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Thread: Kaweah River Trip ~ July 2009

  1. #1

    Kaweah River Trip ~ July 2009

    Somewhere along my highway 99 route I got a call from Sue telling me that the Lost Horse Campground we were all meeting at, was going to close & lock the gate at 10 PM! What the heck? Ive never heard of such a thing! Anyhow, since I wouldn’t be pulling in until after 11 I would evidently be sleeping elsewhere and meeting up with the crew in the AM. \r\n\r\nI drove over to the camp, just to see if it was true, and lo & behold, I was locked out until 7AM mañana! So I drove over to a nearby day-use area, threw out my pad and bag and tried to sleep. One other car was parked nearby (this is a very small parking area) and there was a lone woman inside blasting her stereo. I could even hear it through earplugs, and after 20 minutes or so, I realized that I would not get a good night sleep at this rate and I had a big day ahead of me. I hated to do it, but I had to go ask her to please turn it down. She complied, then shortly after took her leave and drove off into the distance, leaving me in a cloud of exhaust and dust. \r\n\r\nThat ordeal over, I nodded off to the sound of coyotes and crickets. I heard another car drive in sometime during the night, but they were really quiet setting up their sleeping quarters. Come morning, I realized that it was part of my canyon crew; Terry & Helga who I was meeting for the first time, and Ryan Cox, whom I’d, had the pleasure of descending “Canyon of the Damned” with last year. We dusted the sleep from our eyes, made our introductions and headed over to meet up with Sue and Jef. \r\n\r\nAfter having breakfast, sorting gear, and making pleasantries, including a cataloguing, and even a sampling of the alcohol we were bringing, we headed out to set up our car shuttles and get our groove on with the hike. It took a long time to get our shuttle vehicle to the exit point, and an even longer time to get to the trailhead. We had to wait 20 -30 minutes in a long line of vehicles while road crews did what they do, then to top it off, once we got going again, our little pilot car led us along at a mere 5 MPH! The road isn’t that curvy or choppy that we had to negotiate it at such a snails pace. It was aggravating, but oh well. Not much we could do about it. \r\n\r\nOnce at the trailhead, while assessing my pack and how darn heavy it seemed and chatting with the others about it I decided to leave my sleeping bag behind and just bring my lightweight bivy-bag. That’s all Ryan was bringing. I’d forgotten my pad, so would use the pad from the inside of the backpack. I figured I’d stay warm enough; after all, I’d slept quite comfortably last night on top of my bag in a t-shirt & shorts. \r\n\r\n Off into the forest we went. The hike started off on a trail, but then we cut off of it for the last 20 minutes or so making our way through flora and fauna to the river below. It’s a good thing no ranger was around, as Helga had been chastised for walking in the trail-less woods while we waited in that mass of cars earlier. Oh brother! \r\n\r\nOnce on the river, we suited up, and jumped on into the water. The river here is shallow and tame and the going was easy, leisurely and the scenery was just breathtaking. Flowers of various types and colors were pasted against a backdrop of lush green vegetation and giant trees covered in moss. Waves of various fragrances wafted in on the breeze and I followed one particularly pleasing smell to the beautifully vibrant Sierra Lily! Alone with the flowers, there were stands of thistle-berry bushes, some with delicious ripe fruit! \r\n\r\nThe going wasn’t too arduous here, and consisted mostly of slides, wades, and boulder scrambles. No rope work that I recall on the first day, or jumping. If there was, it was minimal. I got to know Helga & Terry along the way, re-connected with Ryan, and as always, had great conversations with Jef & Sue. Today was a great, mellow start to our adventure and I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in this lovely wilderness setting. \r\n\r\nWe arrived at camp an hour or so before dark at a wonderful spot in the woods, about 10’ above the river. We are all pretty hungry by now, so after setting up our sleeping quarters, & making a small fire, we set to work cooking. Sitting round the fire, sharing superbly smooth rum that Ryan had hiked in, it was the perfect ending to a great day. Perfection suddenly took a dive, when after only a couple of bites of my delicious macaroni & cheese, “splat!” I spilled my entire dinner all over the ground! Dang it! \r\n\r\nEveryone offered me some of theirs, but I opted for PB&J that I’d hiked in. I did eat a bit of leftover red beans & rice once Terry & Helga had finished with it, so I was quite full by bedtime. After a bit of socializing, it was time for bed. This would be the first time, I’d not hiked a sleeping bag in, and after curling up in the bivy-sack and not warming up, and I feared it was a bad idea not to bring it. I tossed & turned all night long, unable to stay warm for any length of time. The inside of the bag was all wet with condensation too by the time I crawled out of it in the morning. \r\n\r\nJef built a fire, and I was happy to finally get warm for the first time since going to bed last night! After packing up and heading out once again, the canyon started to constrict and drop noticeably, and the boulder fields became more challenging. My pack seemed really heavy for some reason. I’d only taken one thing from the riverbed so far; a very cool piece of driftwood, which looked like a curved dagger. This thing was awesome! My youngest daughter Finch, had become interested in wood carving lately, and I snagged this little souvenir for her. Anyhow, the weight had more to do with the pack waterlogging, as it didn’t seem to be draining well, and the material seemed to absorb water as well. \r\n\r\nI came to an awkward boulder scramble, which I should have taken the pack off for but didn’t. I lifted my left leg onto a reasonably high ledge, and pushed up with my right leg to get some momentum and “SNAP”, I felt a sharp shooting pain on the inner side of my knee. “Oh crap!” Something like this had happened once before years ago (in a canyon), while doing the same type of maneuver! “Sh*t!, I think I hurt my knee!” I exclaimed to my friends! I took the pack off, and continued the climb, getting a boost from a friend. We continued on for a short while, as I figured out a way to walk on it just so, but the weight of my pack was just throwing me off balance too much, and we had to stop and access the situation. “OK…something is really messed up” I relayed to my friends. We had a pow-wow then, and the first thing that was decided is that my heavy pack had to go. My friend’s divvied up most of my gear, and I traded packs with Ryan. \r\n\r\nJef, threw out my souvenir, which was completely understandable at this point. I wasn’t going to miss it, as I had more important things to worry about now, like how in the heck I was going to make it through the next couple of days! This canyon is quite remote, and we weren’t likely to see another soul along the way. I figured out a reasonable way to walk with my knee bent outward away from my body. In doing this, I was able to negotiate the terrain semi-efficiently albeit at a much slower pace. It was extremely awkward and both knees were feeling the strain of this improvisation by the time we hit our 2nd night’s bivy spot. After undressing, I was able to actually see the knee and the swelling it had undergone. It was nearly twice its normal size and it felt like a hundred rubber bands had been looped around it. \r\n\r\nDespite my injury, tonight was a really good night. We had situated our camp in this little clearing by the river. We set up our sleeping quarters, made a nice fire, cleaned & sorted our gear. Then we proceeded to cook our meals, socialize and drink. There were nice flat granite slabs where we hung out drinking port wine, laying around talking under a blanket of stars. It was a wonderfully serene evening. At some point, Ryan leaned over and whispered, “I saved your piece of wood!” I’m like “you did?!” I was really surprised! He must have seen how enamored I was with it the night before, waving it around and making such a fuss about its “artful” worthiness! What a sweet gesture on his part, to carry it along for me, along with all the other stuff of mine he’d been carrying. \r\n\r\nWhen it came time to retire, I was kind of sad parting company with these wonderful people! But on the other hand, my sleeping spot was this perfect little alcove of soft sand and forest leaves. I was able to make the most amazingly comfortable pillow out of the leaves, and Terry had loaned me a silk liner for my bivy bag. He’d also given me an extra long sleeved shirt to sleep in, and Jef had given me a space blanket. I slept so warm and snug that night! \r\n\r\nTo my pleasant surprise, Sue brought me coffee in the morning! It was Jef’s idea she said with a smile! Man, I’m not used to being pampered like this, and it was awfully nice of everyone to be so accommodating and doting even. I really appreciated it. \r\n\r\nUghhh. Getting out of bed was another story. My knee was really hurting this morning. A night without cold water had taken its toll and it was hard to get my wetsuit on, and my shoes. But I had no choice but to just suck it up, and bear it. The canyon was getting more serious at this point, and there was a series of 8 rappels, which had water-flow, which was too high for comfort. We made our way up the steep hillside (parts of which reminded me of the dreaded MIA trail in Utah), onto the ridge, bypass three of the falls, and found a place to drop back down into a drainage canyon. Surrounded by high cliffs, Jef somehow picked a perfect line, which led us down to a ledge and then into the river again without too much ado. \r\n\r\nJust when the trip became exciting, I really wasn’t having fun anymore. I wanted out of the canyon, and to get off of my poor injured knee! I made my way around as many obstacles as I could, looking for the least complicated descent. The obstacles I was bypassing, were all the “treasures” of the canyon, I’d normally consider fun. \r\n\r\nAt one point we came to a small chute that had a pretty strong flow through it and a short, awkward under-hanging drop at the end. Jef had perched himself there at the end of the drop to help facilitate a decent landing for the rest of us, as once you got to the end you dropped suddenly, completely under the force of the falls. Here, you needed to swing to the left to get underneath the curtain of water, sort yourself out and continue on down in an uneventful manner. Well, that’s how it was supposed to play out anyway. \r\n\r\nMy turn, and even before starting, I wasn’t liking it. It’s really hard to negotiate any sort of exciting obstacle while unable to use one of your legs. Each time I accidentally slipped or stepped on it in a normal manner, a shockwave of sharp pain came ripping through my knee. I decided to slide this one, rather than get knocked off my feet and risk more injury to my gimpy leg. I tumbled off of the edge of the pour-off, and instead of swinging to the left as I should have, I was left hanging in the air, my body contorted into a back-bend with the full force of the waterfall pouring down on me. I was able to duck under the fall & twist my body enough to get out of the full force of this onslaught. Jef was screaming at me “What’s wrong?” or something akin to that. I couldn’t hear him over the rushing water and he couldn’t hear me! My rappel device was stuck in the crack! When I’d slid over the edge, I was flushed over the lip and “whack” my ATC wedged right into the crack leaving me suspended. With Jef’s help, I was able to get my weight off the rope somewhat but my stance was such that I couldn’t yank up on the rope enough to un-wedge the device. I motioned to Jef to yank the rope up, while trying to make myself heard over the roar of water. After a couple of yanks, I was free! Had this sort of scenario happened on a bigger drop, where there was no available ledge to stand on, it would have been much more serious. Cutting the rope probably would have been the only option, and it was actually one that Jef had considered before he realized what had happened and how to remedy the situation. \r\n \r\nHaving incurred a gimpy knee, and now this near drowning, I was pretty much over the canyon. The wonder and awe I’d felt earlier had pretty well given way to anti- enthusiasm. I’d had my fill of excitement for the time being, and I just wanted to get out of here, no more “less for wear” than I already was. Jef had mentioned an option we could examine further up the canyon, as there was a place where escape was possible; a hiking trail, which led to a series of dirt roads, which eventually lead to the highway. I could conceivably camp there at Cherry Flats, have the group continue on without me, and then come to retrieve me the following day. I liked the sound of that! I was really bummed now that I didn’t bring some reading material. So, this alternative to me continuing down canyon (the more serious portion of Kaweah) was decided as the best option. The group could move fast without me, and I could keep the knee sedate for a while. I was feeling more relieved as we continued on. \r\n\r\nWe were still about 4 hours from the camp and each new (what would normally be fun) obstacle was a pure downer for me. I negotiated what I had to, without incident. I bypassed what I could, including what looked like a fun couple of jumps that culminated in an awesome slide. Jef set a rappel for me off of a nearby ledge, and I videoed the others jumping and sliding before I rapped down to join them. They had a blast, and as much as I enjoyed the fact that they were having fun, I was past all that. Onward & forward we made our way closer and closer to the camp. Just as we came upon the last big waterfall, which we bypassed along the left side via a down-climb, we came upon a large group of folks playing the water! \r\n\r\nThis was a real surprise! It turns out that god knew I was suffering, and he sent a group of Christian youth to rescue my *ss! Seriously, this was a real stroke of luck. We started chatting with them, and they had all the usual questions; “where did you guys come from?”, “what’s it like up there above Paradise falls?” Etc. We also had questions for them, “Where are you guys from?”, “how did you find this place?” “How long will you be here?” \r\n\r\nTurns out, this was a staff outing for the “adventure” group over at Hume Lake Christian Camp. On their days off, they rock climb, hike the various trails around Sequoia and generally do some wild off the beaten path adventure outing. Today, it happened to be water play at what they call paradise Falls, a lovely haven in the middle of Kaweah River, and many, many miles from civilization. Jef, bless his heart, explained our situation, and thought to ask them how much trouble it might me to let me accompany them back up the trail, and if one of them might be willing to get me to my car? My car was quite a distance in the opposite direction from where they were headed. \r\n \r\nJordan, the leader of the group, said “no problem”, they’d be happy to help. Thank god! More than anything at this point, I just wanted to get out of the canyon, and get on home. We sorted gear, I gave away the food I wouldn’t be needing, I gathered my wood-sword souvenir from my hero, and I said my farewells to these awesome friends of mine! \r\n\r\nThe “adventure” group hung out for about an hour, and I made small talk with a bunch of them. They were super entertaining and really great people! On the way out, I had guys extending their hands to help me over this rock, or that rock, and I had people watching my back in case I fell over. One guy found me a sturdy walking stick, and another offered to carry my pack, which I gladly said, “OK” to! It was very endearing! Once back at the Vehicles, Jordan and one of the other guys, Josh, drove me back to my car, intending to meet up with the others later. It took us a good hour of driving, and the conversation along the way was great. Jordan and I had lots to talk about as he’s interested in caving and canyoneering, and he’s just an all around super guy. He knows the area like the back of his hand, and is in the process of writing a book, which I intend to buy as soon as he gets it published! I’ll also put him in touch with Jef, just in case Jef might ever have an opening on a Church cave trip! \r\n\r\nI parted company with my new young friends at around 7PM. The drive back was long and uneventful. I pulled over once to sleep at a truck stop along hwy 99, and must have slept for a good 4 hours, as I didn’t arrive home until 3AM. I would find out later that my friends didn’t get out of the canyon until 5PM the following day, and I would have had a seriously long wait had god not sent those nice Christian folks to help me! \r\n\r\nWell, looking on the bright side, adversity builds character right? And that, which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? Well, stronger or not, I hope I learned a lesson and will at least be a little bit smarter next outing! NO climbing with ONE leg while sporting a heavy backpack!!! Damn it! \r\n\r\n

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  3. #2
    Holy cow Randi! That sure sounds like an excellent adventure. I'm glad you made it out in decent shape. Thanks for the TR!

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