Re: TR: Tehipite Valley Part III: Suffering for 175 trout
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 5:45 pm
Slide ain't bad either.Not to mention that I think Swamp Lakes is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen.
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Slide ain't bad either.Not to mention that I think Swamp Lakes is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen.
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!Lower elevation moving water in the Sierra is so unique, nothing quite like it anywhere. An acquired taste.
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.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.
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.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?
I'll have to check it out, then! The expansive view from Swamp Lakes was unreal, are Slide Lakes like that?Slide ain't bad either.
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.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!!!).
Maybe this? 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.Was there any place on the lower 9 that would fit that description? I have seen it in my dreams many times.