Upper Kern April 29

It was the Kern River Festival weekend so plenty of boaters around and activities on offer (like a whitewater slalom course), but none that really added up to justifying the drive in my opinion. Keith and I were contemplating running the entire 19 miles of the Upper Kern from the Johnsondale Bridge to the Kernville Bridge ("bridge to bridge") but had concerns about the shuttle logistics and the 600cfs in the half of the run where the river was being diverted not being enough. At the park Keith got some feedback from other boaters who thought the 600cfs would be fine and so we packed up and drove on back up to the Johnsondale Bridge. About 80% of this full run was new to me (everything except Cables & Lickity) so I was excited to see it for the first time as one full trip rather than separate sections like most people seem to experience it. 

So the full Upper Kern run: Limestone Run (III-IV), Fairview Run (III), Chamise Gorge (IV-V), Salmon Falls/Ant Canyon (III-IV), Thunder Run (IV-V), Cables Run (IV), Lickity Split (III)

The sections blended together a bit as the day wore on but I think Limestone was probably my favorite section with interesting rapids and higher flows since it is above the diversion. My only flips were in Bombs Away (IV-V; legit flip, wish I gave the rapid a second lap) and some little rock and hydraulic that caught me funny just above The Flume (IV-V). At the start of the Chamise Gorge we ran into a group of !30! paddlers and ended up running that section with a few of them, which was a nice break in the pace. Thunder Run also had a few fun little drops in it. Keith and I made pretty good time reaching Kernville, but completing the shuttle proved to take much longer than we hoped (2hrs?). Then the long drive back. It was probably the best thing we could have done with the day and I was grateful we didn't spend it only paddling a couple 3 mile stretches of the river like many others did.

Forks & Cups Sampler April 28

A near 1p departure from Redlands put us into Kernville pretty late in the day, and even later at the Johnsondale Bridge after stopping in to see some of Keith's friends. The idea was to hike up a couple miles along the upper Kern wilderness (the bottom of the Forks of the Kern kayak run), canyon through the Seven Teacups of Dry Meadow Creek, then packraft the two miles back to the bridge. It was a good plan but would have been better if it was not initiated at 5:30p. We packed as efficiently as we could and followed the true left of the river. The flow on the Kern was a pretty solid 1300 cfs, which had me wondering about what raging torrent we would see on reaching Dry Meadow Creek.

The hike was pretty smooth on the good trail, if a little breezy and cool from the afternoon winds blowing off snow at higher elevations. We passed less people than I thought, but at least a few hikers and fisherman. The first view of the bottom of Dry Meadow Creek certainly looked high, but reasonable. We decided to give it a try. We strolled upstream to the crossing place and geared up. The Kern was freezing and took us both by surprise. We made quick work of the climb to the saddle into Dry Meadow, enjoying the view along the way (above). 

The top of the teacups looked a little frothier, swirlier, and forceful than the bottom and the water polish on the rocks were super slippery. Thankfully the water was considerably warmer than the Kern, but still enough to give Keith a hard time in his 2/3mm wetsuit. We proceeded carefully, while also considering time was of the essence. I lead the charge approaching rigging cautiously to minimize our commitment until I could confirm the hydraulics were not too much for us. The features and movement was a little intimidating- I had been in much higher flow canyons, but not in a while.

In teacup three we finally committed to pulling the rope. The teacup four rappel looked rather intimidating but I was able to carefully sneak around the flow and then get under the falls. The mist room behind the falls was a great spot. The force of the falls was enough to produce waves in the teacup below so I proceeded cautiously avoiding the pouroff zone. From below I could see the flow was equivalent or higher than what had been labeled "extreme" on Ropewiki. Keith had a little rougher time on this rappel but made it down alright. After several tries with the slippery rock a boost from Keith was able to get me up onto the granite slab and I could pull him out. 

At the big rappel below teacup seven I had a look over the edge at the impressive view (above) of the thundering falls slamming into a funky corner behind a rock. After some pause and careful reading I decided it would be fine but at this point Keith was shivering dramatically from the cold and confirmed that bailing was the right option. So we clambered out the slab on canyon left, which at least gave us an opportunity to see the rest of the canyon. Some more challenges but we would have been fine at this flow. Keith was still cold by the time we reached the river and swimming back across the Kern certainly didn't help things. We the last light we quickly inflated packrafts and paddled down. Other than a portage of Carson Falls, the river was fun but without incident. A late night scavenger hunt, a meal at the last place open in Kernville, and crashing at a friend of Keith's rounded out the trip. I wish we had more time but I am excited to see that ideal flows to do both the full forks kayak and canyon the teacups is possible. I can't wait to try out that combo.

Catalina Packraft April 21-23

Looking for something interesting to do locally, I thought to revisit the idea of a Catalina packrafting and hiking loop. Pouring over maps it seemed a figure 8 loop around the west side of the island with Two Harbors at the crossover would make a solidly ambitious trip including some off-trail hiking and a committing paddle along the exposed Pacific side. Unfortunately the hike-in campgrounds necessary to do this trip were all booked, not to mention I would have difficulty recruiting a partner to join. Realizing that Catalina's boat-in campgrounds were remarkably under-utilized (still wide open days before departure) I side-stepped into a more mellow traversing option: start at Two Harbors and paddle 13 miles to Avalon over the course of two days. This turned out to be a real winner and overall I was surprised at the lack of people and pristine nature of some of this coastline.

The 8:30a ferry from San Pedro got us into Two Harbors by mid-morning. A short 500ft is all we had to walk to start organizing gear and inflating packrafts; we pushed off as soon as we could. In short order we paddled past the bleak but full Two Harbors Campground, completely hosted on a sizable landslide deposit. The cliffs along the coast turned out to be considerably more interesting than I would have guessed- bedded diatomite, submarine channel deposits, volcanics, and volcaniclastics (not to mention abundant, varied, and sizable landslides). Lining the top of the cliffs were delicate but robust native succulents, a colorful island subspecies of dudleya. Beneath us clear waters revealed kelp beds and a plethora of bright orange garibaldi. Seals swam or lounged carefree. Had we realized this stretch of coast would boast the best snorkeling we probably would have stopped, but the clarity meant that paddling over the kelp was nearly as good. Along Blue Cavern Point we ducked into several small sea caves and the one more lengthy Perdition Cave, which we could paddle into one entrance and out the other. We stopped on a cobble beach just before the rock quarry area for a short lunch before embarking on a two mile paddle to Empire Landing, where the coastline would become more interesting again. Fortunately the light swell and winds were in our favor. 

        Perdition Cave

Rippers Cove was the first boat-in campsite we reached. Well occupied, it seemed a nice enough spot with the best hammock prospects of any of the boat-in sites. We stopped briefly at Paradise Cove, the smallest site with barely room for a tent.

        Paradise Cove (and next)

A thousand feet on from Paradise was Lava Wall Camp, a sizable cliff-lined camp with an interesting bedrock channel we scrambled up. We marveled at the great metamorphic rocks and minerals here- garnets, actinolite, hornblende, anthophyllite. The diversity was impressive. Nice succulents and intricate lichens too. This seemed like a nice camp option but we were to paddle onward to Cabrillo.

        Climbing out of Lava Wall

        Catalina live-forever (Dudleya virens subsp. hassei)

        Life on Mars?

The wind swell picked up as the skies became cloudy adding drama to this steep stretch of coast. We paddled past Gibraltar Beach, exposed to the swell, and around the corner to comparatively calm Cabrillo. 

Cabrillo Beach turned out to be quite the idyllic spot. A long shingle beach, a gracefully tilting rock island, colorful sparsely vegetated hillsides and a couple picnic tables. We selected the best spot to pitch a tent and then went about exploring. Although there were multiple campsites that could have been booked we had the beach to ourselves. I hiked up the hillside to the southeast side of the beach which presented great views. I enjoyed a peaceful pink sunset and reading my book on the beach overlooking the faint glow of the distant Los Angeles Port.

        Cabrillo Beach (and next three)

With less than five miles to paddle the second day, we had a leisurely morning at Cabrillo. I attempted to snorkel but found the visibility to be pretty poor and the water cold, and so quickly lost interest. Once packed we paddled past Goat Harbor, another picturesque camp spot beneath a colorful promontory. The region around Twin Rocks was particularly nice. We had a brief snack and sunbathing stop at Italian Gardens (not the most interesting camps), and then stopped again at Long Point Beach. This spot I really liked, having the wildest feel of all the beaches and being entirely cliff-lined such that there was no overland escape. With considerable difficulty I managed to rig a hammock on the chossy rocks.

        Long Point Beach

Pushing off from Long Point Beach, it was another straightline paddle past a few coves and summer camps to Willow Cove, our camp for the night. Willow Cove was cozy- a short beach, cacti coated cliffs, a nice grassy camp area, a dryfall just inland, obese squirrels, and a steep grassy hillside that led to the top of the 350ft cliff to the south of the cove. After setting up camp I paddled in and around the rocks towards Toyon Bay. We prepped our freeze-dried meals and then hiked up the hillside to have our dinner looking down on our camp below. The temperature was thoroughly comfortable.

        Willow Cove

We wanted to give ourselves ample time to get to the 10:15a ferry in Avalon, which necessitated a 5:30a wakeup. We were packed and paddling by about 6:45a. Other than the distractions of tuna lobsters swimming around and spotting four deer munching on coastal cliffs, we made great time paddling for Avalon. Coming upon the cliff coating resort of Hamilton Beach was quite a contrast to the previous two days of mostly wild coastline. Disassembly and packing went smoothly in Avalon, giving us plenty of time to track down breakfast before the ferry back. The ferry back was loaded with backpackers which made me very thankful for the trip we did- rather than camping with row after row of tents in a full campground we had our beaches all to ourselves.

So all in all it was a nice weekend away, a pleasant coastal paddle, and a rare opportunity to camp on wild southern California beaches with not another person in sight. Thanks to Sara for helping with logistics and joining.

Thunder Canyon Cave April 15

Thunder Canyon Cave is the most extensive known granite talus cave in San Diego and one that I had been curious about for a long time. So when I heard a trip was being led through the SoCal Grotto I jumped at the chance to get on a trip to check it out. A very early departure from Riverside had me the first to arrive at the meeting spot, a pleasant enough area of classic San Diego rolling granite hills that seemed to have good bouldering and climbing potential. I enjoyed the quiet apart from the birdsong as I packed my bag and others slowly arrived. In all there were ten of us, a solid group, and somewhat surprising most were about my age best I could tell. Everybody seemed very friendly. For a couple this would be their first vertical cave trip.

We set off along a meandering network of dirt bike trails towards the caves, the trip leaders thankfully having good memory of the cave's whereabouts- this would be an easy area to hide talus caves! It was already getting a little warm but we chatted as we cruised along, reaching the cave in a about an hour. The entrance was completely unassuming- just a particular space between several boulders in a field of thousands of other similar gaps. One of the trip leaders rigged the "top drop" entrance while the rest of us snacked and readied. I was quick to get in line to drop into the cave, craving its cool confines and curious to explore it. The drop was a little awkward the way it led down a chockstoned crack and over a bedrock fin but I was soon down.

The cave is no Millerton Cave (wet, active, intricately fluted and potholed, king of CA talus caves) but I was glad to see that the same water-polished granite walls were present throughout the cave. Occasionally water did flood spectacularly through this cave but the intermittent nature meant there were flowstone falls and rimstone dams in places, both better developed than in any other granite cave I've seen. It was clear there would be considerable time spent waiting for everyone so I convinced someone to give me a boost so I could climb the flowstone fall up into the uppermost portion of the cave. Here a nice 50ft stretch (Serpentine Passage) led to a more prolonged tight slot. I hung out at the top of the falls taking photos of the others coming down.

Once we were all down the drop and in the cave we moved as one group through the narrow passage, working our way over and under boulder chokestones and shimmying through narrow spaces. It was all very social with a person just in front and just behind at all times. Progress was slow but we eventually reached the middle entrance area (Bat Entrance), where one of the party decided to climb out. While that was happening I moved the rope down the cave and rigged the Cathedral Room pitch. This room was easily the most surprising and standout feature of the cave. Instead of the narrow slot passages a balcony-like hanging pothole led to a 50ft flowstone waterfall descending into a spacious room (frontispiece). I was the first down and waited a solid 35 minutes until the others began to descend, but it was easily the nicest and most comfortable place to wait. The temperature was so perfect in this cave as to not render a conscious thought about it. 

In the Cathedral Room we all got a briefing of the rest of the cave. We'd have a handline down a vertical chimney, then another down a flowstone falls, then the infamous squeeze, which has been the site of at least major rescue. A lot of care went into sequencing everyone for the squeeze and passing through all the packs. Everyone got through the squeeze without much issue. I didn't even have to take my harness or helmet off so I'm not sure I'd really count it as a squeeze. 

One of the group managed to drop their headlamp into the tighter bottom part of the crack, which sans helmet and harness now, gave me an opportunity to really test the squeeze. I was able to recover it without much effort. One final short climb and a bit of a breakdown maze brought us out the bottom entrance and into the warm sun. The plan was to hike back up to the top entrance with someone dropping into the middle entrance to de-rig the drop there. Nico and I instead volunteered to go back through the whole cave, de-rigging everything, and meeting at the top entrance. With some reluctance we were given the go ahead and went back into the cool confines of the cave. With just two of us we made excellent time, even including ascending the drops and de-rigging them. The ~500ft of cave which took the group over 4 hours to traverse took the two of us 25 minutes to return through. In fact the others beat us to the top entrance by only a couple of minutes. It was immensely satisfying being able to balance out the slow but social trip with a second exercise in speedy efficiency. The uphill walk to the car in the afternoon sun was slower, but eventually we all made it back. It was probably the slowest cave trip I've ever been on before, but I enjoyed seeing the cave and enjoyed meeting nine friendly people in the process.

I've been in at least a half dozen granite talus caves in California now and find them endless fascinating and enigmatic. The general idea is that they are deeply incised slot canyons that then have boulders collapse over the top to create an enclosed space. While this works for much of the length of the caves, all these caves have passages where the floor, walls, and ceiling are all in situ bedrock indicating that along some stretches water is capable of tunneling through the granitic rocks rather than just downcutting. For a few meters a stream could do this by drilling a bedrock pothole and then breaching its wall (and this does happen often), but for longer stretches a different mechanism seems to be at play. I'm not sure Thunder Canyon gave me any new insight, but these caves remain of interest. Thanks to the trip leader Jess and Nico for going back through the cave with me.