Middle Kings Day 2

Day 2

We awoke early and made our way down to the river. A foreboding sky was already building and we were anxious to get on the river. Right before we left, the forerunners of a group behind us made it to the river. JD Batove, Reiley Cathcart, Rick Smith, a kiwi and a guy named Dave were planning on a seven-day trip down to Pine Flat res. We were on a tighter time schedule and planned on 4 days of kayaking, with a takeout at the confluence of the Middle and South Kings.

John Grace somewhere day 1 of paddling.

photo by Nikki Kelly

The intial steep and manky section of the river was rather low and was easiest to navigate via the PCT located on the side of the river. After making several confluences we made it to the high meadow section. This winding flat section seen in the Driftwood movie is perhaps the greatest natural fish hatchery in the high Sierra.

John Grace somewhere up high

photo by Nikki Kelly

After dropping out of the Meadow we ran some great drops, highlighted by a REAL tight slot leading into a 15 foot cauldron. The boys portaged this drop on their high water mission 2 years ago and we were fired up to get to run it.
Here is that falls again.


photo by Nikki Kelly

Lunch Day 2

photo by Nikki Kelly

After running numerous big slides and such we were over it and ready to camp. We made our way down to what is known as “sick camp”. A medium heavy, cold rain began to fall as soon as our drytops came off. We sat around a raging fire while the skies unloaded.

After a hour the rain subsided and we fixed dinner and simply relaxed. Just before dark we walked the next section known as “the gorges” section. The river drops over 650 feet in just over a mile. Needless to say the action was thick and stacked up. We feel asleep with eager anticipation to run all of the badass rapids we had just scouted.