Heather and I managed to get out to Joshua Tree in the brief window when the park was closed to vehicles but open to hikers and bikers (it is now fully closed). We parked at the Indian Cove entrance and biked up the fan to the campground. I had never been hiking out to the far west side where there is a short nature loop so that's where we headed except we opted for a boulder scrambling cross country jaunt. We passed few hikers on the road and certainly saw no one once we left it. It was surreal to see a totally empty Indian Cove campground.
I had my sights set on a longer "floor is lava" scouting mission but progress was slow and so it quickly devolved into a get out and explore trip. The scenery was great as usual, the weather surprisingly warm. We took a break in a hammock and then worked our way down a large boulder pile with 20ft deep pits in places. After a few wrong turns we found our way down to the valley floor and strolled back over the to bikes. The alluvial fan grade made for excellent high speed no-hands riding back down to the entrance. It was good to get out!
Keith had his first run down the short and sweet Class IV-V Mouth of the Kern the previous weekend and was keen for another go given stable dam-release flows (320 cfs). Being a new run for me too, I was interested. As a bonus Keith met me at my place which saved some driving and allowed a much appreciated sleep in. Keith, Heather, and I stopped to pick up Eric in Santa Clara, which rounded out a full car. We met Dennis at the orange orchards near the canyon mouth and drove the short distance to the put-in. We could see almost the whole 1.5mi run from the road and it looked quick! With all the eddying and some portaging it took about 1.5 hours.
Dennis had been down the run perhaps a hundred times from the sound of it and so spouted out incredibly detailed beta; I typically followed him closely to follow his line with the hope of minimizing the mayhem. The rapids were bouldery, complex, and fun. There was probably a total of about 20 notable rapids.
I managed to style most of the drops but did have one upset. A tight maneuver boulder garden required a precision move to ramp up a rock (which to my surprise I nailed perfectly) but then some funky water on the final drop was able to flip me. I was able to easily self-rescue. We had one long portage we all did and soon after reached the standout rapid, Even I Can Boof. This was a tall double tiered rapid (frontispiece) that required a powerful launch over a lateral wave, a stable ride down an uneven whitewater slide, and then lining up for the tall boof drop with perfect rock ledge. The second half of the rapid looked excellent but given my previous experience I thought my packraft was more likely to get pummeled by the lateral wave at the top rather than slice through it like the hardshells. I thought there was a non-zero chance of riding the rest of the rapid on my face and so opted to give it a portage as well. It was a nice looking rapid!
Below were a few more rapids, a bit lower in intensity. This lower section just upstream from the Central Valley was really unique with palm groves, granite, and clear water. Very scenic. Soon we reached the take out just above the water diversion. I made quick time of the steep hike up to the cars with my light boat while the other three suffered.
The boys opted for another lap on the mouth while Heather and I chose to do a few short laps on the more mild Class III section above Rancheria Bridge. Dennis kindly dropped us off at the ideal spot through the orange groves and even pointed out a neat pictograph boulder. The run went by quick and so we ended up running it 2.5 times, mostly practicing skills. The air temperature was great and it was great to get out in spite of the strange times.
It was great to try out a couple new Kern runs. Thanks to everyone for a fun day out.
I had only been back in the country a few days when a relatively dry winter started dropping some precipitation. I had a commitment in the morning but flows for the Santa Margarita looked surprisingly good and Keith managed to talk me into an afternoon run. We caravaned from my house at about 12:30p and set a shuttle at the end of the avocado fields, which gave us a 6 mile gorge run and avoided the 6 miles of reedy, willowy mank. We suited up at the Temecula Jack In The Box and walked the couple hundred feet to the foamy brown creek.
I generally led the way, having last run it in November and remembering most the the rapids allowing us to read and run. As we turned the corner and entered the gorge it became immediately clear that the 600 cfs flow led to a dramatically juicier river than the 350 cfs I had previously experienced. Some steep rapids were filled in and much easier, but others had sticky hydraulics and challenging holes. I would not have felt comfortable running the river solo at this flow!
I did a good job recalling the rapids which allowed us to move quickly. We had a great time in some of the mid-gorge rapids. The river right waterfall was following pretty well; surprisingly the river left falls was dry.
I had a clean run for the first 4 miles but then had a slew of upsets. A couple I was able to self-rescue fairly easily. Another I got very separated from my boat and needed Keith's help wrangling it and throwing me a tow line to cross the river. This did a lot to kill my confidence and it took me several more rapids before I got my groove back. Again I was very surprised at the power of the river at this flow. Perhaps we should have scouted a few of these rapids.
Despite my mishaps it took about 2 hours to get to the take out. Fortunately we found a convenient access point and trail to get us straight back to the cars. Traffic was horrendous going back (we even stopped for pizza to break up the misery), but it was well worth it to see this special SoCal river in pushy conditions. Usually we are paddling to chase a rapidly decaying river coming down from a peak flow but the gauge revealed we actually had another peak while we were on the river and the flow went from 600cfs up to 800cfs!
