures, here is a higher quality shot of our boat from the exterior:


The top of Dome Rock, which is too big to capture in one shot.
Eric did a nice panoramic video, but I have no way of hosting it.


Next we hiked up THERE. To the fire lookout tower at the top of Needles


This is what it looks like from the top.

After everyone\'s sick of poker...


The traditional end of the evening ritual... try to melt the Tequila bottle in the fire.  

Originally posted by THX
You gonna post pictures of the hike?

Don\'t mean to hi-jack but in the spirit of nature, here\'s a photo of that mountain "Old Rag" we hiked again about 2 weeks ago.

Nice composition.  Do you have any more?  Where is this?

Thanks  This is some popular hiking mountian in Shenandoah, VA called Old Rag for whatever reason.  I made another thread for a previous hike we went on earlier this year, everything was covered in snow.  I\'ll rustle up the best pics and post them later.

Your mountian looks more intimidating to a hiker, but what\'s with all the gay wooden bridges!?  You guys have to pull yourself up over some rocks and get some scrapes along the way?  Either way looks very relaxing up there at that peak.