After finishing up the Royal Gorge we drove Ryan and Heidi into San Francisco and dropped them off at the airport. There, Sarah and I spent a day exploring San Francisco and even got to watch the St. Louis Cardinals (hometown) play the Giants in the evening.
It was a gloomy day in San Fran, but we loved it
We left San Fran and made our way south to see Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks. These places were a must hit on our vacation and it was really nice to take some time off kayaking and enjoy the spectacular scenery.
Sarah at the "Tunnel View" lookout in Yosemite.
There was still some boating to be done on the Merced river through the park. By far, this was the most scenic section of water I've ever paddled.
After visiting Yosemite for the second time, we began to make our way to the Cherry Creek area where we had plans to paddle/camp on West Cherry with Natalie and Chris Harjes. In between Royal and West Cherry we paddled South Silver, the Silver Fork, and Bald Rock Canyon, all of which are excellent runs and I may have tr's on those later. But for now, onto West Cherry.
West Cherry Creek
Thursday, June 18
The ladies hiking in to West Cherry
Here's the lowdown on our West Cherry adventure: We hiked in with the ladies, dropped boats off at put-in and proceeded to hike downstream a mile with the girls to camp. Dropped gear there, then we hiked back up to kayak down to camp that evening. Next morning, hike back up to get the first mile of goods again, then we ran down to the lake, hopped in the car and drove back to the put-in so we could hike back in with boats and make it to camp by dark. The next day we relaxed by the river all day and rested. The third full day we woke up, hiked the girls back out, hiked back in and did another one day West Cherry trip.
Chillin' at the put-in.
On our first lap the water was high, although, high is good in West Cherry. I guess it's important to note that we did the 3-mile hike that leaves out the Graceland slide and some other stuff, so I don't know, that stuff might get scary when it's high. West Cherry starts quick with three or four big rapids in the first mile.
These pics are from the first evening we were in there. Anthony was looking good...
until he flipped, lost his paddle, and had to swim out of the hole.
The next morning we hiked our boats back to the put-in to start a full lap.
The top drop of the rapid Anthony ate it at the day before
Chris finishing up the same rapid
This beautiful double drop is right downstream. You gotta boof the top due to shallow waters in the landing, but the boof is easy to lay out and a bunch of fun. There is the danger of being too far left and clipping the shelf halfway down.
Chris demonstrating the left line. It's hard to see, but he's in there.
Anthony on a fun kicker boof right downstream of the double drop
white-out at the bottom
Below the kicker boof comes some cool sliding rapids with big stompy holes. Make sure you grab an eddy above the gnarly pothole drop. It's seen some traffic before, but I think only at lower flows.
Sarah and I posing below the nasty pothole drop
Below the portage are some fun rapids
Me at the lip of the Charlie Beavers rapid. This one was my fave on West Cherry. It starts with a sliding entrance with a ton of folding creases that end in a big hole. Then it's on to the main part of the drop which is the double falls you see here. After the double drop you have another substantial drop that you gotta run on the right, then there's a couple small lead out drops. It's a hell of a drop.
It looks like I'm about to eat rock
working on it
there it is
And then the rapid keeps going.
Two wild and crazy guys on a portage near the confluence. I didn't think the portaging on West Cherry was all that bad. It has a bad rep for not being very classic and having too many portages and I can imagine that if you catch it with low to medium water this may be true. But with good water, West Cherry is well worth it.
Anthony running an awesome rapid on Main Cherry
Chris on the same. this one had the huge curling thing that Chris is in front of and then behind that it drops a few feet into a stomping hole.
Running Cherry Creek after the confluence with high water was a bunch of fun. There's a ton of cool rapids in there that get full on with high water. We portaged the last gorge due to high water and small group size (2 on the second lap) and Main Cherry was still the shit.
Chris, Natalie, Sarah, and I at the Cherry Lake boat ramp. Anthony, we missed you on that second lap. Somethings telling me I'll see you there next year. Well, that's it for West Cherry and the Cali trip. From here I'm gonna post local updates and maybe a couple flashback posts to the Cali stuff I skipped. For now, it's on to praying for rain in the southeast, lets go hurricane season.
Over and out.
D
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