So after the day at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, we woke up early and drove the 40+ miles to Kernville through some really beautiful country on California 178. At the town of Lake Isabelle, you turn on to California 155 that takes you up to Kernville.
The Kern River is a river in the state of California, approximately 165 miles (270 km) long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snow melt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking. It is the only major river in the Sierra Nevada mountain range that drains in a southerly direction. Nearly all of the river is publicly accessible. Its swift flow at low elevation makes the river below the reservoir an extremely popular location for rafting.
The Kern is well-known for its danger, and is sometimes referred to as the “Killer Kern”. A sign at the mouth of Kern Canyon warns visitors: “Danger. Stay Out. Stay Alive” and tallies the deaths since 1968; as of June 9, 2012 the count was 266. Merle Haggard’s song “Kern River” fictionally recounts such a tragedy. Most of the people who died in the Kern River were recreational users who entered the water without proper life vests. Less than 2% of the deaths in the Kern River have occurred during commercial raft trips. (Wikipedia)
Kernville itself, is a very small town on the Kern River of only about 1300+ people. For its size, Kernville has a large tourist industry focused on the white water rapids of the Kern River. While white water rafting is the main attraction, one can also enjoy mountain biking,rock climbing, and other outdoor activities. Fly fishing is also popular; in particular, the golden trout is highly sought after for catch and release fishing. Downtown Kernville which consists of a large tree-shaded square and buildings on three sides with highway 155 on the 4 side, has an Old West look and contains a number of restaurants, antique shops, bars and motels.
We had taken advantage of a Groupon special for the last weekends of rafting with a company called SoCal Rafting. TripAdvisor gives them a 4.5 rating out of 5.
It was 4th of July weekend so it was extremely busy with people literally everywhere waiting for their tour or buying items for the float. The first step after checking in was getting fitted for a life jacket which they clinch up extra tight and getting your paddle.
Then there was a short safety speech about how to act on the water and such. Then on to the bus to take us to the drop in spot on the river.
While on the bus, a longer safety speech with a few tales of tragedies and mishaps on the river along with the creation of buddy teams to help watch out of each other. Also a demonstration on to float the rapids in case you fall out of the raft.
Then we were on the river in rafts of different size some holding up to 8 people and some holding just 4, all with a guide to steer the raft. Both sides of the river have beautiful homes and open areas that the locals use as their beaches. And all the way down the river, locals on both sides are splashing you with water as you pass by. So you are part of this running water battle all the way down the river with Class 2 and 3 rapids in between.
This was a lot of fun. Yet, there were some very scary moments as you went over the rapids backwards or sideways with the possibility of always falling out in the rushing water. That is not the danger – falling into the river. The danger comes from the extremely fast current and you hitting one or more of the huge rocks that could knock you out or hurt you badly. Or getting your foot caught in the rocks and breaking an ankle or drowning. Twice we had people in the front of the raft fall out and our guide was quick to respond by getting the people back into the raft swiftly.
The guides for Socal Rafting were total pros. They were knowledgeable and fun with interesting tales about the history of the area and the river. I would recommend this again. We did the short one hour run, but there were longer two-hour and four-hour tours, plus all day floats.
Because of the California drought now in its 5 straight year, the river has been down and the season for rafting is shorter each year. Please check before you go to make sure that the river is open for rafting.
After getting off the river, we were hungry and the only non-bar on the square in Kernville was Big Blue Bear. Combo gift shop and eatery, the counter person was a little intense but we got our food and it was good. It seems the main place for locals to gather so a real combo of tourists and locals. Worth checking out.
Great trip within 5 hours of LA and worth the time for something different.
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