Forks of the Kern (18 mile wilderness packraft at 1600 cfs) + Seven Teacups (technical canyon at 15cfs?) = Forks & Cups. I had previously packrafted the 2 miles from the bottom of the Seven Teacups (Dry Meadow Creek) to the Johnsondale Bridge following a low water Teacups trip in 2015. That trip put in my head that it might be possible to find the right conditions to have a pleasant moderate flow packraft down the full Forks run and at the same time hit the Teacups at an exciting high flow. The idea to do both in a single day marathon was a more recent thought. A couple weeks prior both the Forks and the Teacups were in condition but the road to the Forks trailhead was closed, which presented too many logistics to pull off. Fast forward a couple weeks and Keith had managed to line up another keen paddler Eric to join, and importantly his friend Aaron who would be our keen shuttle driver. It was on!
We got into the Brush Creek parking lot nearly midnight to camp. The next morning we drove up to the trailhead at 6000', which was brisk in the cool morning shade. I wouldn't have a kayak to carry and drag down to the river so would make better time hiking but would have to spend more time getting my wetsuit on and prepping my packraft at the river and so started off before the other two. The trail down was pleasant enough, crossing back and forth through some basalt flows before reaching the Little Kern. Almost immediately after pushing off I realized three things: the river was higher and pushier than two weeks prior, the freezing cold temperature of the Kern which would keep me chilled most of the day, and that I was feeling sluggish and clumsy. These were bad ingredients to the day's journey but the quality of whitewater and scenery made up for it. The views of the Needles were particularly nice.
My first flip probably occurred within the first 5-10 minutes and unfortunately many more followed. In fact this turned out to easily be my worst day of paddling ever with more flips than I could keep track of but perhaps 6-8 total. I felt only slightly redeemed that Keith also seemed to be having an off day, having to bail his kayak twice. My flips were mostly stupid things- small waves suctioning me funny, unexpected pins against rocks, slow reactions leading me into monster holes, which didn't make it any better. Given the type of day I was having I opted to portage Vortex, and later Carson Falls. Needlerock seemed like a particularly nice rapid I would have liked to have seen from the inside of my boat instead of drinking it.
Scouting Vortrex and the flips (particularly Keith's bails) slowed us down considerably but we still reached the Teacups approach in time to give it a try. Eric opted to wait for us to go canyoning, which I felt bad about considering we ended up taking much longer than we expected (2.5 hrs instead of 1.5 hrs). Hiking up the hill was actually a nice break for me as at least I ended up a bit warmer. Also nice views of the lengthy West Wall Rapid just upstream.
I estimated the water level in Dry Meadow to be slightly lower than two weeks prior but still plenty exciting. It helped knowing what to expect for hydraulics in the first half of the canyon and to have more daylight as cushion to take our time if needed. I rigged the arch rap for Keith and opted for the slide into Teacup 2. The hydraulic in Teacup 3 was easy enough to push against and the rap anchor easy to lunge for.
Teacup 4 gave us more trouble than it should have. We both got down the rappel easily enough despite the channelized force of the falls. When we went to pull the rope the end got whipped up in a loop in the falls and we ended up with an overhand knot in the rope about a meter from its end. Both of us thoroughly pulling made it clear it was not going to slide through the anchor. Weighing the options, I did not like what appeared to be the easiest fix: me ascending the waterfall. This was not an ideal situation as I would have to ascend through the full force which would be pushing me down and it would be difficult for me to switch to descend in an emergency. It was as lousy as I thought and after only a few seconds in the brunt of the flow I could feel my strength leaving me. I signaled to Keith to pull the tail of the rope towards the side which helped me skirt the flow just enough to keep ascending. By the time I reached the anchor I was pretty seriously fatigued but quickly reset the anchor and rapped back down so we could get on with our trip. It's hard to say how much of this mishap was sloppy rope management versus just plain bad luck but objectively I lean towards the latter.
The next exhaustion fest was me being the first to rap into the washing machine hydraulic at the base of the big falls. Easily the most formidable feature at high flow, it was a frothy mess I could barely see or breathe in that continually pushed me away from where I needed to go. This required some thought to surmount and I had about three tries before I decided on a new strategy. I hoisted up the rope a couple feet to get out of the hydraulic, gave a big kicking lunge to pendulum across the pool and wedge my forearm in the gap between the boulder and wall. From that position I could hoist myself onto the rock and was free. This also wore me out good! With me already across, it was a simple matter for Keith to follow.
The next few features were easy enough. The Toilet Bowl, a deep pothole with the falls dropping in near its outlet (such that most water recirculates) seemed to be the most feared feature in descriptions of high flow but I actually found really easy to cross, getting through on my first try. Again Keith following was straightforward. The final slot with the redirect was also a pretty trivial hydraulic. At the slab above the river we rejoined Eric after profusely declaring our apologies to him.
The last two miles went quick. Eric was the only one who ran Carson Falls. He had a deceptively clean run that made the Class V feature look like child's play. We continued on under the bridge and took out just downstream at Brush Creek where Aaron was waiting.
Hungry and tired, we all opted for beer and food at the brewery before Keith and I drove back. Despite both of our poor kayaking performances and our rope retrieval mishap, it was still an excellent day and perhaps the first time the Forks and Teacups have both been run in a day. Thanks to Keith for driving and organizing.
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