I met John and three other rafters at 6:30 AM in Torrance for the three-hour ride up to the Kern.

We noticed the Kern River death count is now at 242 – two more added in the last two weeks.

John had talked to some Rangers who said that a very small percentage of those who died on the river were rafters who wore life jackets.

Something that I did not know… the Rangers only have jurisdiction over boaters and kayakers, not over people on inner tubes or swimmers.

The Kern was sort of cold, overcast and sprinkling in the morning in some places; the river was reported to be running at (I think) 1400 gallons per minute – or is it a second?

The water was chilly, at about 52 degrees Fahrenheit, so we all wore wetsuits.

John, Me, John’s son Ryan, Jeff W, Darnell and two rafting first timers – Rico and daughter – were today’s rafters.

After inflating the raft and John’s safety speech, we loaded the raft up on the van and went up river for the first run.

One would rotate out and drive the van back down river.

After final inflation, we set off.

John with his helmet cam and Jeff W.

Darnell and macho man me.

From what I was told, last week the water was twice as high and a few rafts got flipped and wrecked… I wish that the water was that high today.

No problems going through the first few sets of rapids; as we were leaving a rapid about half way through the first run, we looked over on the riverbank and saw two young Mexican guys kissing and dry humping each other while a third looked on rubbing his crotch.

Jeez!

Yuk!

John yelled, “Hey guys, get a room!”

They looked over and, seemingly embarrassed, got up and ran into some bushes.

I couldn’t get my camera out in time to capture the bizarre spectacle and just as I tied down and secured the camera for the next rapid, we turned a bend and — right there, 15 yards from the beginning of some white water — was a young girl, laying on a rock, sunbathing topless.

Oh, man!

I really missed out on capturing the show today!

However, we did meet someone who’s kayak partner is a dog.

The kayaker said, “This is my best friend and the best dog in the world; she loves this water.”

On the second run, we hit a shallow rock, the boat started to capsize – “High side! High side!” John yelled.

We all leaped to the high side of the boat – and got stuck on the rock.

We rocked it, moved from side to side, tried to push off on the rock, but we were stuck.”

I was leaning all the way forward when John yelled, “Brace yourselves!”

The boat violently was thrown forward, some chicks screamed, I almost fell out, but we were moving.

I looked back; a commercial raft had hit us and knocked us free.

We are still debating whether it was done intentionally or not – hitting another raft like that could have had dire consequences for both boats.

Jeff W. guided the third run.

We made a total of four runs with a break for lunch after the second – each run, barring any problems, took 45 minutes.

Amazingly enough, I think for the first time this season, nobody fell out on this trip!

As for the new rafters?

The young girl called it quits after the second run, but seemed to like the runs she was on.

Rico volunteered to drive shuttle on the fourth, but last, run.

It was cold, and some people were freezing, so sometimes it’s hard to tell if a newbie actually likes rafting or just quits because of the cold.

While we packed up, I slammed as many beers as I possibly could in the allotted time; we had to stop in Bakersfield an hour later.

Seven people rafted – no deaths and no injuries today!

Instructor John scouted the Kern and bought the river permits last week.

We met in Torrance and got a 30 minute late start; a woman in the group got lost and couldn’t find the meeting spot.

I can’t believe John let a woman try and navigate by herself.

We stopped by the Kern River death count; the death count rose by 16 since the last time we were up here two years ago.

After the three hour drive up to Kernville, we met the rest of the party – we had six in all.

Five were to raft and the sixth was to rotate out and drive the van back down river.

John inflates the raft.

John gives his safety and procedures speech.

We loaded the raft on top of the van, drove up river just passed the power plant, cooled the raft and did the final inflation.

So, for the first run of this season, from left to right – John, Darnell, Jose, Jim and me; do I look macho, or what?

Ryan drove the van.

We initially practiced commands and steering.

Jose and John at the back of the boat.

Darnell, Jim and me.

We made it through the class three rapids above the Power House without a problem.

The ride wasn’t as thrilling as in years past…

The flow at the upper Kern is about 1400 (gallons a minute, I think?), the lower Kern is unraftable at about 850.

It has been in the 70s and 80s up in the mountains, so the snow melt has not been abundant.

Right now, the upper Kern is deep enough for rafting, but apparently not deep enough for the wild rides of previous trips.

When it gets in the 90s or 100s, the snow melts faster and the rafting is much better – it takes three days for the water to rise once it gets that hot.

We finished the first run with no problems; John takes the first few pretty conservatively until he knows the season’s terrain.

Jim either had to cool off after the run, or didn’t want to walk to the toilets.

I made two more runs down…

Some chick decided to sunbathe on the launching ramp…

…her ferocious dog kept guard to make sure nobody messed with her.

The problem with rafting on a paddle boat?

You can only take pictures before and after the rapids – and when the guide tells you to paddle, you don’t have much time to put your camera down…

Approaching deadly rapids.

Leaving deadly rapids.

Between rapids, there’s plenty of scenery to enjoy.

A chick gets her pole wet off of the Power House.

I rotated out on the fourth run down to drive the chase vehicle; I had a feeling this would be the last run – some of the non-macho people were getting tired.

I used this opportunity to try and take some pictures of the raft…

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

I drove down river and found a spot over looking the last trecherous, deadly rapid just outside of Kernville…

Each run took about 50 minutes; the beer was locked in Jose’s truck and I had to wait another 15 minutes for the raft.

Rafting is harder than most people think!

The raft approaches!

I put my high end digital camera on video mode and documented their run on this rapid.

To download the RealPlayer file, Click Here!

John tried to navigate over the last rocks, but the paddlers were tired and the boat was pushed into an eddy below the trees.

The boat emerges!

Jose unlocked his truck and I was finally able to wash the river water out of my mouth – I still think salt water tastes better.

The ceremonial rolling up of the raft.

So, on this trip, nobody died, only one person (not me) fell out of the boat, and the only injury was that John hurt his wrist as he got catapulted to the front of the boat.

Another excellent day of cheating death!