A Very Good Year for Rapids : Abundant Winter Rains Have Guaranteed High Waters, Long Season for Whitewater Rafting on Kern River in Central California

They began their downstream journey in the bitter cold of a gray and gloomy morning, wondering what had become of the sun.

Or of the spring, for that matter.

This was early May, not December. But the mighty Kern River was mighty cold.

Having boarded their rafts on a section of river beneath the Johnsondale Bridge, a dozen or so shivering paddlers gained momentum until, one by one, they were swallowed up by a gurgling monster of a rapid called Limestone.

The churning disturbance spit the rafts out one at a time, spinning them off in different directions. The paddlers clutched their ears and faces, which were flushed with pain from the quick dip in water nearly as cold as the snow that, to their dismay, was still falling in the mountains above town. They wore wet suits, but nothing protected their heads and feet.

Thaddeus Rexcraft couldn’t feel his toes. Marlena deCarion complained of frozen eyeballs. Susan Klemperer spoke of a sun dance she once saw successfully performed while on a rafting trip to Canada. But she couldn’t remember the steps.

They floated on toward the next rapid, huddled in their rubber boats, paddling hard to keep their blood circulating and keeping an eye on the sky for signs of that long-lost star called the sun.

Meanwhile, the rafting guides, sitting higher and drier than the rest on the sterns of their vessels, were beaming happily as they barked instructions to their shivering crews.

They had no reason to complain.

In fact, they said, the dark clouds that have shrouded the mountains of the southern Sierra Nevada for most of the year have been a godsend.

The winter storms, after all, ensure a wet and wild river that will rage well into the fall. The rafting season is expected to be the best--here and elsewhere in the state--in more than 10 years.

The snowpack in the Mt. Whitney drainage, which supplies the Kern River, is said to be nearly 200% higher than normal and the white stuff was still falling as recently as Monday.

The Kern Valley, usually baked brown by mid-May, remains lush and green. Wildflowers are in bloom and, in the higher elevations, probably will remain so through most of the summer.

Lake Isabella, a vast reservoir between the Upper and Lower Kern, is expected to be full for the first time in years.

“This should be a banner year for the Kern Valley’s tourism industry,” Bret Bradigan, editor and publisher of the Kern Valley Sun, said in a recent editorial. “ . . . with the growing number of rafters, windsurfers and jet skiers who come to take advantage of the surging river and rising lake, the prosperity which has eluded us for many years appears within reach.”

According to a recent study, for every dollar brought in by rafting, the local economy is boosted by $3 through hotel bookings and the purchase of goods.

In the drought years of the late 1980s, the rafting seasons rarely lasted through July. In 1993 it lasted into early August, but by then the river had been reduced to little more than a trickle, significantly reducing fishing and recreational opportunities.

This year, the river is expected to rage at least through Labor Day weekend. And Lake Isabella is expected to remain full into next winter.

“It’s already fantastic, and it’s just now starting up,” said rafting guide Jeff Pflueger, 25. “What were rocks in drought years are now huge waves and walls. There’s a definite buzz going on among the guides in town.”

Jim Ritter, 34, president of the Point Reyes-based Outdoor Adventures, said bookings at the Kern and other rivers throughout the state are already double what they were a year ago.

“High water is a blast, you know,” he said. “It’s just really, really fun. Guests love the scene and the food and the guides. It’s a great experience even without raging high water, but raging high water is just so much fun.”

Outdoor Adventures is one of only four outfitters with permits to run commercial trips on the portions of the Kern River within the Sequoia National Forest.

Thus the Kern, only three hours from Los Angeles, is unique in that it can never get too crowded. At Northern California’s American River, for example, dozens of companies run trips and rafters wait in line before tackling each rapid. River gridlock can also be found on the popular Tuolumne, and across the country, apparently.

“This is totally different for me,” said deCarion, 24. “The Arkansas River [in Colorado] has 40-45 companies on it and this has only four. Plus, this is a more pristine stretch of river.”

The Kern, a free-flowing, designated wild and scenic river, has three main sections that are run by commercial rafters. The Forks section is the uppermost and offers the most challenging white water, with intense rapids. Rapids are rated from the mild Class I through Class VI, practically unrunnable. The Forks section has mostly Class V and occasionally Class VI stretches. Getting to the water in Class VI stretches requires a two-mile hike.

The Upper Kern is the section immediately above Kernville and offers Class IV-V rapids on a scenic section of river lined with alders and cottonwoods and dotted with granite and limestone boulders. One-day trips on this steep portion of river are becoming increasingly popular. Because a paved road parallels the river, the rafting company’s bus is able to ferry the rafters for repeated runs through some of the most popular sections.

The Lower Kern, below Lake Isabella, is geared more for families. Two-day trips on this section, with an overnight stay at a river-side campsite, are the most popular on the river, in large part because of the relative safety of its Class III rapids.

“From my experience rafting throughout the United States, traveling down to New Zealand . . . and to South America, this river has the most concentrated, funnest and runnable white water,” said Jon Harned, Kern River manager for Outdoor Adventures.

“There are very few portages, unrunnable sections. It is awesome. We’ve got 40 miles of white water above Kernville and there are only two portages. Below the lake there is a 20-mile section, and only one portion is portaged by all but experts.

“That many river miles on a stretch of river that has this many Class IV-V rapids, it’s really a pretty amazing thing to have that few portages. The Kern River matches up with any river. It’s world-class.”

And, these days anyway, it’s world-class cold.

But once numbness sets in, it’s not that bad.

“It’s warmest when you’re going downriver, paddling,” said Steve Serrurier, 51, a rafter from Pasadena huddled during a rest stop on the bank of the Upper Kern. “It’s in between rapids when you feel the cold.”

At least Serrurier was wearing shoes and socks. Mark Klemperer, Susan’s 35-year-old son, was wearing only sandals. And he had fallen overboard in a rapid that caught him off-guard.

Rexcraft, 41, a red-haired rafter from Los Angeles, stuck his shod foot in the flames of a fire built by the crew and kept it there until a faint smell of burning rubber was in the air.

“I still can’t feel ‘em,” he said of his toes.

Back on the river, a light rain fell and, 1,000 feet or so higher, snow was falling.

A few rafters chose to stay in the bus for the rest of the run toward Kernville.

The others were intrigued by conquering the rest of the Upper Kern. Every rapid was a new challenge, some short and turbulent, others long and wearying.

And with each came an invigorating blast from the icy river. It no longer seemed to matter whether the sun was going to shine.