Upper cherry 1 more time

Earlier last week we managed to get the van up and running and headed back for a low water run on Upper cherry. With a strong season of fitness behind us we were able to make the 1omile walk in in 4hours and 15 mins so we were stoked!
From the put in we paddled all the way to below dead bear in one day before camping.
I was super stoked to have finally run all the named rapids on this run and did not follow a few other kiwis footsteps into the pocket on the 'kiwi in a pocket' rapid.
The next day we paddled out and back to coloma for a weekend of work on the river.
Now we are keeping an eye on Middle kings and hells kitchen on the Stanaslaus.
peace

-Me running 'Gorilla' rapid

-'Kiwi in a pocket' best rapid on the river

-Me running right line on 'dead bear'




A FEW SHOTS FROM OUR FIRST WEST CHERRY TRIP.
-PHOTOS BY DEVON KNIGHT AND GARRET BROWN-


-Me on Un-named early slide

-'Charlie Beavers drop'- me at the lip

East kaweah-Middle kaweah-South silver-Golden gate-Fantasy falls-Lower cherry-West cherry-Upper cherry

Since the last post on here we met up with Evan Garcia and have been tripping round in a nice Subaru Outback and running a bunch of cool creeks.


-Crusing in the Subi








-Me about 10 seconds before Sam hits me in the back of the head with his boat












-Broken finger










-Right after Sam hits me










-Put in for Fantasy falls





We heard word of Fantasy falls section on the Mokelumne river so we headed there for a 3 day mission. The first day is a bunch of manky class 4 then the second day we spent 8 hours blasting down some nicer class 4-5 stuff. Then the last day saw us firing off some cool slides and drops including 'Fantasy falls'.



-B running Fantasy falls









-Me on Fantasy falls







-Camp 2 on Fantasy falls




That day ended with a 4 mile paddle upwind up a lake.
On the way home we heard that the Cherry creek drainages would be on soon. So we packed up the car and headed down to Grooveland. We checked the flows and decided to hit West cherry.



-Me running 'charly beavers drop' on west cherry




With a lot of bad directions and one failed attempt at walking in at the wrong place we finally made it to the put on after a few hours of walking. We spent the night there and paddled out the next day. A super steep and committing run with big drops and big portages. We got this run in at a high flow and it was amazing. At the confluence with main upper cherry creek we were able to see that it was still too high for that section so decided to run the lower cherry run on the Tuolumne river which was running at a huge flow and was good fun class 4+ big water boating.
The next day we headed back down to run the east fork of the kaweah. After 4 hours of driving we pulled out our sleeping bags and thermarests and slept on the side of the road at the put in.
With a slightly lower flow than last time Sam was able to fire up a rapid called 'sky hook'.






-Sam in the crack on 'Skyhook'












-Me running triple drop on East Kaweah









-Random drop on East kaweah




Evan and I decided to give that one a miss after Sam was not able to make the line we had chosen and ended up riding the crack out, with a few hard hits.
We then headed back to Groovetown and met up with nick boyes and went into West branch of cherry creek again. This time with no wrong turns and a 56minuate walk in we camped at the put in on the river.





-Early slide on west cherry










-Double drop on West cherry








The next day we put on early and headed down the river. With a lower flow than last time we were able to attempt a 35foot pothole waterfall. It was still a super committing line as it had a 50meter lead in through some big holes and drops and then the exit to the drop leaves about a 30% chance of exit and 70%chance of getting stuck in the pothole at the bottom of the falls. Sam stuck his line and was super stoked. Evan called second and unfortunatly found himself in the cave. With a pre set saftey plan i was able to get a rope down into the pothole cave and he attached it to his jacket. the next rope went on his boat and Sam and I were able to vertically extract him and his kayak out of the cave behind the falls and back to dry land.
Two rapids down from here we came to a two tiered sliding drop. I entered the rapid a little far left with too much right angle. As i came off the first tier and connected with the second i pitoned really hard. My whole body was thrown forward and my paddle hit my deck and my head connected with the paddle. This resulted in a broken nose and concussion along with a very dented kayak. Unable to kayak out Myself and 2 others hiked a few hours out to the road.






-B running the drop i broke my nose on









-Me and my broken boat and nose and very messed up








-Me a week after breaking my nose





The next day B, Nick and sam went and retrieved our kayaks.
Unfortunatly while we were gone 3 of our teams kayaks were stolen from grovetown right before we had planned to hike into Upper cherry creek. As brendan missed Upper cherry last year and i was able to get it I decided i would give him my kayak and gear for him to get it this year. Me and Nick both without kayaks loaded up our packs and hiked in to meet the crew in the middle gorge.


-Sam running 'Gorilla slide, Upper cherry






Late that night the boys rocked up with no kayaks and very cold. They had been snowed on and decided to paddle the rest of the way to camp in the morning.



-Early morning at 'flinstone camp'








-Lots of cold paddlers ariving at our camp




With the river level dropping i was able to hike over a few domes and paddle the crux gorge on the run after brendan had come through. Cherry bomb gorge runs through two huge domes out to a nice lake.





-Me running Cherry Bomb










-Nick running 'perfect 2o'












-B on double pothole













-Sam on double pothole



















That night we moved downstream a bit below a rapid called 'Dead Bear'.






-Sam on 'Dead bear'









-B running dead bear





The next morning Nick and I hiked out and the boys paddled to cherry lake.
We are now back in coloma having a break and letting the nose mend before heading back down to upper cherry again or hells kitchen on the stanaslaus river this week.
Peace
josh



-After trip 'Jack in in the box' FAST FOOD!!!