KRP News Archive

Kaweah River Page - News Archive

05-01-07 The group of Devin Knight, Shon Bollock, Garrett Brown, Jason Hollerman, Eric Petlock and Taylor Robertson, and Darin McQuoid ran The East Fork on 4-28-07 when the mid day flow at Three Rivers was 900cfs (1200cfs midnight peak at Three Rivers the night before) Their trip is well documented with photos at Darin McQuoid's East Fork Trip Report

04-27-07 The latest runoff frecast moves the peak flow in the April 30 at 1120 cfs average inflow to the lake. Expect a very short season possibly ending by the third week in May with flows at Three Rivers not exceeding 700cfs except during the weekend of April 28-29.

04-11-07 The first runoff forecast of the season was released today. Peak flow is forecast to occurr on May 4 at 1020cfs daily inflow to the lake

04-02-07 HAZARD WARNING ON THE EAST FORK! 0.6 miles below the Oak Grove Bridge put-in at the second big drop, the drop with a huge tilted slab against the wall now has a new car sized slab blocking the river. The portage requires ropes and is described as tricky with 4 boaters. Higher flows or fewer boaters increases the risks. East Fork flow was low, probably 140 cfs, on Apr. 1, the day of the encounter. It is possible to put in below this hazard with some imagination.

04-02-07 The April 1st snaowpack report is in from DWR. The Kaweah drainage has only 41 percent of normal snowpack. With the unseasonably warm spring and runnable flows already here expect a very short boating season but the low flow will allow a longer than usual spring season of Class V on Hospital Rock and the East Fork.

04-01-07 North Fork is below runnable levels and Hospital Rock and the East Fork are at very low levels, too low for most folks.

03-15-07 Unseasonably warm weather has the river running higher each day. Boaters have already been seen on the river this week. But, the penalty for this warm weather is March is going to be a very short boating season in May, and probably none in June.

03-04-07 March 1 snowpack in 86% of average for March 1st

02-06-07 Feb 1 snowpack report is in from DWR. Kaweah basin snowpack continues to be at a very low level this year, 43% of normal for Feb 1st. Snowoack is also low for adjacent rivers with 36% of normal in the Kings River basin and 25% in the Kern River basin.

01-07-07 Realtime Snowpack Comparison between 2007 and 2006. Use this link to track the snowpack as the 2007 snowpack progresses.

01-06-07 The Kaweah Snowpack for 2007 is off to a slow start. Estimated snowpack is only 25% of the level we had on this same day last year. The Kaweah drainage snowpack is probably at only 40% of normal

09-09-06 The current time-temperature image above in now updated every 15 minutes

08-12-06 The Kaweah Flow Graph from dreamflows is back. Chris changed the image format from a gif to a png

08-12-06 The Picture of the Day archive has been updated with 15 additional photos for the 2006 season. There are now 30 photos for 2006.

08-11-06 The Kaweah River below The Pumpkin Hollow Bridge has finally cleared to a reasonable clarity.

08-11-06 The dreamflows.com Kaweah flow graph from dreamflows.com has not updated since july 31st. Hey Chris, what's going on?

07-30-06 The East Fork pictures from the July 8th trip are finally posted on the Pictures Page! Enjoy.

07-28-06 Water remains less than clear. Current depth of visibility is 54 inches at Pumpkin Hollow.

07-26-06 The river remains moderately muddy and uninviting. Here is a photo of a cross section of the mud deposit from 7-21 or what I like to call Kaweah Layer Cake . The entire river bed is lined with this stuff. No longer does the Kaweah have it's normal pristine clean sandy bed so famous for late summer swimming. This ugly layer of thick dark mud is going to be in the river until the winter rains bring the river back up with enough flow to clean it up. The best swimming this summer is up on the Middle Fork above the Park Boundary where the river was unaffected by the mudslide on the East Fork.

07-22-06 6AM. Water color is still chocolate brown due to the washout on The East Fork Thursday.

07-21-06 7AM. The river is running dark chocolate brown as a result of the thunderstorms yesterday. The source of the brown water is The East Fork. The Middle Fork above the East Fork confluence is running fairly clean.

07-20-06 8PM. The level at Dinely Bridge is 1.10 ft and rising now. Thunderstorms in the mountains all day has cause the Kaweah to run real whitewater yet again. The Dinely gauge was at zero ft at 7PM and has come up a foot in one hour. River is still rising and running a light shade of brown.

07-18-06 Gary, that was some good boating with you the last few days. Next year try for more water and lower dollars/mile.

07-18-06 The seldom run "Extended Boundary" run from the gorge below Iron Lung to the Park Boundary adds 3/4 mile of Class 4 to Class 5 water to the regular Boundary Run. More difficult than the Boundary run with a complex 250 yards of Class 5 that is avoided by taking the Wheelchair Branch. The putin is accessed by the easy 7 minute downhill trail leading to the cliff jumping site below Ash Mountain Park Headquarters.

07-15-06 The body of the woman missing on the East Fork was found on Wednesday slightly below Oak Grove Bridge

07-10-06 Possibly the best Picture of the Day ever posted. It doesn't get much bigger than this.

07-10-06 The Hospital Rock photos from Sunday are on the Pictures Page. I still need to do the Saturday East Fork pictures. Enjoy.

07-09-06 A Kaweah River Page First! Special today, 3 Pictures of The Day, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Click the links a little further down. I am working diligently at the moment turning the weekend East Fork and Hospital Rick photos into webpages for the Pictures Page. Stand by.

07-07-06 The riverbed at Dinely Bridge has sunk another 0.2 ft. since last year. The Dinely gauge now reads 0.2 ft. lower now for the same flow compared to one year ago. This is an ongoing phenomenon. The riverbed at Dinely Bridge has dropped more than a foot in the last 10 years. There will still be plenty of water for kayaking when the gauge hits zero. The gauge has been dug out so it can be read. 0.35 ft. at 7PM Fri.

07-03-06 Attention East Fork boaters! The body of the 21 year old woman lost on the East Fork below Oak Grove Bridge on June 24th will most likely be located by kayakers running the East Fork this season. Please keep an eye out. The East Fork will probably at runnable flow by this coming weekend.

07-02-06 Clover Creek up in the National Park had a large visitation by steep creekers today. The flow was low but the fun was high. The photos are on the Kaweah Pictures Page. Follow the link to the pictures page further down this page. Where is Clover Creek you say? Click the link to the Map of Clover Creek and the Upper Marble Fork at Lodgepole (500kB image). Clover Creek is done for this season but put it in your plans for next year. Runnable flow is when the Kaweah at Three Rivers drops to 1400 cfs peak at midnight.

06-30-06 The "Picture of the Day" is back.

06-30-06 Three Lost Paddles on Wed 6-28 on the Hospital Rock run. Werner Carbon Fiber Bent Shaft black with black electrical tape on grips, AT paddle with yellow blades, Aquabound 4 piece breakdown. Please contact the KRP webmaster or Dave Hammond at the Three Rivers Hideaway

06-30-06 Very hot weather for the last several weeks has had the Kaweah at very high flows. In the last few days the flow has started to drop significantly. The hot weather is going to significantly shorten what was hoped to be an extended season through July. Hosptal Rock will be dialing in in the next few days. Give the East Fork another 10 days for the flow to drop to Class 5 levels.

06-30-06 Finally the KRP is getting updated. New high security on the c2 server has your webmaster having to to learn a whole new protocol to update this page.

06-20-06 Thank you Kaweah Whitewater Adventures! Your's truly and his guests Markus and Erma from Dresden, Germany has a great run with you at 1.7 ft on the gauge. We had perfect rafting conditions. It was this webmasters first raft trip on the Kaweah after more than 20 years of kayaking the Kaweah.

05-25-06 ATTENTION customers of Kaweah Whitewater Adventures! The old url to the KWA website was hyjacked by an unscruplous person. The new KWA address is http://www.kaweah-whitewater.com

05-02-06 The May 1 Kaweah drainage snowpack report is reporting 187 percent of average snowpack for May 1 compared to 166 percent of average for the same date last year

05-02-06 The lake elevation is 690 ft., 4 feet below the old spillway level. Lower Holiday is already buried by the lake for the season.

03-26-06 Realtime Snowpack Comparison between 2005 and 2006. This will give you a good forwardlooking estimate of the potential runoff flows. For comparison 2005 was a high water year.

03-22-06 Three weeks of continuous snowfall in the mountains has raised the snowpack to levels near last year at this same time. Expect a big water runnoff. The North Fork should run for several weeks due to the large low level snowpack.

03-03-06 The Mar. 1 snowpack report is published by DWR with 4 of 5 stations reporting. The Kaweah basin is 104% of average for Mar. 1. Mild weather during Feb. has resulted in a net loss of average snaowpack. Last year at this time the average was 152% of average and in 2004, a low water year, the average was 104% of average on Mar. 1. The North Fork ran only one weekend in 2004, but 2004 was a banner year on Hospital Rock and the East Fork with low flows providing continuous class V runnable water throughout the spring.

02-13-06 The Feb. 1 snowpack report is published by DWR. The Kaweah basin is 111% of average for Feb. 1. Continuing mild weather the first two weeks of Feb. is no doubt diminishing that number.

01-28-06 The oldest news from this section has been moved to the news archive.

01-01-06 Wow! The 8000 pound black rock that lay on the right side of Chute up against the bottom right mega boulder is GONE, washed away in the high water yesterday, 12-31-05. This Photo taken today, Jan 1, at 500 cfs clearly shows the rock is missing. The rock that had layed tight up against the right side mega boulder in 2004 had pulled away from the wall about 18 inches during the spring high water of 2005 creating a slot between the rock and the wall. The day before it washed out I was pondering if the rock might go in the next high water because it looked so precarious in it's current position with not much holding it there. This probably means The Chute has a better line now and the rapid is improved.

12-31-05 5PM. The Kaweah peaked at 4PM. Flow at Dinely Bridge was 3.8 feet at 4PM, (4000 cfs). Rain has stopped and the river is receeding. No further updates are planned tonight. The COE gauging is still broken. Estimated peak inflow to Lake Kaweah was 7000 to 8000 cfs.

12-31-05 3PM. An intense rain storm has dumped 1.4 inches of rain in Three Rivers between 5AM and 3PM. The river is currently raging at an estimated 4000 cfs at Pumpkin Hollow and is still rising. The webcam is being updated every 15 minutes in the last 2 hours of daylight. Updates via the Message-of-the-Day will continue into the evening until the river stops rising. The COE gauge is not reporting so this page will do it's best to keep it's readers, including Tulare County and NWS officials informed of new developments. Wind estimated at 40 mph at 2PM has toppled numerous trees in the Three Rivers area.

12-02-05 The first winter storm of the season dumped 1.7 inches of rain on the Kaweah at 1200 ft. elevation and 4.0 inches of rain at 6400 feet elevation. The snow level was 7000 feet. 20 inches of snow fell at the 9400 foot level. The river quickly rose from 10 cfs to 2500 cfs in 10 hours. The North Fork peaked at 2.5 feet at 1:30PM. There just might be enough water still running on Saturday for a winter run.

10-25-05 The Message of the Day section of the page was added to allow the webmaster to remotely post a short information message.

10-25-05 A widespread power outage in Three Rivers from 2:10AM to 10:40AM today prevented hourly updates of the Kaweahcam and Weatherstation data during the outage.

10-16-05 Current Three Rivers temperature reporting was added to the main page

07-24-05 The computer that serves the Webcam and the Weatherstation is working again for the time being

07-24-05 The Park Boundary was 4.80 ft. at 5PM Sunday and was runnable all weekend. KWA was still running commercial trips this weekend from Gateway, rocky but still barely runnable.

07-14-05 I have no way to actually read the gauge at Dinely Bridge but I say the reading is 0.6 ft. today 4PM based on the COE flow to Dinely Bridge relationship when there is negligible North Fork contribution. Hospital Rock and the East Fork are at optimal flows. Enjoy it while you can. The extreme hot weather will probably end the Kaweah season in a week. P.S. Your webmaster really misses the Kaweahcam, Rivergauge and Weatherstation data. I look forward to repairing the Kaweah server and getting this data back on the WWW.

07-12-05 The computer that operates the webcam and weatherstaion crashed on 7-11-05. It will be September before it can be repaired. Sincere apologies for the inconvenience. The Kaweahcam page and Weather page continue to operate but the data is frozen at the time of the crash.

07-07-05 The river gauge and water temperature graphs are removed from the main page. The last recorded copy of the data is frozen on the rivergauge page.

07-06-05 The river guage and water temperature recording will be going offline for the 2005 season on 7-7-05. I hoped you found the data of interest while it was in operation. The Kaweahcam has ceased operation from The Chute as of 8PM tonight. The webmaster is vacating the Kaweah for this season to return to his other life in the corporate world. There are 2 to 3 weeks weeks of boating left on the Kaweah and the Hospital Rock and East Fork runs will be coming in to runnable range in the next few days. The recent very hot weather is blowing out the remaining snowpack at an incredible rate.

06-30-05 Your webmaster appologizes for the lack up updates to this page. He has been to busy with domestic duties and has been relagated to shore leave by way of injury sustained while boating an evening run two days ago. An extended brace in Riverway while tryiong a new route at 1.4 ft resulted in a sprained elbow. Your webmaster is probably laid up for the remainder of the boating season and is pretty unhappy with the turn of events. The main Kaweah is prime boating right now. The Hospital Rock run is probably too high to boat over the coming 4th of July weekend. Very hot weather the last few days is pushing the river back to moderatly high flows. Hospital Rock is stomping very big Class V even if you put in at the lowest flow point for the day. The East Fork remains far to high to run.

06-22-05 The final runoff forecast for the 2005 snowmelt season was released today by DWR. Hospital Rock and the East Fork will probably still be a bit high for the 4th of July holiday weekend. They should become runnable on their high end the week following the holiday.

06-17-05 The weather is very cool today and the clouds are down at 5000 feet. This will put a clamp todays snowmelt. Expect much lower water levels on Saturday.

06-17-05 Class V+ paddles be informed that there is a half mile section of 700 ft/mile runnable water on Clover Creek, tributary to The Marble Fork Kaweah, ending a half mile upstream of the Wuksachi Village in Sequoia National Park. Not runnable at todays flow but in a few weeks when the water drops check it out. Awesome giant slides in solid granite.

06-14-05 While the Kaweah continues to rage with high water, 4 of us decided to run some "smaller water" today. Tenmile Creek was running all of 50cfs. This was far below any reasonable flow for this 1 mile run but after a 50 mile drive we were destined to run it. See the Picture of the Day for a glimpse.

06-11-05 The KWA raft trip pictures are on the Kaweah Pictures Page. Find the link a little further down the page, you have to click a few links to get there.

06-09-05 I hear that Tenmile Creek that flows into Hume Lake is a good, but little known run. 1.1 miles dropping 200 feet.

06-09-05 The Kaweahcam now looks right at the heart of The Chute, up close and personal.

06-09-05 The latest runoff forecast has the Kaweah rising again next week and staying above 2500 cfs inflow to the lake through June 25th.

06-04-05 I witnessed an All Outdoors raft getting lauched vertical in Lower Slicky at 2.4 ft. I saw no paddlers in the boat during launch. Now that would have made a pretty picture!!

06-02-05 Yours truly and John Nelson just finished a run on the North Fork at 2.0 ft. Now that the North Fork has dropped to that magic 2.0 level it has finally dialed in to a more boater friendly (webmaster friendly) level. Expect the North Fork to be runnable for the next 2 weekends and into the following week thereafter before finally dropping into boat bashing low flows below 1.5 ft. Great run today John! See John in action as today's "Picture of the Day".

06-02-05 A new runoff forecast was released today showing the peak flow for this season has occurred on 5-27 at an average inflow to the lake of 4850 cfs. The lake level was at 709 feet on 6-1, just 8 feet below the new spillway elevation. Upper Holiday is fully buried by the lake and you can now boat right to the dike at the parking lot at the trail head to Cobble Knoll for a super easy takout.

05-29-05 8PM The body of the young man lost on the river was found late this afternoon near the Whitehorse Inn, 6 miles downstream of where he went in. Our prayers and deepest sympathies go out to the family.

05-29-05 5PM No word so far on finding the person lost in the Kaweah River. We now know the person was lost in the water below Ash Mountain Park Headquarters in the rapid below the gorge where the cliff jumping takes place when flows become very low. Rescue teams have been hiking both banks searching while the helecopters were flying until about 3PM.

05-29-05 8AM A Rescue Helicopter is flying low up and down the Kaweah from the National Park and below. The chopper made multiple passes last night right before dark also. It is presumed that someone is lost in the river. This is probably a recovery operation. The Kaweah is treacherous this time of year with slippery rocks and the extreme high water.

05-28-05 The Fri 7PM level on the North Fork was 2.55 ft and on the South Fork 2.70 ft. The North Fork continues to hold up with high flow and the South Fork has extremely high flow with the water well up in the trees. The South Fork is very hazardous at this flow. The lake has buried upper Holiday and has only 10 feet to go to fill to the new splillway evevation.

05-25-05 The runoff forecast released today predicts the peak inflow to the lake to be on Sat., 5-28 at an average inflow of 4794 cfs. Inflow to the lake is predicted to drop to 3000 cfs average by June 6.

05-25-05 IP address changed to the various KRP services not on the c2.com server. The Water Temperature, Dinley Gauge, and the Kaweah Cam imagres are back online on this page and all redirect links auto updated at 6AM today.

05-24-05 Your webmaster admits to swimming on the South Fork last Sunday. We now know that 2.25 ft. on the South Fork gauge below the Silver Truss Bridge is pretty meaty. 2.1 ft. the day before was more reasonable flow. The Shatner Ranch section above the Silver Truss Bridge is super high now with water spilling over the top of the low bridge. Be carefull, there are some hazards in there including a log that is not easily seen from above and a downed tree that spans the entire river. As usual the South Fork lives up to it's reputation of some sort of incident on every trip.

05-19-05 The evening peak flow around 11PM is a sight to behold. The Kaweah is cranking from the days snowmelt. It will be going higher yet in the next several days. Commerccial rafting operations this coming weekend should be very interesting with the very high water.

05-18-05 The Runoff Forecast released today predicts the peak flow on 5-26 to be 5100 cfs ave inflow to the lake. That is Big Water! Hot weather is coming this weekend, near 90 Sat. and Sun. and upper 90's early next week

05-17-05 5PM The rivergauge is repaired. The river dropped enough and cleared up enough that the gauge could be seen bobbing in the current. The guage had become dislodged from it normal secure underwater location by the very swift and high water of yesterday. The guage is back in operation reporting the calculated reading at Dinely Bridge.

05-16-05 5:30PM The river peaked at Dinely Bridge at 3.8 ft and the North Fork at 4.1 ft. Check out the Picture of the Day! Big Water. I took a bunch of pictures today so expect a little website of the photos coming soon.

05-16-05 2:30PM The river appears to have peaked at 2PM. The Riverguage has malfunctioned, probabley disloged from its location due to the extreme water levels. The Park Boundary was 7.20 ft at 1PM. There some major wood moving down the river right now.

05-16-05 11AM It has been raining hard since 7AM. The river is raging and rising fast. Note how the KRP rivergauge is catching the rising water level many hours ahead of the COE gauge.

05-15-05 Graphs of the Dinely Bridge Gauge reading along with Kaweah water temperature have been added on this main page during spring runoff

05-14-05 Finally! The Kaweah Rivergauge http://rivergauge.kaweahriver.org is back in operation reporting hourly river levels cross referenced to Dinely Bridge along with water temperature. Note, this is the only source of Dinely Bridge gauge readings in electronic form. The COE data in the dreamflows graph of FLow at Three Rivers includes the North Fork flow and is not representative of the actual flow you are boating on between Gateway and the North Fork confluence.

05-12-05 Summer weather is finally arriving this weekend with temperatures predicted to be in the upper 80's. The winter storms of the last week dumped 2.8 inches of rain in Three Rivers

05-12-05 The latest runoff forecast released on Wed predicts the 50% probability peak reservoir inflow at 3825 ave cfs on June 1. There is 166% of normal snowpack for May 1 and probably even more than that with the late season winter storm of last week.

05-05-05 The winter storm today has dumped 1.22 inches of rain between 7AM and 10PM. The river is running brown. The North Fork reached a hefty 2.75 ft. at 7PM.

05-05-05 The KWA Raft Race yesterday made the first Picture of the Day for 2005

05-04-05 Kaweah at Dinely Br 1.0 ft at 2PM. North Fork 1.75 ft at 5PM. Park Boundary 5.60 ft at 6PM. East Fork Estimated at 300cfs

04-24-05 The Kaweah River at Dinely Bridge was 0.5 feet Sat 4-23 at 5PM. The North Fork was 1.55 feet on Thu. 4-21 at 3PM per the Post-A-Gauge bulletin board system. Thank You to the readers who are posting the current readings. Now that the Post-A-Guage is up and running, plan on getting the guage readings there rather than expecting them to be posted here on the main page.

04-24-05 This will be the first season where the lake will fill to the new spillway elevation 21 feet higher than last year. Get the current Lake Kaweah Elevation Graph from COE. The old spillway elevation was 694 feet. This year the spillway is at 715 feet. Lower Holiday is buried at 690 feet. Upper Holiday will be buried at estimated 705 feet. The lake will fill to it's new capacity this year surrounding the Best Western Motel that is now guarded by a new dike.

04-18-05 The first Runoff Forecast was released last Wednesday. A peak flow of 3570cfs ave on May 27 is forecast. CNRFC's early predictions seem to always put the peak flow date earlier than the actual peak flow date. See the graph a bit further down this page.

04-12-05 Maps have been added to the Upper North Fork Page

04-11-05 Two new LOG HAZARDS are reported on the Upper North Fork above Yucca Creek.

04-10-05 The North Fork is reported to be 1.70 feet on Saturday at 10AM per the Post-A-Gauge system. (Thanks Sage)

04-07-05 The North Fork is reported to be 1.75 feet today, Thursday at 2PM per the Post-A-Gauge system. Perfect boating level!

04-05-05 Lost-And-Found: Lost, HF Rescue Vest, color is Black/Red, lost somewhere along Hwy 198 on April 2nd. Email the webmaster at bill.pooley@tek.com if you find it. The owner will very much appreciate it and will probably hand out a reward. I know I would. And, if you happen to find the webmasters paddle lost 3 years ago there is still a reward for that too if it is still useable.

04-04-05 The April 1st Snowpack Report is released by Californial Snow Surveys. The Kaweah Basin is at 159% of April 1 average. Compare this to the El Nino year of 1998.

                      ----April 1, 1998-----   ----April 1, 2005-----
Survey location   Elev.    Water          Percent   Water          Percent
                           Content        Normal    Content        Normal
Farewell Gap      9,500    57.6inches     161%      50.0inches     140%
Panther Meadow    8,600    58.4inches     159%      54.0inches     147%
Mineral King      8,000    37.7inches     183%      31.3inches     152%
Giant Forest      6,400    35.0inches     238%      28.0inches     190%
Basin Average Percent of April 1:         185%                     159%

04-03-05 It just got even easier for you, the readers, to Post your observed Kaweah gauge readings to the Post-A-Gauge System with this direct link. You can also view the gauge data posted by others.

04-02-05 The North Fork is reported to be 1.65 feet today, Saturday at 5PM. -Thanks Sage! Sage is the first to use the new Post-A-Gauge system

03-31-05 A NEW web based Kaweah River Gauge Reporting System is now online. This is a boater supported manual reporting system where, hopefully, you will get more often postings of the readings on the Kaweah River gauges at Dinely Bridge, The North Fork, South Fork, and Park Boundary. Now you, the boaters, can help your buddies know the flow.

03-31-05 The North Fork will be at runnable flows this coming weekend

03-27-05 The North Fork Kaweah is at 1.85ft. at 3:30PM today, Sunday (flow at Three Rivers was reading 1020 cfs at this time)

03-25-05 The Kaweah River snowpack is huge and the river is flowing at runnable levels from here on. Lot's of low level snow means boating season is here. Warming weather will be creating good flows from here on out. Expect a long season.

03-24-05 Big Water! The North Fork Gauge was reading 3.5 feet on March 23, 2005 at 7:30 AM, the morning after the 6200cfs peak flow measured at Three Rivers. I am not sure I have heard of anyone having run the NF at this level.

03-18-05 The Kaweah River and tributaries have dropped to below runnable levels

03-13-05 The North Fork Kaweah is 1.50 ft. on Sunday, March 13, 2005 at 2:30 PM. Runnable!

03-13-05 The Main Kaweah at Dinely Bridge is 0.2 ft. on Sunday, March 13, 2005 at 2:15 PM. Runnable!

03-10-05 The North Fork is at 1.35 ft. on Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 2:00 PM. The NORTH FORK WILL BE RUNNABLE Fri., Mar. 11 and on the coming weekend! Boating season is here.

03-10-05 The March 1st Snowpack Report is released and the Kaweah drainage remains at a bettter than average snowpack with 152% of March 1st average and 135% of April 1st average.

02-02-05 The first snowpack report for 2005 is released by DWR. The Kaweah swowpack is at an incredible 194% of the Feb 1st average and 119% of the April 1st average. With no change in snowpack for the remainder of the winter it will be a very good boating season this spring and summer! All this from three major muti-day storm systems.

01-10-05 Another Flood Watch has been issued by the National Weather Service at 7PM

01-09-05 Alan Parker rode the big brown snake from Dinely Bridge all the way into the lake bottom below Slick Rock. Click here to read his report

01-09-05 Sunday, The Kaweah River at Dinely Bridge is 2.80 ft at 3:45PM

01-09-05 Sunday, The National Weather Service in Hanford has issued a Flood Warning for the Kaweah River from 9AM until 9PM today

01-08-05 The current winter storms pounding the Southern Sierra Nevada have deposited significant snowfall. Snow Depth at the 9500 foot level is already more than at the highest point last season. Compare the Current Snow Depth at Farewell Gap to the March 1, 2004 Snow Depth at Farewell Gap
Or compare the 6400 foot level Current Snow Water Content at Giant Forest to the March 1, 2004 Snow Water Content at Giant Forest If this keeps up the Kaweah could see a singificant boating season.

01-02-05 The Kaweah River Page comes up Number One in a Google Search for kaweah !

01-01-05 The Kaweah River was runnable yesterday during the mid day peak of 1350 cfs at Three Rivers though no boaters were seen on the muddy waters. The North Fork was probably runnable too for a few short hours.

09-28-04 The Kaweah River Page can now be accessed conveniently at www.kaweahriver.org where you will be redirected to this page at http://c2.com/kaweah/ The KRP has held the kaweahriver.org domain name for 4 years and has finally done something with it. Remember, it's .org

09-28-04 ...and Kaweah River Pictures Page http://pictures.kaweahriver.org/

09-28-04 ...and Kaweah Weatherstation Pages http://weather.kaweahriver.org/ Local Watherstation data direct from Three Rivers

09-28-04 ...and Kaweah Webcam Page http://kaweahcam.kaweahriver.org/

07-20-04 The Kaweah River now has a new presence on the internet at Air Above Water a cliffjumping website, as a result of the picture posted here of "The Girls" cliffjumping in the gorge below Ash Mountain Park Headqarters. Look for the site California 14 on the Air Above Water webpage.

07-18-04 The Sequoia and Kings Canyon Draft General Management Plan is out for public comment through Oct. 6, 2004. It contains policy affecting kayaking within the park. None of the alternative listed would further ban kayaking in the park. The plan can be downloaded from the aforementioned page.

04-07-04 The "Kaweah Kam" is hosted by The Kaweah Commonwealth newspaper with a large 640x480 image and impressive view of the high Sierras. Updated every 90 seconds.

07-31-04 The Kaweahcam image and temperature data was missing between 12AM and 4PM today because the Three Rivers Server was down

07-08-04 Water Temperature Data recording has ceased for this season.

06-21-04 Water Temperature Data recording commenced again today with the addition of a new sensor in the river. Hardware and software is stable with one day of data reported. This is your best source of data for Kaweah River Swimming Conditions

06-20-04 Inner Tubers were seen decending The Chute today

06-16-04 Car breakins have recently occurred at the river access parking area adjacent to SCE Kaweah Plant No. 2 below Dinely Bridge. Beware.

06-10-04 The Kaweah boating season is officially done. There is not enough water in any stretch above the town of Three Rivers. The level at SCE Bridge on the Park Boundary is 4.47 ft this evening and 100 cfs. 100 cfs is coming out the East Fork. Add the 100 cfs of power diversion coming in at SCE Plants No 1 and 2 and you have the 300 cfs in the river at Three Rivers. LIMITED UPDATES from here on out and no more flow reporting this season unless there is a flash flood or something extrodinary.

06-09-04 The Kaweah has dropped/is dropping below runnable levels even in the upper runs above the Middle Fork/East Fork confluence. Temperatures are very cold today with cloud cover at 6000 ft in the mountains. Noon temperature at 6000 ft is 37 degF

06-08-04 A fire broke out in the canyon above Skyline road south of Dinely Bridge but it was contained in hours. It could have been worse with the higher than normal winds today.

06-08-04 The Tue 8PM level on the Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 4.78 ft. Cool today and cooler forecast tomorrow. The river is dropping like a rock.

06-07-04 The Mon 8PM level on the Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 4.85 ft. Still enough water up on the Boundary and Hospital Rock and The East Fork.

06-05-04 The 1PM level at Dinely Bridge is 0.3 ft. The Kaweah is now on it's final way down and out. A very hot day yesterday resulted in a lower flow this morning. This is the trigger that flows will continue to fall the remainder of the season. A few days of cooler weather is coming Tomorrow through Tuesday.

06-04-04 The East Fork and Hospital Rock will continue to be at optimal flows through the coming weekend.

06-04-04 The photo archive in the Picture Page is updated with all this seasons photos.

06-04-04 Southestern Boaters; Josh, Rett, Drew, Greg, Caleb, Riley, Jess, and Duncan: Thank you for your company. I had a good time. Do come back.

06-04-04 I am playing catchup now after needing to take a few days off the computer. The Picture of the Day is updated with some some good shots. Get the direct links to the back issue Picture of the Day shots for 5-30 through 6-3 in the Picture of the Day section of this page. The Photo Archive is being updated during today so stay tuned.

06-04-04 For the 4th day in a row the morning level at Dinely Bridge is 0.6 ft plus or minus a bit. Hot weather is holding the flow up ver vell. 06-01-04 The Memorial Day weekend had better flows than expected but there was still some raft careening in the rocks. See it on the Kaweah River Picture Photo page Archive section soon.

05-31-04 The Scott Lindgren team assault on the Headwaters of the Middle Fork Kaweah was completed today in 6 days total with alot of portages and some cold weather during the trip. They put in on Cliff Creek at 7000 ft elevation where the trail crosses near the confluence of Timber Gap Creek. I hope to have some details to add soon.

05-29-04 The Sat 7PM level at Dinely bridge is 0.1 ft. Cool temperature all day is dropping the level

05-28-04 The Fri 1PM level on the Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 5.08 ft. The noon level at Dinely bridge is 0.4 ft. Cool temperatures all day and overcast in the mountains will probably reduce tomorrows flows. The new runoff forecast is posted. Probable flow is 600 cfs or above between now and June 10th.

05-27-04 The Thu 7PM level on the Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 4.75 ft. The evening level at Dinely bridge is 0.0 ft

05-26-04 The Wed 7PM level on the Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 4.75 ft. Let me go out on a limb and make a prediction for flows over the Memorial Day weekend. With one more day of moderate warm and then a forecasted 2 days of cooler temperatures, the KRP is predicting continued falling water levels. Given that the current level is not really passable in a raft by any normal standard, figure that commercial trips, if any, will be spending the day removing the rafts from the rocks. There will still be plenty of flow on the Park Boundary and most stretches of the Upper Kaweah above Dinely Bridge for kayaks but it is getting more technical.

05-26-04 Scott Lindgren and team departed this morning for a planned 7 day First Descent of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah from it's headwaters near Timber Gap above the Mineral King Valley. The descent includes 13 miles of expedition boating ending at Hospital Rock. They should be boating on 200 cfs by the time they get to the takeout a week from now. The team is hiking to the Put In today over Timber Gap. The trip has been reported to be in the planning phase for 2 years. You heard about it first on the Kaweah River Page. One is amazed at the extent of new boating in the Kaweah drainage. Don't be surprized to hear of the first decent of the East Fork from Mineral King within a few years.

05-26-04 Late news now but the East Fork Kaweah was run in a raft from the Lookout Point Trail earlier this year. Aaron Root and associate made this first raft decent.

05-25-04 The Tue 7PM level on the Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 4.80 ft.

05-24-04 Kaweah Whitewater Adventures photos for 5-21 and 5-22 and Whitewater Voyages 5-24 are posted on the Kaweah Pictures Page

05-24-04 The Mon 6PM level on the Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 4.85 ft.

05-23-04 The Sun afternoon level at Dinely Br. is 0.08 ft and at SCE Br. at the Park Boundary is 4.88 ft. The river is nearly unpassable in rafts and lots of rock bonking in a kayak. Plenty of water if you are boating above the Park Boundary or on the East Fork.

05-23-04 The Kaweah Webcam and Temperature Sensing is temporarily offline due to network problems.

05-21-04 An Armada of no less than 10 boats made the run down the East Fork today from The Oak Grove Bridge. The video was amazing.

05-21-04 The Fri. afternoon level at Dinely Br. is 0.20 ft and at SCE Br. at the Park Boundary is 4.92 ft

05-20-04 The Thu. evening level at Dinely Br. is 0.20 ft (estimated) and at SCE Br. at the Park Boundary is 4.95 ft

05-19-04 The Wed. evening level at Dinely Br. is 0.35 ft and at SCE Br. at the Park Boundary 5.05 ft

05-17-04 The Monday 5PM level on the Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 5.10 ft, the same level as yesterday.

05-16-04 The Sunday afternoon level at Dinely Bridge was 0.5 ft and 5.10 ft on the Park Boundary. The webmaster and friends ran from the Park Boundary to town today. Good run guys! Brian Rouch is back as Picture of the Day. Click the link a bit lower down the page.

05-05-04 The Wednesday runoff forecast released today has the Kaweah River flow peaked for the season on 5-5-04, today. It's lower flows from here on out. The updated May snowpack report now shows Kaweah snowpack at 32 percent of May 1st average. The early hot weater has really burned off the snow.

05-05-04 There has been alot of hits for the May 18, 2003 "Picture of the Day" photo of Todd Quigley on Cherry Falls. The URL must have made it to some boater chat room or email list.

05-01-04 The Noon Friday level at Dinely Bridge was 0.45 ft and 5.24 ft on the Park Boundary. Perfect level on the Boundary.

05-01-04 The May snowpack summary report lists the Kaweah snowpack at 42 percent of May 1st average. It is a dismal forecast. Figure the Kaweah season will be short, possibly ending Memorial Day weekend. Compare this to 62 percent for the same date last year.

04-30-04 This weeks runoff forecast moves the peak flow up to 5-7

04-22-04 The second runoff forecast for 2004 was released by DWR. Peak flow has been reforecast at a lower peak flow of 1785 cfs on 5-14.

04-18-04 The first runoff forecast for 2004 is released by DWR last Wed. The graph is further down this page. An early peak on 5-14 at 2040 cfs is predicted.

04-07-04 The new "Kaweah Kam" is hosted by The Kaweah Commonwealth newspaper with a large 640x480 image and impressive view of the high Sierras. Updated every 90 seconds.

04-07-04 The North Fork recreation areas of Paradise, Advance and Cherry Falls started Fee Use on April 1. $5 to park and a limited number of parking spots.

04-05-04 The Friday, 4-2-04, level on the North Fork was 1.0 feet. Too low to boat on the past weekend. This was with the flow at Three Rivers measuring 815 cfs. This can be interpreted that the N Fk will not be runnable again until Three Rivers flow is greater than 1000cfs. The low snow has melted from the North Fork drainage.

04-03-04 The recent cooling trend has brought the main Kaweah down to minimum runnable levels from the Park Boundary down. The North Fork is most probably below runnable levels this weekend. North Fork should be runnable when the 8AM flow at Three Rivers is above 850 again.

04-03-04 The Kaweah snowpack is a dismal 64 percent of normal for April 1. Without a cold April and additional snow like happened last year, this is desitined to be a low water short season.

03-21-04 A cooling trend is coming with a 15 to 20 degree drop in temperatures by nex weekend. Expect sharply lower flows by the next weekend with the possiblility that flows will drop below runnable levels.

03-19-04 Friday levels: Park Boundary at SCE Bridge 5.35 ft at 9AM Dinely Bridge 0.5 ft at 5PM

03-16-04 River Levels at 9AM Tues. All tributaries are runnable.
Main at Dinely Bridge 0.50 ft
Park Boundary at SCE Bridge 5.25 ft
North Fork at Bailey Bridge 1.40 ft (runnable)
South Fork at Sequoia Oaks Bridge 0.75 ft (est 150 cfs) runnable above the Silver Truss Bridge
East Fork at Pumpkin Hollow Bridge (est 200 cfs)

03-15-04 The Kaweah continues to rise. Level at SCE bridge on the Park Boundary is 5.05 ft at Noon Monday. The first Picture of the Day for the 2004 season is posted today. The link is further down the page.

03-14-04 The Kaweah River is runnable! A week of 75 degree weather has brought the river up. Level at Dinely Bridge is 0.3 ft at 10AM and at the SCE gauge on the Park Boundary 4.90 ft at 2PM. The webmaster and friends ran from the Park Boundary today.

02-09-04 The Kaweah Links Page is posted and is being updated. It contains all the links in the Other Related Links section further down this page plus many more. Eventually the Other Related Links section will go away and the Kaweah Links Page will be the location of all the links.

01-15-04 The Three Rivers Hideaway, Formerly The Three Rivers Motel and RV Park is under new ownership and management. Located a quarter mile west of Dinely Bridge on Hwy 198 it offers accodations and camping. This facility is boater friendly. A permanent link appears further down the page.

01-15-04 The North Fork will operate as a BLM fee based area starting April 1, 2004. Parking fees will be $5 per day per vehicle or $20 for a season pass. Fee areas include Paradise Beach, Advance Site and Cherry Falls. Yucca Flat is not included in the fee areas. You read about it in The Kaweah Commonwealth Dec. 26, 2003 article

11-30-03 The Army Corp of Engineers has made River Access parking impossible at the Cobble Knoll Trailhead. The former take out parking at the trail to Holiday Rapid has been eliminated. This is a sorry situation.

11-30-03 Southern Califoria Edison Co. has made River Access official at their Kaweah Plant No. 2!

10-12-03 A favicon.ico icon file was added to this website so your IE5 favorites bookmarks to the KRP will now show the yaker icon.

10-12-03 The Temperature Recording System was repaired on 8-30-03 and has been reporting air temperature data ever since.

07-30-03 A severe electrical storm on 7-29-03 destroyed the Kaweah riverguage and temperature gauging circuits. River level and air and water temperature reporting is suspended until the system can be repaired. Estimated timeframe is months.

07-13-03 The Dinely Fire Pictures are posted on the Kaweah Pictures Page. There is also an article in the July 11, 2003 issue of The Kaweah Commonwealth available online.

07-13-03 More reports keep coming in about this seasons descents on the East Fork. A high water run with unplanned night out was reported with flow of 1300 cfs at Three Rivers. Another run from way high up below the BIG falls is also reported.

07-10-03 Chris LaBounty and Todd Quigley ran a portion of the East Fork on 6-29-03. Their pictures are on the Kaweah Picture Page linked further down this page. Blaine Harmon and Tom Meinholz ran the East Fork on 7-6-03. Boaters were seen way up the East Fork in the Upper Upper expedition zone on 6-22 but we don't have more info on that trip. The East Fork is still dishing out Class V+ action this late in the year. The East Fork can be run with flow as low as 250 cfs on the Three Rivers COE guage so there is still a few runs left in it this season.

07-10-03 There are pictures on the Kaweah Pictures Page of the Hauber, Brown, Murphy trip on the Shatner Ranch Run above the Silver Truss Bridge on the South Fork 6-7-03 in case you were wondering what's up on that section. These are the first pictures from that section of river to be posted here.

07-08-03 9:00AM Helicopters fighting the July 5th wildfire. I am working on the complete picture report. Stay tuned.

07-05-03 4:00PM The fire was controlled in about 2 hours. Cleanup continues now. A dozen helicopters and fixed wing aircraft are dumping water and fire supressants on the fire. These helicopter pilots are good picking water from the river! A complete picture report will follow in a day. I have taken more than 100 pictures so far.

07-05-03 2:10PM FIRE!!!! A wildfire broke out about 1 PM today in the vicinity of the Riverway Ranch, one mile donwstream from the East Fork confluence on the north side of the river. The flames and smoke are now visible from the webcam location. The 2PM webcam image has the smoke clearly visible. The fire is moving east at a brisk pace. Stay tuned.

07-05-03 The Rivergauge Page is now graphing the hourly air temperature.

07-05-03 Yesterday was flag day on the webcam.

07-04-03 The East Fork is still at a very runnable level.

07-04-03 The Park Boundary at SCE Br. was 4.67 ft., today, Fri 8AM. This is still a runnable level.

06-20-03 River gauging trivia: the rivergauge at Pumpkin Hollow is able to detect the when the diversion flume at the park boundary goes on and off line

06-13-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 1.10 ft. at 8AM Fri. This will be the last reported level at Dinely Bridge. The rivergauge is now reliably reporting the level at Dinely Bridge. Use the The Kaweah Rivergauge Page link from now on the get the Dinely reading.

06-13-03 The Middle Fork Kaweah at SCE Bridge on the Park Boundary is 5.60 ft. at 8AM Friday. The Boundary Run is filled in and still big but runnable at and below this level.

06-13-03 Expect limited updates to this page for the remainder of the boating season and enjoy the next two weeks of predicted perfect boating conditions as the Kaweah gradually dwindles away. The Webmaster is saying farewell to the Kaweah for this season and returning to the working world. :(

06-12-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 1.20 ft. at 8AM Thu. A plot of the Dinely Bridge Gauge height is now being automatically generated each hour and posted on The Kaweah Rivergauge Page

06-11-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 1.30 ft. at 8AM Wed.

06-10-03 The East Fork is estimated at 350 to 450 cfs, still a bit big even for the Class V+/VI types. Give it to the weekend or the week after to come down to a reasonable flow. Hospital Rock and Ash Mountain are also big right now but will be dialing in by the coming weekend and the following week and weekend. Be careful up there! All documented sections of the South Fork are still at runnable levels. The North Fork is too low to boat.

06-10-03 Now that a range of flows have been experienced since the new gauge was installed at Dinely Bridge the webmaster has determined the placement and calibration against the previous gauge is very close to the same at all flows.

06-10-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 1.40 ft. at 8AM Tue. The Park Boundary at SCE Bridge is 5.80 ft at 9AM Tue., The Park Boundary Run is still Class V at this level.

06-10-03 Now that levels are dropping and the Boundary Run will become runnable again, be aware that Portage No. 11 is still a portage at medium and high flows. At higher flows a severe diagonal eddy fence forms on the left forcing the flow into the undercut rock on the right. Please scout No. 11 before comitting and use your own judgement whether it's worth the risk.

06-09-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 1.45 ft. at 8AM Mon.

06-08-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 1.60 ft. at 8AM Sun.

06-08-03 South Fork Kaweah is at runnable levels, est. 300 cfs Sat. PM, and dropping each day. Be carefull up there, especially on the Shatner Ranch Section above the Silver Truss Bridge. There has been some carnage this season on the South Fork

06-07-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 1.80 ft. at 8AM Sat.

06-07-03 It appears that COE fixed their 500cfs data offset problem mentioned 6-4

06-06-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 1.95 ft. at 8AM Fri. (Bold prediction at 7AM based on the 7AM reading at Pumpkin Hollow)

06-05-03 The Kaweah River peaked for the year at an average 3519cfs inflow into Lake Kaweah on 5-28-03. The 11PM level at Dinely Bridge that night was a whopping 3.3 ft. (Yes, I read it with a flashlight from the bridge)

06-05-03 It is speculated that the reason the lake is not filling this year is because of the work on the spillway at Terminus Dam and the Hwy 198 bridge at Horse Creek in preparation for the raising of the lake by 21 feet. The bad news is the future lake levels will bury both Upper and Lower Holiday rapids completely. The good news is the Holidays are runnable all this season for the first time in years.

06-05-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 2.10 ft. at 8AM Thu.

06-04-03 There is a misterious permanent 500cfs negative offset in the COE cfs flow data that occurred in their data between 7AM and 8AM on Wed., June 4, 2003. I do not believe this to be correct as the lake inflow data does not show the same offset. This is why The Kaweah River Page does not use calculated cfs as a measure of river conditions. The KRP will only report gauge height at Dinely Bridge, the best standard for judging Kaweah River flow.

06-04-03 There has been no new 'Picture of the Day' lately because the webmaster is on high water shore leave

06-04-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 2.25 ft. at 8AM Wed.

06-03-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 2.25 ft. at 8AM Tue.

06-02-03 Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 2.25 ft. at 8AM Mon.

06-01-03 Lost new Werner Paddle with white blades on the South Fork, Sat., below the Double Drop 1/4 mile below the Silver Truss Bridge. There is a name and phone number on it. REWARD for it's safe return to it's owner who would certainly like to have it back. Could be anywhere between where it was lost and Lake Kaweah, but, most likely it's not below the Amazon Section where the river strains out. The South Fork was running a healthy flow the day it was lost.

06-01-03 Practically no kayakers have been seen on the Kaweah above Dinely Bridge for the past 10 days. Flow has been healthy to extreme with a Class 5 rating during the 4 days the river was peaking. Thankfully, the river is over the peak and now receeding daily.

05-29-03 8AM Thu. Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 2.6 ft. This is the first Dinely Bridge reading published with data from the Pumpkin Hollow gauge without actually physically reading the gauge at the bridge. Isn't technology great! The North Fork is 1.30 ft. at 11AM. The normal North Fork run is now too low for all but the boat abusers. There is a run or two left above yucca Creek on the hike in section. Not good weather for hiking with the 100 degree daytime temperatures. This will be the final North Fork gauge reading for the season.

05-27-03 10PM Tue. Kaweah at Dinely Bridge 3.3. ft.! It's moving out!

05-27-03 11PM Mon. at the highest peak flow this season, Kaweah At Dinely Bridge 2.80 ft., SCE at Park Boundary 6.80 ft.

05-27-03 The Farewell to Spring wildflowers are out in force

05-25-03 9AM Sunday Kaweah At Dinely Bridge 2.20 ft., SCE at Park Boundary 6.4 ft., North Fork 1.50 8:30PM Sunday Kaweah At Dinely Bridge 2.50 ft.

05-24-03 Just when we thought the Kaweah peaked for the season on 5-23 at 1AM with a flow of 2787 cfs at Three Rivers, it came up even higher tonight, and it was 10 degrees cooler. The Kaweah at Dinely Bridge was 1.85 ft. at 4PM and 2.70 ft. at 11PM totay. Lower Holiday rapid is still 2/3 exposed. The Holidays, both Upper and Lower, are big.

05-23-03 The Kaweah at Dinely Bridge was 2.20 ft at 8AM Fri. and the North Fork was 1.52 ft. at 10 AM Fri falling

05-22-03 The Kaweah at Dinely Bridge was 1.90 ft at 5PM Thu. at the low point for the day and 2.50 ft. at 9PM rising fast from the day snowmelt and 97 degree temperatures in Three Rivers and 75 degrees at 6400 ft. in Sequoia Park. The North Fork was 1.50 at 5:15 PM Thu.

05-22-03 Aaron Root and another ran Cherry Falls on 5-20 in a raft at 1.6 ft. It was a very clean run and even made it look easy. The video by Sage Root will be posted to the Pictures Page. Check Friday morning for the video.

05-22-03 It's a bit late to be reporting this as the North Fork season ends but there is log across the entrance rapid to Up Against the Wall. It is a man felled tree. Ugly. You won't have a problem if you are heading for the eddy on the right to get out and scout. There is another tree across the right side on the river 100 yards below Crackerjack.

05-22-03 The Kaweah Webcam on the right back is out of commission until it gets fitted with an auto iris lens. The fixed iris lens is not compatible with whitewater resulting in a washed out image. The new lens will allow variable field of view from 20 degrees to 45 degrees so it will be a performance upgrade too. Hope to have the new lens in service by Teusday, 5-27-03.

05-21-03 The Kaweah Digital Rivergauge is in the river and operating from Pumpkin Hollow and reporting to the web hourly. Access the river level and water temperature graphs and data at The Kaweah Rivergauge Page

05-21-03 The latest runoff forecast issued today calls for the Kaweah to peak on Fri., May 23.

05-21-03 The Kaweah at Dinely Bridge was 1.95 ft at 8AM Wed., Boundary at SCE Bridege was 6.20 ft. at 7:30 AM Wed

05-20-03 The Kaweah at Dinely Bridge was 1.65 ft at Noon Tue. 5-20-03 It was hot today and forecast getting hotter. The river is going to peak dramatically by the weekend.

05-20-03 We ran the North Fork from Paradise Beach to Bailey Bridge on Monday at 1.57 ft. There are still 2 nasty spots where the river moves from a left channel to a right channel through logs and trees. The Nov. flood did not alter these ugly spots on an otherwise wonderful 3/3+ run. These spots are similar to but worse than the same kind of hazard at Trinity Ranch on the normal North Fork run.

05-20-03 The Kaweah at Dinely Bridge was 1.7 ft at 8PM Mon 5-19-03 and 2.0 ft at 10 PM 2 hours later rising fast. The hole at the bottom of Osterizer is now very deep and ugly. Nearly impossible to miss without a very hard and quick right to left move at the right side of the black rock. Does not look good for rafts who can't make the right to left move. The cheat route for kayaks is also dicey with the strong currents and narrow slot.

05-19-03 The North Fork gauge was 1.57 ft. Mon 5-19-03 at 11AM. The North Fork has started dropping today while the main Kaweah is rising fast. Expect a slowly declining North Fork from here on.

05-18-03 The North Fork gauge was 1.60 ft. Sun 5-18-03 at 11AM. The SCE Park Boundary gauge was 5.95 ft. at 8AM Sun

05-17-03 The Kaweah at Dinely Bridge was 1.45 ft. at 7 PM Sat and the North Fork was 1.60 ft at 11 AM Sat.

05-16-03 The 7 PM webcam image will be the first this season operating wireless from the right bank. This one is looking at The Chute. In the future the camera will be moved upstream for closeups of The Chute. This year the camera has the capability to be 1200 feet from the computer.

05-15-03 The new Dinely Rivergauge has been installed. The river channel was scoured deeper by the Nov 8, 2002 flood so the gauge will NOT read the same as before. The river level is lower now for the same flow rate. The gauge has been positioned to try to account for the change but it will never read the same as before nor will the flow vs. gauge height follow the same curve. We are starting over with a whole new frame of reference.

05-15-03 The SCE Park Boundary gauge was 5.65 ft. at 5:30PM, 5.80 ft. at 7:30PM, and 5.90 ft. at 8:30PM Thursday and rising..... The Boundary is becoming BIG water! Rest assured the Boundary will hit well over 6 ft by midnight. The Boundary starts coming up at 4:30 PM, peaking at midnight.

05-14-03 The North Fork gauge was 1.60 ft. Wed 5-14-03 at 11AM and the the road to Yucca Flat has pretty much dried out

05-13-03 The North Fork gauge was 1.52 ft. Tue 5-13-03 at 2PM (very nice level) We ran it today at 1.52

05-12-03 The North Fork gauge was 1.50 ft. Mon 5-12-03 at 11AM

05-12-03 This photo shows the Snowpack on Alta Peak is good this year.

05-11-03 The North Fork gauge was 1.38 ft. Sat 5-10-03 at 5PM

05-09-03 I've managed to do a few runs in the last few days. Had a fine run on the Boundary at 5.20 ft on 5-5 with Chris Tulley who just happened to blow into town. It was a cold day with rain while boating with Chris. 5-8 was even colder and rainier. 5-9 saw us up on the North Fork at 1.40 ft. The flood of last Nov. did not change the North Fork nearly as much as it did the main Kaweah. The road to the North Fork putin was plenty muddy and rutted now and the water was plenty frigid with the snow level hovering at 5500 ft. The Picture of the Day is back with the first image posted now. I'll do a couple of extra editions to get back in sync. See the archive to catch up on the 2003 Pictures of the Day.

05-09-03 There are numerous reports of expeditions to the Upper North Fork this year.

05-04-03 The May snowpack report has been issued by California Snow Surveys. The Kaweah has 76% of normal snowpack for May 1st, up from 45% May 1, 2002, but down from the 91% on May 1, 2001. With a nromal runoff, that puts the end of the 2003 season at about June 12th based on the end of season dates for the last 2 years.

04-28-03 A report has come in that would confirm the suspicion that you don't want to run the right side of the center channel at Powerhouse. Some major carnage was reported on Sunday when the boater was deflected by a submerged rock and shot off course and down the right side. Reports indicate 5 separate thrashings and amazingly the boater came out unharmed and still in his boat. It is reported that you don't want to repeat any portion of this stunt. Video of the incident is reported to be worth $15,000 and maybe more if it were available.

04-13-03 The first 2003 runoff forecast is released by CNRFC. Scroll down this page to the Spring Runoff section. Peak flow is predicted for May 9th at 1785cfs average inflow into Terminus Reservoir.

04-01-03 The April Snaowpack report is released by DWR/Calif Snow Surveys. April 1, 2003 snowpack is 55% of normal. This compares to 91% for April 1st last year.

04-01-03 Alan and Mike ran the Park Boundary on 3-22-03. They report some good news! Portage No. 11 is no longer a portage. The boulder that blocked the bottom of the drop forcing the flow under the dangerous undercut boulder on the right is gone as a result of the Nov. 8, 2002 flood. The new rapid is a large sliding drop. The gauge on the Boundary read 4.90 ft. (est 225 cfs on the Boundary). Flow at Three Rivers was 650 cfs at the time and flow was reported as minimal for the upper Kaweah. The bottom left exit of Osterizer is reported to have changed also. The fang tooth rock at the bottom is gone.

03-18-03 It rained in the Kaweah Basin Saturday 3-15 and the river bacame runnable before peaking at over 4000cfs at Three Rivers.

03-18-03 There is a new Rivergauge for Dinely Bridge. It will be installed by May 6, 2003. It will replace the gauge washed away by the Nov. 8, 2002 flood.

01-02-03 The Kaweah River Webcam is back. Scroll down a tad and you'll see the image. Powerhouse rapid was personally inspected by the webmaster after the Nov 8th flood. It is not as bad as previously reported. While it is true that the right side of the center channel is quite ugly after the arrival of the Al Gored boulder mounted high and above the Janet Reno boulder, the flood has removed a portion of the island separating the center channel from the left channel. The new 'left center' channel appears to be a straight shot, joining the flow from the left channel 60 feet upstream from the Al Gored rock. These pictures will make it clearer (maybe). Photos are taken at a flow of 250 cfs @ Threerivers. Powerhouse 1 is taken from the bank right of the center channel looking to river left, Powerhouse 2 is taken from the top of the center channel looking downstream, Powerhouse 3 is taken from the top of the center channel further upstream looking downstream, Powerhouse 4 is taken from adjacent to the Al Gored boulder at the bottom of the right center channellooking to river left, Powerhouse 5 is taken from below the center channel looking upstream,

01-02-03 Nov 8th flood brings steel beam down The Chute. It was removed 12-29-02 by winch from it's dangerous position crosswise in the channel. Photos 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 of the removal of the beam.

11-10-02 Flash Flood on the Kaweah. The Kaweah River experienced a flash flood Fri, 11-8-2002. Flow at Three Rivers rose from 140 cfs at 5AM to a peak of 26065 cfs at 5PM. Inflow to the lake peaked at 6PM at 30273 cfs. Flood graphs

11-10-02 Flood Photos! Flood at Cateye (1) and Flood at Cateye (2) Courtesy of Diana Glass

11-10-02 The KRP is looking for paddlers to check out the river and report any changes to the KRP webmaster. Such as, where is Janet Reno? Send in any pictures of the flood you are willing to share.

11-10-02 Read paddler reports here for post flood information.

11-01-02 More Steel beams in the river up on the Boundary. These beams were documented in late Oct. 2002. Photos 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 . All this steel in the river is probably compliments of Southern California Edison Company. There ought to be a law, If you lose your bridge then you got to find and remove all the pieces from the river at no matter what the cost. There are at least another dozen known major pieces of steel in the river in the mile below Pumpkin Hollow Bridge. Not to mention the reminents of bridges destroyed in the 1955 flood.

11-01-02 While we are on the subject of editorials, let me complain about the placement of plastictarps and sheeting in the river by landowners for the apparant enhancement of late summer personal swimming holes. These tarps are illegal and ultimately become entrapment for fish and look like a Los Angeles storm drain without the grocery carts. I hope to soon have a link to the laws governing alteration of river beds and placement of foreign material in California rivers. (Mike?)

11-01-02 The Dangerous Rebar that peppered the downstream face of the Diversion Dam at the Park Boundary has all been bent downstream to a safer form. There are 7 pieces of rebar protruding between 1.5 and 3 inches on the ski jump portion of the downstream face located 3, 6, 12, 15, 35, and 39 feet left of the 3 foot long rebar that stands vertical on the lip of the dam near center stream. Another piece is located about 5 feet off the far left edge of the dam. It is unbelievable someone had not yet ripped a hole in the bottom of their boat running the diversion dam, especially considering the rebar that's 6 feet left of the 3 foot vertical piece. This is right where people normally run the dam! Sage reports running the dam 4 feet off the left wall. That too had a very nasty piece sticking out 2 inches. Here are three photos of Typical Rebar Before and Typical Rebar After and the Rebar Location Zone Ultimately, all these hazards need to be cut off with a hacksaw flush with the rock but the present solution is a major improvement.

12-30-02 There is no point in tracking the Very Large Log last seen stuck in No.2 at the season end. The flood has probably put it in the lake.

12-30-02 The log that blocked the left slot under Pumpkin Hollow Bridge has been removed.

10-02-02 The Kaweah Chat Page has been tested and it works. You will find it from the Kaweah River Picture Page. It will become a regular feature during the 2003 boating season.

07-07-02 Todd Quigley, Ben Davis and the webmaster ran the East Fork at 80 cfs on 7-6-02. It was an exceptional run even at the very low flow. As a result of the run there is a series of special edition post season "Picture of the Day" photos commemorating the trip. Extensive photos of the trip are also posted on the Kaweah River Pictures Page. The run documented below gave us the information necessary to venture into the little known canyon of the East Fork.

06-23-02 The East Fork Kaweah was run Sat., June 22, 2002, from the Oak Grove Bridge to the Middle Fork Confluence by Ben Coleman, Taylor Robertson, Dave Persolja, Jon Burrill, Derek Beitler, Shannon Carroll and Tanya Shurman. Early reports from the team indicate all drops were run by someone, but a later report claim about 12 mandatory portages in the upper sections. All in all they rated the East Fork as runnable Class 5 at low water. Their flow was in the range of 150 cfs on The E. Fork (0.0 ft/ on the Dinely gauge). They noted that their previous attempts at this stretch were cut short by certain events and higher than desireable water levels. They recommended no more than the flow they had for a first time descent but would welcome a bit more water for their next run. I have had to slightly edit the East Fork Page in light of this recent news. The team promises me a further writeup and pictures from the event. You will see it here when it's available. In the meantime I ventured into the East Fork the following day to photogragh what I could of the river and canyon. Follow the link to The Kaweah River Picture Page and the subsequent links until you arrive at the 2002 Kaweah season photos. There you will find the link to the 6-23-02 East Fork Scouting Trip. It is worth your visit if you like steep creek stuff. There are 20 photos as well as a topo map of the river with discriptive annotations.

07-02-02 The KRP received a request for photos of the waveboarders at Upper Slicky. Yes, there are photos of the waveboarders shredding Upper Slicky posted on the Kaweah River Pictures Page. Kedar Davis even made Picture of the Day on 5-22-02 .

07-01-02 Welcome US Army Corps of Engineers Kaweah Division, kaweah-xx.spk.usace.army.mil ! You have been seen surfing this site and the Kaweah Pictures Page. But did you know your websurfing is being watched by a government watchdog computer snoopdog.spk.usace.army.mil ? Every so often snoopdog follows you to the same page you are in. Nice to have a big brother.

06-28-02 Kayak for sale: Wave Sport Godzilla $375 with backband. Email the webmaster.

06-28-02 Kayak for sale: Perception Overflow X $350. Email the webmaster.

08-26-02 The hit counter at the bottom of this page has changed to digits.com on 8-24-02. Many thanks to beseen.com for more than 3 years of reliable web counter service. beseen.com has apparently become one of the latest dot coms to bite the dust

06-22-02 The Park Boundary Run was still excellent at below zero for the last run of the year in 2002.

06-22-02 Upper Holiday is all there again on 6-14-02. The first 1.5 ft. of Lower Holiday was showing on 6-14-02. Lower Holiday is all back once the lake drops 15 feet.

06-22-02 Remember the Log Hazard from 5-30-02? We didn't know where it went after it washed out of the rockfall 50 yards above Pumpkin Hollow Bridge. Well, now we know Where It Is! We should have just looked a little closer as we peered off the upstream side of Pumpkin Hollow Bridge. It is very firmly wedged across the left slot immediately upstream of the bridge. Most people boat the right slot so the log went undetected for 3 weeks. This is dangerous hazard due to is location directly in the current at the bottom of the drop. This one calls for a chainsaw when the water drops.

06-19-02 DWR put the season peak daily average reservoir inflow at 1887cfs on 4-15-02. The season peak flow on the Main, however, was 6-1 at 3AM measuring 2120cfs at Three Rivers.

06-20-02 2002 had 3 weeks more water year than 2001. Even though we had less measured snowpack in 2002 compared to 2001 we had a longer boating season.

06-17-02 The KRP webmaster and Alan Parker have recently been bestowed with the prestigious Old Pirates award. Look for the Emblem on their Boat .

06-08-02 It was a Zoo on Saturday, 6-8-02, below Suicide Falls. This is why Tulare County now regulates commercial rafting on the Kaweah. It took 45 minutes to get all the rafts through Suicide. And the commercial outfitters are no where close to filling their allocated usage. While this is the scene on a typical Saturday, the river is nearly abandoned Monday through Thursday. Private boaters are conspicuously missing for a river of this quality. I wonder if there is any connection to the river access issue?

05-17-02 Yellow Rubber Ducks on the river. So far 9 coveted numbered yellow ducks have been recovered from the river following the rubber duck race held in early May 2002. The race started with 96 ducks, most of which went nowhere fast and eddied out anywhere and everywhere. Sometimes they are seen swimming. Other times they just hang out on a rock in the river. Send your yellow ducks to the webmaster.

05-14-02 The group of Dan Robichaud, John Rogers, Steve Skakle, Steve Whittall, and Josh Schohn, ran from above Buckeye Flat Campground to The Chute at the meaty level of 1.35 ft.on 5-14. Ron Thompson joined them lower down near Ash Mtn. They ran everything and the video of the first sliding drop above the Campground is nothing short of awe inspiring. Maybe I can talk them in to posting a clip on the KRP for us armchair Class VIers. For those who don't know, the Buckeye Flat section is the mile above the normal Hospital Rock putin, is pure insanity, and definitely Class VI. This section has only been run in the last few years. It was reported that Park Rangers witnessing the event were cheering them on.

05-01-02 Old but good news. The Janet Reno Piton Rock in Powerhouse has moved downstream 15 feet to a safe and stable position nearly in the pool below. The center channel is safe (but still knarly) to run again. The rock has repositioned itself with both favorable location and angle. Rafters report the rock is still in the way but not as bad as before. There is more room for a raft to the left side of the rock. The void created by the rocks movement has created a new hydraulic with another surprize rock below the main pourover. The webmaster has personally T-boned this hidden underwater obstruction more than once even at higher flows of 1.4 ft. Avoid the T-Bone by staying right. See Photo.

04-20-02 Local guide and Kaweah Whitewater Adventures owner Frank Root was honored as a hero at the Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting on April 30, 2002. Frank saved a drowning swimmer near Slick Rock at the head of Lake Kaweah on April 14, 2002. The story was reported in the April 26th Kaweah Commonwealth. Frank has been involved in numerous river rescues over the years.

12-29-01 Is this Next Years SUV ? The KRP has received exclusive Paparazzi photos from up on the Park Boundary. Hostile guards were alledged to follow the every move of the Paparazzi as he was able to get within only 200 yards of the event. This was a full blown photo production with a cast of dozens and neither visitors, cameras nor questions were welcome. The vehicle came under drapes seconds later. These guys even draped the river gauge with camo cover.

12-29-01 Aaron Root and his buddies rafted the Kaweah at high water on 12-29-02 . By the next day the flow was down and Alan Parker and myself ran from Gateway all the way into the lake bottom through the seldom run Wavetrain one quarter mile below Lower Holiday .

12-29-01 The Chute was RAGING on 12-29-01 at 4PM after a day of hard rains.

Alan , Cindy, Gary and Myself went south to run the Lower Kern on July 6, 2001

07-03-01 There was a brush fire of suspicious nature on Kaweah River Dr., Monday, July 2, 2001

Tao Berman and Scott Lundgrin (sp?) reportedly ran the East Fork from the Oakgrove Bridge spring 2001. We'd like to hear more about that!

05-16-01 As of 5-15-01 there is an fiberglass Canoe wrapped around the rocks below the first slot in the right channel of Bumper. It is still there in the spring of 2002.

10-17-01 The Totaled Car in the North Fork 3/8 mile below Accelerator has been removed by the BLM. The Kaweah Commonwealth Article, Oct. 12, 2001 . created enough of an outcry that the BLM acted promptly and had the wreck removed from the canyon on Oct. 22, 2001. The BLM is to be commended and thanked for their action! Thanks also go out to Gary Tomlin of Three Rivers for reporting the wreck and the Kaweah Commonwealth for their reporting of the wreck. This environmental disaster was previously reported on the Kaweah River Page May 10, 2001. Here's another Picture of the Wreck from the May 10, 2001 kayak trip on the North Fork and reprints of the Kaweah Commonwealth articles from Oct. 19, 2001 (BLM gets ready for the wreck removal) and Oct. 26, 2001 (BLM removes the wreck)

12-20-00 The Kaweah River was featured as River of the Week in Dec 2000 at trailworks.com . Trailworks went bust along with a host of other dotcoms.

09-11-00 A large and ugly piece of a metal building was recently removed from the river below the Chute. The metal appeared after the Jan. 1997 flood. We know it's a metal building because the padlock is still on the door. Removing the metal: Image 1 , Image 2 , Image 3 , Image 4 .

09-11-00 A 15 foot I-beam is wrapped around a large boulder just below the Chute. Prior to the flood of Jan. 1997 the I-beam was stuck in the mega boulders to the right of the main drop at The Chute. We now boat right over the top of this piece of steel. It is firmly stuck about 3 feet below the low water line and wrapped in a "friendly manner" around the undercut rock if you can call steel beams in the river friendly. It going to be a big project to get this out someday. Any Volunteers? Inpecting the I-beam

09-11-00 Another I beam was discovered in July 2002 in Gateway about half way down when the flow dropped to below 200 cfs.

05-16-00 Rafting on the Kaweah River was featured in the May 12, 2000 issue of The Kaweah Commonwealth (pdf 324KB)

The Kaweah River Page reached 10,000 hits on July 21, 2000 at 08:02AM PST. From the log, the hit came from someone at dyn148-143.mdx.ac.uk They reloaded the page 24 times in their quest for the Holy Grail.

This page is http://c2.com/kaweah/oldnews.html

Last modified: 01.14.08