I was determined to raft at least once this year, before the water level dipped to pinball levels.

On Wednesday, we didn’t have enough people to make the trip; on Friday everyone was calling me wanting to go.

The crew this trip consisted of Instructor John, Darnell, me and first timers for this group – James, Haylee and Ulli.

The Kern River death count is now at 251.

We were on the river at noon.

The water level was still running decent, but down from previous weekends.

The first run…

… Instructor John, Me, James, Haylee and Ulli.

The raft remained in control; everyone paid attention to the commands.

Lots of pits and hay stacks, especially over the Powerhouse rapids.

There was a photographer at the Ewing rapids, but as we found out later, they didn’t take any pictures of us the whole day.

The crew of the second run…

…Ulli, Instructor John, Darnell, James and Haylee.

The second run shoves off…

I sat out the second run and drove the van back down hill.

This is Ulli from East Germany – an absolutely fascinating and entertaining woman who slightly remembers how badly communism sucked.

To make Ulli feel safe, I wore my German Police shirt.

We ended up making two more runs; each run was about 30 minutes down four miles of river.

It seemed like half the rafters going down the Ewing rapids wiped out; we didn’t.

This was a perfect trip – everyone showed up and on time, traffic there and back was light, nobody fell out of the raft and everyone did their share of what had to be done.

We’re not sure when the next trip will be, but it may not be until next year.

Reports have been that the conditions still suck pretty much everywhere.

Veteran’s Park apparently was diveable, but the visibility was said to be about five to 10 feet.

Sunday services were doomed to be dry – well, as far as diving went.

I was suppose to meet up with Military Bob to exchange Budweiser for the navigation spool that I won at the Divevets Christmas party – too bad I couldn’t find it.

We walked to the Cove…

The Cove was pretty foamy with some good waves crashing on shore.

Looks like there may even be some red tide in the mix.

The Point was being hit with some pretty big waves.

The group walked up towards the Catalina Room…

I think some of us forgot that at one time we actually dove here.

Some of us, including me, haven’t been in the water at all this year.

Reverend Al practices his Jiu Jitsu on Kilani.

Mad Dogs mad dogging each other – is that a bear?

Owooooom! Owooooom!

We proceeded to hold Not So New Chris’ going away party – too bad he’s already gone.

Professional Debriefer Paul’s professional video footage is here…

To view this video on You Tube, click here.