Kaweah River North Fork

 

Stretch: Four mile hike from road to Kaweah confluence
Difficulty: Class V- with some portages, harder at higher flows
Distance: 10.5 miles, 2 days
Flows: kayaks 200 - 800 cfs
Gauge: estimate 33% of Terminus inflow (TRM)
Gradient: 122 fpm average, first mile 170 fpm
Put-in: by hiking above Burnt Point Creek, 2230'
Take-out: bridge over north fork Kaweah, 950'
Shuttle: 4 miles hiking, 7 miles driving (20 minutes) one-way, on dirt
Maps: USFS Sequoia NF, AAA Sequoia, Topo, Topo2
Season: spring, from snowmelt
Agency: USFS
Notes: © 1997 Preston Holmes, pholmes@ucsd.edu

This two-day extravaganza makes a great weekend excursion involving wilderness boat hiking, primitive car camping, and enough waterfalls to give your vertical addiction a long-lasting fix. In dry years, the ideal flow window comes very early, but in wet years, good flows might last into June.

On Friday night, drive up the North Fork Kaweah far enough to find a secluded campsite. On Saturday morning, leave your car at the Yucca Creek trailhead, and hike your boats 4 miles upstream to the upper put-in, before temperatures climb too high. The first 4.1 miles are full of bedrock drops, with two 10' waterfalls. On Sunday, the lower run offers just as many good rapids, plus a thundering 15' waterfalls, Cherry Falls.

For photos and a guide to the first day, see Upper North Fork Kaweah by Preston Holmes.

For a guide to the second day's run of the lower river, see the Holbek/Stanley book.

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