Sierra National Forest

Location Description

Sub-locations

582 photos

The group sorts gear and gets ready for the descent into...
Joel jumping, with Mike in the foreground.
Mike inspecting a pool he thinks he can avoid.
Mike tiptoeing around a pool.
John leading the way down a rock chute into a pool,...
Joel and our crazy group leader Michelle, who we had to...
John, pushing his backpack along the river. As it turns...
John, Mike and Michelle, contemplating the best place to jump.
Joel, taking the plunge, backpack on.
Mike, hanging out below one of the many water slides in...
John, right before jumping.
John, caught in mid-air.
Someone rappelling through a waterfall.
John and Joel, near the top of a jam in the river,...
John climbing a boulder to find a rappel bolt.
A water slide!
Mike going down the water slide.
Mike at the bottom of the water slide.
John, eating river.
John and Joel packing the rope.
John and Joel packing the rope.
Joel packing the rope.
Check out this hot rod I found by the side of the river!
Sweet! The steering wheel is even still there. Check...
Straight 8! They don't make engines like that anymore.
The waterfall right above the first rappel.
Andy and Joel inspecting the first drop into the gorge...
Tossing the rope.
Relaxing in the river while waiting for others to rappel down.
Mike on rappel.
Mike on rappel again.
Mike on rappel, #3.
Michael, swimming for shore.
Mike, with Joel in the background.
Andy on rappel with Joel proving a fireman's belay.
Looking for the second rappel. From left to right:...
Joel, Andy, and Mike, looking where to set up a body...
Andy inspecting the drop.
Joel getting ready to rappel off Andy and Mike's body weight.
Joel, on rappel.
A frog! These little guys were everywhere. There...
Top of the first jump. Looks exciting! At the bottom:...
Mike, on impact.
Setting up the next body belay. Mike providing the...
Andy on rappel.
Andy on rappel.
Mike, on impact. I need to get better at timing these...
Joel, on a water slide.
Floating down the river. Joel looks on as Andy...
Joel, Mike, Andy carefully working across a steep...
From foreground to background Joel, Mike and then Andy...
Another water slide! Mike looks on as Andy takes the plunge.
Joel, about to slide into the river.
Mike, caught in mid air as he slides off a short...
Andy, on a water slide "Australian style".
Joel at the bottom of a water slide.
Mike on a larger waterslide.
Joel, clearly having a good day.
Mike, trying out yet another water slide.
Andy, at the top of a rappel where Mike and Joel decided...
Andy, about to toss the rope/
Andy on rappel.
Waterfall next to our rappel.
Mike doing his mid-air impression of a fly on an...
Joel, doing oblique stretches (or maybe dancing to...
A view down river from the top of the 150 ft rappel. ...
The 150 ft rappel waterfall.
Andy on rappel of the 150 ft waterfall.
Andy on rappel #2.
Andy on rappel yet again. It is interesting to note...
My rappel device. Lying on a rock while the others...
Andy swimming for shore.
Mr. Radin.
Mike on rappel of the 150 ft waterfall.
Joel coming down the 150 ft waterfall.
Joel got sick of rappelling part way and decided to...
Andy, doggy-paddling down river.
Mike and Joel paddling down river with bags (bottom of...
Looking over the edge of a much smaller waterfall.
Joel and Mike, inspecting the waterfall for jumpability.
Mike, swimming.
Camp for the night. First order of business: get those...
A frog I found hanging out by the river. This guy...
Frog again, a little closer. About as close as I...
A little pot hole, with my reflection.
Mike, relaxing in camp after a hard day.
Andy, relaxing in camp.
Mike, who brought camp food so old that not only did it...
Making a fire in a pot hole.
Mike, Joel and Andy staring into the fire.
The fire eventually got pretty out of control, and...
Frog still here in the morning. Did he move?
Packing up camp. What better thing to do than jump into...
Andy and Mike, Sunday morning.
Breakfast in bed for Joel.
Andy, taking a morning dip in the pool.
Joel, Mike and Andy, ready for action.
Doggy paddling down river. Andy, Joel, and John's...
Joel and Mike enjoying a brisk morning swim.
View up river to our campsite.
Paddling down river. Annoying water droplet on lens at left.
Morning light, still hundreds of feet up.
Some tip-toeing around a rather narrow and fast-moving...
The top of a 100 ft waterfall.
From front to rear, Mike, Joel, Andy, inspecting the...
If you look very carefully, you'll see Mike 100 ft down...
Joel, on the 100 ft rappel, hanging his bag from his...
Joel swimming for shore, to begin the second part of the rappel.
Getting out of the water on slippery water-polished rock...
A picture of the 100 ft falls, captured from a unique...
Joel, having fun rappelling through a high-flow waterfall.
Joel's somewhere inside there. If you look really hard...
Joel having fun in the waterfall.
Joel, dropping into the second section of the waterfall
Joel, camera and all, rappelling through the waterfall.
Joel, feeling a whole river wash over him as he...
Victory!
Joel, floating down river, using his bag as a flotation aid.
Next up was an annoying section of down-climbing around...
Joel, passing under a large boulder in the river.
Contemplating a way around the cascade.
Frog soup! (A pool in a pot hole cut off from flow of...
Joel floating down river.
Enjoying a wider, gentler section of the canyon. Mike,...
Joel and Mike (rear) swimming down river, joel pushing...
Time for elevensies! Somehow we forgot second breakfasts today.
Mike (top left) doing one of his patented "power slides"...
Mike, mid power slide. Joel looks on.
So good, Mike is climbing back up to do it over.
Joel, below a rather scenic little cascade.
Weird looking rock on right. I wonder how that happened.
Joel, floating down the river.
Testing out underwater ability of camera. Joel, swimming.
Blackberry bushes! Guess this will have to suffice for...
Eating blackberries by the fist full. Wet suits make...
Andy on a water slide.
Mike, squeezing through a tight passage in a large boulder field.
Joel coming through an opening between two massive...
Andy, having worked his way through two large boulders.
I had a copy of our beta (trip information) in a zip...
Andy on a short rappel into a washing-machine like pool.
Joel on rappel as Andy (below) gives a fireman's belay.
Joel found a piece of wood at the bottom of the river...
Following the river under a massive boulder.
Mike doggy paddling and Andy behind him about to get...
Joel jumping off a rock, camera around neck. I am...
Andy, attempting to get as low as possible before...
Joel helping Andy out of a particularly violent pot hole...
Trying to find a way around this particularly...
Mike, jumping into the river. I always get these shots too late.
Mike on a waterslide.
The view to the west. Amazing scenery for only being...
Best water slide of the day. 15 foot drop down the...
Mike, on his way down the water slide of fun.
The 250 foot cascade we avoided by taking a use trail...
The 250 foot waterfall.
The use trail included the use of a 30 foot hand line to...
Andy, working his way under a boulder that smelled of guano.
Mike, squeezing under the guano boulder.
The last part of this hike became fairly arduous, with...
Almost there! (The powerhouse comes into view.)
Almost there! The powerhouse comes into view. (Mike,...
Geronimo! A fitting end to our trip. Joel, after...
Time to get out of the river before getting sucked into...
One last obstacle remains: sneaking through the power...
Nothing like some good old fashioned trespassing to...
This was a rather surreal end to our weekend wilderness...
Interesting. Go PG&E.
Packing Andy's truck for the drive home.
Looking at our drainage from the road Saturday AM. The...
Apparently Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has gotten...
Boulders visible at the exit of the route. Picture taken...
Beginning the process of suiting up at the entrance to...
Tommer, striking a superhero pose.
A picture of a person taking a picture.
Tommer looks psyched to be on his first canyon adventure.
Jon on a short slide into a pool.
Tommer, Jon, and John downclimb in the water course. ...
Jon begins the first rappel, a slabby descent with a...
Tommer on rappel, with Jon providing a fireman's belay. ...
Tommer and Jon.
John at the top of the waterfall.
John and Monica enjoying the day.
Looking up canyon at the boulders and waterfalls we've...
Monica climbs out of some kind of pothole while John...
Looking down canyon. Eventually, we could see the...
Looking through the spray at the bottom of the 100+ foot rappel.
Monica on the 100+ foot rappel.
Monica continues down.
... pausing to climb over a ledge...
... and finish.
Waterfall without rappellers (though I think Jon's head...
The pool at the bottom of the big falls, just to the...
Tommer on rappel.
Tommer on rappel, with John providing a fireman's.
Jon is the last one down. Jon and John did a great job...
Jon on rappel.
Jon plays in the infinity pool he found. Don't worry -...
John gets ready to power slide!
Whee!
Monica, in basically the exact same point in the slide,...
Tommer goes splash.
and Jon follows suit.
Looking downcanyon. I think the corner of the power...
Monica on rappel, shot 1...
... pausing for a picture...
... shot four.
Another large rappel, again 100+ feet.
Jon on his way down.
John watching Jon.
It's almost bizarre that I have this many photos of Jon...
John treks off downcanyon.
Contemplating a jump (that had already been scouted for depth).
Jon takes off; John and Monica watch.
...and then John follows suit.
Smiles all around!
This jump was very downclimbable, which means it was...
The first of a series of "burst" photos of four of the...
Step 2: the jump
In the air.
I just love the shadow on the rock behind in this one.
Nearing the water...
Kersplash.
More splashy.
Jon's approach to the jump - full speed ahead!
Pushing off.
In the air.
Unlike John, Jon managed to stay basically vertical...
Also crazy: the fact that he seems to be actively...
Crazy mid-air shot (with cool shadow).
No change in position as he hits the water.
Sploosh.
Tommer takes off.
The launch.
Midair.
Tommer was also very straight through the air.
It was fun going through these pictures and seeing the...
Splash.
More splash. As a note, that entire thing took 2 seconds.
Catherine takes off.
The launch.
In the air (bent knees for me).
I swear, every time my picture is taken while jumping...
Yay!
Sploosh.
Brr. Cold down there.
A funny round rock in a pothole near the water. It's...
This photo would be cool if not for the giant sun spot...
John begins a rap with his bag attached to his harness. ...
John on rappel.
Looking up at some small falls.
Terrible picture, but there's the powerhouse! Our route...
Monica on rappel.
Tommer and Jon watch Monica rappel.
The last rap pictured was where the waterfall shown here...
I was trying to take a picture of the waterfall when...
... and then took a picture of the waterfall, as...
On Saturday afternoon, Colin and I packed into his VW...
We met Joel at the lower trailhead next to the Balch...
In the morning, we took a quick side trip to visually...
A map displaying the North Fork of the King's as well as...
Colin and Joel inspect the interpretive panels at Black...
We knew it was going to be a long day (11 hours was what...
PG&E's liability signs which are new this year. Releases...
Joel inspects our favorite junked car at the river's...
No one wanted to man up for the first 50 foot jump into...
I put my new camera on timer mode, and captured this...
Very clear, clean looking water.
Joel and Colin pack the rope. Sadly, we noticed a core...
Hauling out of the first pool and surveying the vertical...
This canyon starts out with a bang. Three twenty foot...
This technique is referred to as creating a "meat...
Joel rappels down carefully and checks the water depth.
Colin and John prepare for the first jump, which...
John climbs to the ledge first.
Colin climbs to the ledge next. We jumped from a little...
Colin, looking up at one of the jumps. It's still early...
Joel, surveying the territory ahead.
Colin on one of the first three twenty foot jumps.
Swimming to the next waterfall.
After the first three jumps and a bit of boulder...
Joel decides to go first.
Colin, hip-sliding on a water slide.
Finally the sun came out which was nice for warmth but...
Colin, playing on a water slide.
Colin and Joel on a water slide.
Colin on a water slide.
Colin and Joel.
Joel got into this funny habit of landing in the seated...
Colin rappels down a 30-foot jump.
A frog, near the top of a 150 foot waterfall. How did he...
John dries off and rests at the bottom of the 150 foot waterfall.
Colin, working his way down the 150 foot waterfall.
Colin, rappelling down the 150 foot waterfall. It was...
It's funny as I look through these photos in time-order...
Joel tosses his bag in the water.
Joel straddling between two potholes.
Colin sliding into a pool. See that triangle shaped rock...
Colin tossing in his pack ahead of his body.
This next part of the canyon was very playful, with...
Hauling out of the water to circumvent an 80 foot...
John and Joel pack the rope after using it as a hand line.
Colin, at the top of the Big Kahuna jump / rappel.
Walking up the ramp the Big Kahuna rappel.
Joel on the Big Kahuna Rappel.
This drop is about 80 feet, and has been jumped at least...
As I was relating this story to Colin as we were...
Joel waits below while we use a rope to get down the Big...
John sets up rigging to rappel the Big Kahuna.
So apparently the day before a group had let one of...
John rappelling the Big Kahuna.
Should probably touch these up in Lightroom when I get...
Packing the rope at the bottom of the Big Kahuna and...
Colin gets ready to jump the twenty footer below the Big...
Colin, leaping twenty feet into the next pool. We used a...
Colin, floating downstream.
Joel, getting ready to jump a 35-40 foot jump. It's...
There is an optional fifty foot jump from the highest...
Stopping for lunch on the rock from which the last photo...
Warming up in the sun and eating food. Colin and I had...
Trying to swim into the rainbow room, but failing,...
As close as we got to this powerful and beautiful waterfall.
Joel, this is the photo you need to send into Chaco Flip...
Colin, with Patterson Gorge in the background.
Leaving the gorge after lunch.
After the gorge, the canyon becomes more gentle and...
Colin floats downstream.
Why walk when the water will carry you?
Beautiful granite streaked with colorful intrusions.
I think that is Patterson Mountain in the distance but I...
Fun dry slide.
The lazy way to get down river. Prop yourself up on your...
Joel saves a non-aquatic critter from a watery grave.
Wild blackberry patches. We stopped and ate a bunch of...
Colin enjoys a wild blackberry. They really were about this good.
Climbing ashore to forage for berries.
Searching for the choicest fruit.
Handing some berries down to Joel and Colin in the water.
Joel enjoying some blackberries.
Sad! Many of these berries had just rotted on the vine....
Collecting more fruit and handing it to Joel.
Colin was apparently enamored of what he called what...
Foraging for blackberries.
How cool is this! A bug that either died or molted and...
Colin, floating downstream.
Joel scans the shore for more berries.
Colin, having fun on a small waterfall.
Colin down-climbs some boulders to regain the water...
Joel braces for the inevitable splash.
Colin putting on his game face.
Joel, about to slide into a pile of rocks, while we...
Pretty waterfall.
Joel finds that 4th class climbing is hard in flip flops.
Joel squeezing those toes to keep his shoes (flip flops) on.
Colin with Patterson Mountain (I think) in the background.
Colin sliding into a pool.
Joel doing the same.
Swimming across a pothole to the next waterfall.
Colin, making some delicate steps in tennis shoes.
Underwater pink river grasses that I thought were quite pretty.
Colin wearing his Jesus boots.
Joel on a water slide.
My absolute favorite part of Lower Jumps. A 30 foot...
Colin sliding down the Super Happy Fun Slide.
Yippee!
Woo hoo!
A little blurry, but you get the idea. Very fun!
Swimming back to shore for another round.
Joel sets up for a go.
He's a little far to our right, and realizes it. He...
And goes feet over head off the end!
Climbing back around for more.
Here goes Colin.
Colin goes down the slide again.
One last time...
Wish this had been less blurry. I wonder how my old...
Getting down the last major obstacle.
Power slide!
At this point we had to skirt a 250 foot waterfall by...
The trail was still rather steep and required use of a...
Colin climbs through a cave-like tunnel under a giant...
Sadly this would be the last picture I took on this...
Picking some blackberries on our hike around the Balch...
Tarantula hanging out by the side of the road, spotted...
Setting off to search for the lost Canon camera in a...
Fifteen minutes later, success. Owed in large part to...
Slightly better picture without dive mask on.
Poorly positioned camera for group photo at the parking...
Eliah works through a bouldering problem while Tracy,...
Julia enjoys the 58 degree water early in the morning.
Eliah rides a water slide. Also pictured: Julia, Aditi,...
Monica leads the pack.
Ben (arms raised), Jill, Joel and Julia (foreground).
This was definitely the biggest group I had ever been a...
Colin. Tracy and Eliah in the background.
Aditi brought her Vibram Five Finger shoes, like the...
Ben spots a Lady Bug colony.
Monica on a big rock.
Colin, scouting a way down.
Monica.
Ben with his Safety First Chevron shirt. Ben works at Chevron.
Jill, Colin, Julia, Aditi, and Eliah working a small...
A person jumping in the water. This may have been me,...
Joel, in his classic seated position jump pose.
More splashes.
Tracy jumping in the water. Julia and Eliah look on from...
Julia tries a kung fu sort of pose.
Julia.
Aditi, mid-air.
Jill, bracing for impact.
John, jumping off the 25 foot jump.
Ahh! Water! Cold!
Colin, preemptively tapping his helmet to let us know he's ok.
Tracy, in her arms-up pose on the 25 foot jump.
Aditi after jumping 25 feet.
Ben, 25 feet off the deck.
John wearing Jesus boots.
Bracing for the splash. I think this has to be Joel.
Rupert the duck.
Colin with his duck.
Colin, much more serious. With Rupert the duck.
Ben.
Aditi.
Jill. Cold hands. Gloves are a really handy (ha!) thing to have.
John, in 6 mm of hooded wetsuit. Joel and I were...
John and Ben (Tracy in the background).
Ben hopping over some rocks.
John and Ben in a wild blackberry patch.
Mmmm.... delicious wild blackberries.
Ben's berries.
Ben with some blackberries.
Our lunch spot. Monica and Eliah warm up on the dry...
The rest of the crew joins.
View downstream from our lunch spot. When we woke up...
Everyone eating lunch.
Monica eating a soggy sandwich we bought at Port O Subs...
Monica and Aditi relaxing during lunch.
Monica and Aditi at lunch.
Taking naps, or warming up in the sun. I think a bunch...
Monica.
After lunch I lent Jill my neoprene gloves which I think...
Joel watching as Jill climbs up a boulder to enter a...
After disappearing into that hole in the last picture,...
Colin watching as Eliah rappels.
Some pretty hanging gardens near this first rappel.
Eliah at the bottom of the first rappel.
Aditi on the first rappel. Tracy and Colin watch from above.
Aditi and Eliah swimming at the bottom.
Aditi and Eliah find a rock to warm up on while the rest...
Aditi and Julia watch folks rappel down from the lunch rock.
Tracy swimming.
Eliah, Aditi and Julia.
Monica on rappel while Colin and Jill look on.
Monica swimming off the end of the rappel.
The water was surprisingly clear here. Lots of sunshine....
Monica swimming for land.
Jill on rappel. Ben, Joel and Colin watching from above.
Tracy, Jill, Eliah, Monica, Aditi, Julia and Colin (swimming).
Close up.
Waterfall at the bottom of the lunch rock.
Joel at the bottom of the next jump with John, Monica,...
Monica rappelling down while others look on.
Monica further down. This was a bit tricky not to swing...
Ben taking the plunge.
Eliah in mid air.
Aditi slipped on rappel and ended up in the falls.
John, Aditi, Monica and Tracy move down river through a...
Joel leads a bunch of others down a more riparian...
John about to hit the water. I think I am leaned back...
Tracy jumps in the water. Ben was photographing from...
Not sure who this was but it looks neat.
The whole crew minus photographer (Ben) at the top of...
Aditi, Julia, Eliah, Jill, Tracy and Joel. oel is...
Colin, stacking extra rope in the rope silo through a...
Joel, rigging to go on rappel.
Julia.
Jill, Aditi and Tracy watch Joel rappel.
Monica rappelling. Good view from up here: you can see a...
Colin checks over Tracy's rigging.
Tracy goes on rappel.
Tracy rappelling sans gloves.
Keeping balanced...
This is always awkward...
Aditi starting the second rappel.
Aditi rocking the Vibram Five Fingers.
Julia starting to rappel.
Julia looking very serious. She actually had a good time I think!
Really!
Joel gives a fireman's belay from the bottom.
Ben!
Folks swimming in the pool.
Colin, jumaring back up the stuck rope. Apparently the...
Colin, working his way back up. The way this works is...
Colin got the rope free, re-rigged the rappel,...
Ben jumping off something or other.
Joel, Tracy and Ben at the top of the next jump/rappel.
The sun disappeared behind a thick layer of clouds and...
Aditi on rappel.
Eliah, Monica and Joel.
Tracy jumping.
John and Monica.
At this point, the canyon started to get dramatic again....
The crowd waits at the top of the next big rappel -...
Monica and John, at the top of the rappel through the waterfall.
Tracy, staying afloat.
This is the view from the top of the rappel looking...
Here is Eliah, rappelling into the whirlpool.
Eliah, most of the way down.
Having rappelled through here a few times already, I...
Aditi rigs up and Joel double-checks her.
Aditi on rappel.
Aditi rappelling into the waterfall, wearing Vibram Five Fingers.
Monica, I think?
Jill with Rupert the Duck.
Julia on rappel.
Julia.
John getting ready to jump.
Tracy?
Tracy again?
Jill, about to go on rappel.
Jill on rappel.
Ben!
Ben, waving for the camera.
All the people downstream, in the pool that they end up...
Colin.
Joel, getting ready to jump.
Joel jumping.
Joel.
Joel swimming on his back and soaking up some of the...
This part of the canyon is characterized by long swims...
This next obstacle involves climbing on top of the 15 ft...
Monica carefully climbs up the boulder to reach the single bolt.
Monica, posing for a photo.
Clockwise from top left, Colin, Eliah, Ben, Julia, Tracy...
Big fat tarantula!
Zoomed in shot of Mr. Tarantula.
Next, Joel and I donned our neoprene hoods, snorkel and...
Fun to search, but alas the search and recovery effort...
Jill!
Julia! I think we're waiting while Colin and Monica test...
Golden hour of photography in Upper North Fork of the...
Julia, warming up out of the water.
Waiting at the last jump.
The crew at the bottom of the last jump.
Julia, jumping.
Here is a water slide that leads us out of the last of...
John jumping off the last jump.
Ben jumping.
Aditi on a water slide!
Waiting in line for the water slide.
Aditi, after the water slide.
Eliah running the water slide. Joel at the left.
Monica.
Monica water sliding!
Joel.
Beautiful Sierra granite.
John and Monica at the end of the technical section.
D'oh! Keep getting water on the lens.
On one of the last few swims before the exit.
A little bit better color in this one.
Monica, finally at the exit.
The crew at the end of Upper Jumps / beginning of Lower Jumps.
Aditi's Five Finger tan line.
Ben posing with PG&E's release of liability sign.
Signs. Endless entertainment for shotgun enthusiasts everywhere.
John, after the hike back to the road.
John and Ben.
Unfortunately Ben's dry bag was not so dry.
So, the worker bees headed back that night, and Joel and...
Hmm, I suppose I'm probably NOT getting enough...
Mmmm... i10805.TXT.
Joel and I spent the morning reading guide books trying...
On the drive out, we spotted a river farther up on the...
Zoomed out shot of the above.
View of the North Fork of the King's
Pretty swamp in the middle of nowhere... maybe twenty...
Oh wow. Best sign I have seen all day.
Close up of the same sign.
Stay away?
More warnings.
Wishon Dam.
Sluice gates at Wishon Dam.