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| Heavens Gate, a clean vertical falls |
I was invited to join Richard Penny, Michael Latendresse, and Rick Norman on their first descent of this run in the early 90's, but couldn't make it. They were strangely quiet about the trip afterwards, and the run languished unrepeated for years. I figured I hadn't missed much. Some other friends checked it out in the spring of 1997 and came back raving about unbelievable bedrock rapids. From my first run, I was hooked. The Upper NF Kaweah is a must do for lovers of low volume, bedrock creeks!
 |
| The run starts with a bang! Charles Foster hurls down Projectile Vomiting. |
Some legwork is required to do this run, but the hike is easy, up an old dirt road (now washed out and closed to vehicles). Many wonderful granite slides and two 10-foot vertical falls more than make up for the suffering endured on the approach.
 |
| Nirvana on the Zebra Slide |
To get to the put in, follow the directions to the standard NF Kaweah put in (see Holbek and Stanley). From there, look for the ruins of an old bridge that once spanned Yucca Creek. Cross the creek there and follow the old dirt road north. Continue hiking approximately 3/4 mile past Burnt Point Creek. Descend an open, grassy slope to the river (while its easy to continue hiking up the road, approaching the river upstream requires poison oak bushwacking down steep slopes). Put in either above or below the enormous runnable sliding falls, depending on your state of mind. Granite nirvana awaits downstream.
Hazard: the first big vertical falls lies not far below the put in. Be advised there is a huge, submerged boulder in the landing zone on the entire right half of this falls. The boulder can be avoided by either finishing this drop to the very far right, or to the left of center.
| Upper NF Kaweah River
Tulare County, California |
|
|---|---|
| Difficulty | IV+ with portages |
| Flow(cfs)
Optimum |
200-800
400 |
| Miles | 4 |
| Paddling Time | 3-5 hours |
| Portages | 0 (2 recommended) |
| Put In | Upstream of Burnt Point Creek (2230') |
| Take Out | Yucca Creek (1740') |
| Shuttle | 4 mile hike, 800 ft. elevation gain, 2.5 hours |
| Average Gradient | 122 fpm |
| Mile/Mile Gradient | 200, 99, 111, 84 |
| Gauge | Flow usually 1/3 of inflow to Terminus Reservoir. |
| Season | Spring |
| Source | Runoff |
| Topo Maps | Shadequarter Mountain |
| Geology | Mesozoic granite bedrock |
This document was last updated on Monday, November 17, 1997
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