California peony along the Garapito Trail.

From Sunday's trail run to Trippet Ranch.

Related post: California Peony

The high at Isabella Dam reached 102°F, but it was cool along the Kern River for the 2010 edition of the Miracle Whitewater Slalom Race.

Thanks to the efforts of firefighters, the Canyon Fire had been 100% contained the previous weekend, and did not burn Hobo Campground or Miracle Hot Springs, where the slalom course is located.

Last Winter's big snowpack extended the season on both the Upper Kern and Lower Kern, and this year we were able to schedule the race in the Fall and still have excellent whitewater. Race day the flow came up to 890 cfs, a very good level for so late in the year.

The course was set so that no individual move was super difficult, but it was challenging to do the combined gate sequences well. Saturday, Olympic Silver Medalist Rebecca Giddens gave a pre-race clinic that helped paddlers deal with the difficulties of the course.

Thanks to everyone that paddled and helped with the race! Results will be posted on the KVRC web site soon.

Course description:

Gates #1 and #2 were downs in the wave train at the top of Hobo Rapid. They led to gate #3 -- a flushing up in small eddy on river left at the island. A peel-out to a down in the current, gate #4, was followed by a cross-current move behind the pour-over hole to an up, gate #5, at the base of the drop on river right. A tight turn out of gate #5 was required to setup gate #6, a dive gate that wanted to eddy-out your boat. This was followed by another up, gate #7, in a good eddy on river right. Next was a series of moderate offsets, gates #8, #9, #10, ending at the top of a small rapid. Gate #11, a down just below the drop, setup a move to river left through some turbulent water and a couple of rocks to an up, gate #12. 

The move from gate #12, across several current differentials to the tight down at gate #13, was one of the trickiest on the course, and there were a couple of 50's here. Gate #13 was followed by another down, which was offset from a dive gate on river left, gate #15. The dive gate was the lead-in to a nice left-to-right "S" at gate #16. Although it was in "easy" water, the next gate on river right, gate #17, was another up that was difficult to do well. Gate #18, a down, was the last gate.

Rain-washed skies resulted in some long views from Rocky Peak road this morning. Fifty miles to the west, the Channel Islands were easily seen, and to the east Santiago Peak could be seen above a layer of low clouds, some 75 miles distant.

From today's run from Corriganville to "Fossil Point" on the Bandit 30K course.

A California mountain kingsnake on the South Fork Trail, in the San Gabriel Mountains, near Los Angeles.

From our trail run on Sunday.

Good friends, good weather, and good paddling at the 2009 Miracle Whitewater Slalom at the Miracle Hot Springs Slalom Course on the Kern River!

Olympians Eric and Rebecca Giddens set an interesting course with several gate sequences that had not been done in previous Miracle races. Racers found the 4-5-6 offset and  8-9-10-11 cross current sequences to be particularly challenging. Here's a short HD video of Keith Kishiyama paddling gates 7 thru 11. (Same video on Facebook.)

Saturday, Eric and Junior National Team member Nick Wilkening gave a pre-race paddling clinic, giving paddlers the beta on how to paddle the course fast and clean.

Thanks to everyone that paddled and helped with the race! Results will be posted on the KVRC web site soon.

Gary Gunder Paddling in Falls Gorge on Piru Creek

Today President Barack Obama signed the Omnibus Public Lands Act, extending federal protection to more than 2 million acres and 86 rivers in nine states. Included in the Act are provisions to create new wilderness areas and expand existing wilderness areas in California, and to extend Wild & Scenic protection to eight rivers in California, including 7.25 miles of Piru Creek downstream of Pyramid Lake. Piru Creek is the first stream in Los Angeles County to be protected by inclusion in the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System.

The following segments of Piru Creek have been added to the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System:

(A) The 3-mile segment of Piru Creek from 0.5 miles downstream of Pyramid Dam at the first bridge crossing to the boundary of the Sespe Wilderness, as a recreational river.

(B) The 4.25-mile segment from the boundary of the Sespe Wilderness to the boundary between Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, as a wild river.

The reach of Piru Creek downstream of the Ventura County line -- which includes spectacular "Falls Gorge" -- was not addressed in the 2009 legislation. This section is within the congressional district of Rep. Elton Gallegly, and hopefully will be extended Wild & Scenic status in future legislation. In the meantime, a large part of the reach is within the Sespe Wilderness, and is afforded the protection that the wilderness designation, and having a Wild & Scenic section upstream, provides.

The photograph of Gary Gunder paddling in "Falls Gorge" on Piru Creek is from March 2005. More photos of Piru Creek can be found on my Southern California Creeking page Piru Creek - Frenchmans Flat Campground to Lake Piru.

2002 World Champion and 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Rebecca Giddens S-turns through a red "up" gate while racing in the T.J. Slalom at the 2007 Kern River Kayak & Raft Festival.

A whitewater slalom course consists of a series of red gates and green gates that are paddled sequentially through a set of rapids. The paddler must pass through red gates moving in the upstream direction, and green gates moving downstream. Racers are timed, and a 2 second penalty is added for each gate that is touched, and a 50 second penalty added for each gate that is missed.

Runoff from the Upper Kern River is stored in Lake Isabella and then released to the Lower Kern River according to flood control and irrigation requirements. The releases for summertime irrigation normally produce good flows for rafting and kayaking.

Running down the Silver Moccasin Trail from Shortcut Saddle to West Fork a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to my running partner that a few years before, I had carried my whitewater kayak down the trail. Around 1995, Gary Gunder and I started exploring the creeks and rivers of Southern California, looking for hidden gems that rarely - if ever - had been paddled. Kayaking these streams has been an incredible experience, and has enabled us to see some of the wildest and most beautiful places in the mountains of Southern California.