Very beautiful. Frodo and Sam's road to Mordor.
That's Lake Isabella, behind Isabella Dam, on the "Killer" Kern.
Back in '52, we were in Bakersfield, and drove up the canyon to see the lake. This was shortly after the Bakersfield 7.6 quake. A rock, maybe loosened by an aftershock, rolled down the mountain and thru the car window, ended up in Mom's lap, which was also where my 6 month old sister was located. It broke her leg. We were pretty lucky.
I went to whitewater guide school on the Upper Kern with these folks, whitewatervoyages.com
Rafted the Forks twice. The first time was "graduation"..."Well, kiddies, the river is overbooked, so, if it's OK with you, we can say you've graduated, and we'll spend the next 3 days on the Forks". It was like, "Oh, darn; twist our arms". IIRC, we were the first civilians to do it. A couple of guides did it the year before (I think; they may have walked out :>).
A Legend: The Forks of the Kern
Forks of the Kern
Whitewater Voyages was the very first outfitter to raft the entire Wild and Scenic Forks of the Kern without portaging in 1980 (that was my class :>) Join us on a 2- or 3-day paddle or oar trip down this classic Class V wilderness run.
whitewatervoyages.com |
