Wow, technically we were only gone from home about 60 hours, but in that short time, we had a lifetime adventure experience.
We started out Saturday through Last Chance Canyon (my first time there), then did some Baja style wheeling to the north (watching Joe catch 5 or 6 feet of air off the bumps in his DII), went up and over the scenic Bird Spring Pass, transitioned abruptly in Sierra county and dropped down into the Lake Isabella area.
We enjoyed a nice steak dinner at McNally’s, then collapsed into a food coma and hit the tents…well, that was the plan.
Turns out that during a lunch stop in Last Chance, Buddy “temporarily” stowed some gear on his roof rack. So Buddy, Joe and Mark piled into Buddy’s DII and did some night wheeling and GPS caching to recover the lost gear. They were successful and everyone tumbled gratefully into bed by 2:45 AM. We even convinced our camping neighbors to turn down the Mariachi music by that time 
Sunday morning was warm & beautiful day followed by 6 hours of sheer terror and heart pounding excitement and I can’t wait to do it again!
We started with a serious talk from our river raft guide about all the ways we could be “strained” through the rocks, trees, etc…or crushed against rocks or drowned in “holes” or ejected like a human pebble in the fetal position out of a loopback eddy. We were encouraged to give serious consideration to whether or not we wanted to do the white water rafting adventure. Speaking for myself, I totally had second thoughts after that little training lecture. But what the heck, I have good life insurance
The event itself, for some of us, was simply a blast. It was a little more exciting for others. Hovic (who cannot swim), was the first in the entire group of 4 rafts to get dumped into the Class IV rapids. He wisely opted to take a break once we recovered his drifting body into our lead raft.
Chuck & Debbie and Mark & Yani were in 4th raft and their guide steered them right into what she later called an “F-U Rock” and dumped the entire raft and all it’s occupants in the first stage of a longish Class IV section. The 3 other rafts immediately turned to shore, the guides leapt out and raced upstream to recover the bodies…successfully!
After a considerable rest break to bring the heart levels down and body temperatures back up, we reshuffled the crew with Buddy and I joining Mark & Yani’s boat while Debbie & Chuck rested in the raft. That was the best ride of the day for me. We went a LONG way down the river all the way to camp site, through 4 or 5 Class IV’s and several Class III sections. It was tremendous fun.
We had a great lunch prepared by the river guides, then hit the river for one last run through a really long Class IV section, then back down into familiar waters. Which included the F-U Rock and it’s bottomless hole on the backside. Our guide prepped us before we approached. Letting Buddy & I know (we were in front and aiding in steering) that she intended to go to the right, clearing the hole and the rock….that was the plan anyway.
We drifted towards the rock sideways, our guide not able to turn us. As we approach, our Guide says, “Oh Crap! - Hang ON!” Buddy and I shared a glance and together we took matters into our own, turning the raft as we break over the huge rock and head straight down into the hole. I was literally standing on the bow of the boat, parallel with the bottom of the boat, trying to A), stay in B), pin Yani down so she stayed in this time C) paddle like mad as we dropped out of the sun into the hole D) Whoop holler and yell like a raving lunatic while solid water washed over us. Buddy and I had ear to ear grins all the way through it. It was a blast. Our Guide did a quick head count and then promptly turned over command of the boat to a riding Intern Guide. I think she had the willy’s.
That night we had a nice campfire and stayed up to late and just enjoyed ourselves.
Monday we explored several more pages of the Backcountry Adventure book, hitting Trail #CM13. We were going to take Trail CM12 all the way to Bakersfield, but were running short on time, so we stopped again along the shores of Lake Isabella, had a nice tailgate lunch, then headed down the amazing and inspiring 178 highway. Along the way we experienced the grim reminder of what can go wrong in white water rafting, with crews of raft guides (still holding their oars) searching up and down the fiercely raging Lower Kern river for someone. We were passed by ambulances and rescue vehicles pre-staging themselves all along the river and an extremely well piloted helicopter dropped into the canyon to aid the search also. We don’t know the story, but that portion of the river was frightfully powerful. Class VI (impassable) in my opinion, and we fear the worst.
The rest of the drive home was uneventful, with traffic holiday light all the way home.
Collectively we have lots of photos. I hope to have some online by Wednesday or so.
Thanks Hovik for organizing and volunteering to guide this trip, I’m really glad you survived
Photo Gallery of Last Chance Canyon (60 images on SmugMug.com)
More images to come (kernRiver, Lake Isabella trails, etc…)
