TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

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maverick
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by maverick »

Not to mention that I think Swamp Lakes is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen.
:nod: Slide ain't bad either.
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I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by hurricaniac »

Thank you so much for a TR on a stretch of river that is about the wildest that the Sierras have to offer. I've always been curious about fishing the "Middle Eight." From Tehipite Valley to the S. Fork confluence is called the "Bottom Nine" and is known as some of the toughest Class V kayaking in the lower 48, witness your photo of the pinned boat (SCAREY!!!). I've fished it in the 80s in late Sept from the confluence up about a half mile before it cliffs out and caught some of those legendary rainbows, and then fished Tehipite Valley downstream until it becomes Little Tehipite.

You are some tough hombres to navigate thru that stretch of river.
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by limpingcrab »

Lower elevation moving water in the Sierra is so unique, nothing quite like it anywhere. An acquired taste.
Ya, growing up in Visalia it's all I ever knew for fishing and now it's my favorite. As long as there aren't any reservoirs upstream and preferably not stocked. Au natural!
I did several trips covering almost all of the Kern River, mostly on trail but a significant amount cross country. A few were similar to your trips. Those trips were really fun and at times a bit scary. I fished almost the entire Kern River. I think your trip was a little more dificult than any of mine but I still did somethings similar.
You did a great TR and really reminded me of my similar trips. I did all of those trips in the first 5 years of my backpacking. The last 30 years was the great majority of lake trips.
I'd love to hear what your favorite parts of the Kern were! My long-term goal is to fish the headwater to the reservoir for every fork of the Kings, Kaweah and Kern rivers since they feel like home. I love the lakes too except I'd always choose moving water over still if its' for fishing.
Do you think that your route would work in a higher water flow year? Would a one foot higher water level have knocked you out of this route? Or were you on the "edge" enough that this is only feasible in a low water year at the end of a long drought? Obviously this is a late Fall trip.

Others have reported horrible bugs. How were the bugs as late as you went?
All the rivers around here get to the current min-flow virtually every year, regardless of snowpack, it's just a matter of when. Seem to be late August for the Kings on average. If the water was a foot higher I think it would still be doable, but obviously more difficult. There were very few times, if any, that going into the river was mandatory and you wouldn't be able to go up and around on the bank. One side or the other was almost always passable but the river was just easier with it so low. Of course if the other side was the good side you'd have to cross and it might be more difficult. We're both comfortable with crossings but it seemed pretty tame, especially compared to the various forks of the Kaweah that we're more familiar with. If it was warmer and swimming was an option then it would be much, much easier.

There weren't many mosquitoes at all but when the wind was still those black gnat things that Tehipite is known for got annoying sometimes. They seemed to stay up in the trees so as long as we were on the water they weren't a problem at all. They bothered David but for some reason I don't mind bugs all over so my judgement might be flawed.
Slide ain't bad either.
I'll have to check it out, then! The expansive view from Swamp Lakes was unreal, are Slide Lakes like that?
From Tehipite Valley to the S. Fork confluence is called the "Bottom Nine" and is known as some of the toughest Class V kayaking in the lower 48, witness your photo of the pinned boat (SCAREY!!!).
If you;ve fished those sections you pretty much know what's there, more of the same great river! It's funny how small the world is, when I got home I asked a kayaking acquaintance in Three Rivers about the kayak and he said when he was on the Middle Fork of the Kings this summer a kayaker in the group behind him dislocated his shoulder and had to be flown out. The boat in my picture is that unlucky guy's kayak and they stashed it there with the intention of getting it later. Too bad it's about as far from any trail as they could have left it.


Thanks for the kind compliments everyone, glad you enjoyed it!
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by Cross Country »

Slide and Swamp were nothing special for me and I camped at Swamp.
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by Cross Country »

The Kern is really fun fishing because it covers a hugh amount of territory. To catch dinner my best experience was just above Kern Hot Springs. To catch large fish your best bet is the Kern not too far about Forks of the Kern.
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by Cross Country »

What I liked best about fishing tha Kern is the variety of fishing. On my first trip to the upper Kern I caught a type of trout (upper kern river trout) that I believe is now long extinct. Someone put rainbows in and they inter breed.
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by Cross Country »

i believe that someone could take a 1-2 week trip on the entire Kern and never make more than 1 cast in the same place. Obviously one would want to make several casts in some places and skip most places that looked so so.
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by Jimr »

many years ago, I considered hiking down to Tehipite from Simpson meadow. After getting down Goddard creek, we opted to skip that portion of the program. We met 3 guys as we started down Goddard creek who were day hiking down to plan their next day pack down the creek. I asked one of the guys about getting from Tehipite to the road and he said it was doable with lower flows, but there was a section that locals called "the wedge" that was impassable in higher water. I was never able to find that particular nick name on the internet. When we had that discussion, it was 1989, so there was no 'net, but if it was a local reference, you would think that somebody would have mentioned it somewhere in cyber space.

Was there any place on the lower 9 that would fit that description? I have seen it in my dreams many times.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by limpingcrab »

Was there any place on the lower 9 that would fit that description? I have seen it in my dreams many times.
Maybe this?
Screen Shot 2016-10-27 at 6.55.15 PM.jpg
Because we were so intent on finding places to cast and not worried about walking in the water there's a good chance that we could have passed through an area that would be impassible with high water and not even noticed. I don't remember anything more 'slot like' than this, though.
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Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout

Post by Jimr »

That certainly looks like a big choke point in high water.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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