Fear and Loathing exists only in your mind

[Taylor_Cavin]

At 4pm on Saturday, June 16th an intrepid group of swash-buckling crusaders, loaded their safety gear, fishing tackle, and ukuleles into their kayaks and embarked upon an episode of "Myth Busters" to de-bunk the fables of the South Kings. What they found (at 800 cfs at Roger's Crossing) was a terrific, spectacularly scenic boof stork sanctuary through a deep, tight canyon with all rapids scoutable, portageable, and runnable. I find it hard to believe that the boulders along the banks within the canyon (which enable scouting and portaging) would get wet with even double the flow we had (though the run would be ON).

If you name a rapid Raw Dawg falls because it has a 4-move locked-in lead in gorge, a wall-smearing 30 foot free-fall and a sieve that swallows the whole river in the run-out, that is good information, because that shit is Raw. If you keep a run on the down-low because you want to limit traffic and give others the thrill of discovery that you experienced without pre-conceived notions, that is cool too. But to proliferate mis-information is whack.

Maybe the river changed, maybe the collective consciousness has changed, maybe the threshold for fear (and/or loathing) has changed. In any event, the run is comparable in difficulty and has a similar flow window to the Garlic Falls run with which it should be paired (because hiking out is whack). Members in our group compared the quality of the 2-day experience to Clavey, S Merced, and other delights. Also, at the time in the season that the run flows, there are few other runs with which to compete.

[Taylor_Cavin]

Keep it classy...

And thanks for stopping by...

Now that I have re-visited the AW page, I see the rapid known as "fear and loathing," and concede that it may be a must-run, though it is easily scoutable and it did not occur to me to portage it. The rapid was class IV at 800cfs at Roger's Crossing and I sent everyone through it on beta. One person had a brush with the island rock, no big deal, not hazardous IMO. While most rapids look bigger at river level than from the road, the ledge at the large island rock only drops about 3 feet.

I also see that the run is not known as "fear and loathing" at all, but "horseshoe bend" for the dramatic Z-turn the canyon makes. The confusion lies in that this is also the name of a bend and section on the San Joaquin. I think people took to calling it by the rapid name to clarify.

This rapid name combined with the power of suggestion and, as you said, "lack of information" must have deterred people because, as you've pointed out, people do not often do this run. I feel like it is a run that goes at the very end of the season when people think everything's over and done with, and it's a great run that could be enjoyed by more boaters. I don't feel the need to proliferate tweets about how great it is or how great one is for doing it, I just think it deserves a fair representation on the radar screen, which I guess it already has if you don't read into it too much.

[webmaster]

Re-posting Thomas M's post...

Originally Posted by Taylor_Cavin
But to proliferate mis-information is whack.

To proliferate that others proliferate mis-information without evidence of such is also whack. It seems that this run is not done very often or at least by those that blog and youtube every run they do so with that said the obvious is probably true that maybe the river changed. 97 flood plus a few other high water levels since then probably changed the river bed. I remember speaking to someone that said they did not have to hike out of the gorge at fear and loathing. They also did not blog or post on boof.com their findings. Sometimes mis-information can be confused with a lack of information. Keep it classy...

[full_throttle]

I know it may be hard to believe, but in my experience, the great boof Stork can be found on much more rivers, at much more flows than once thought. Like Most things, it depends on your perspective and willingness to seek. Im glad y'all, being T Cav and crew, had a good trip on a rarely run fork, of one of the world's greatest rivers. Never stop exploring, questioning, and charging what you see as magnificent. Chur Chur!

[timmontana]

Joe B and I went in there in 2001 with Rorie G and crew. Three kayaks and two rafts. We hiked down talus slope right at the bottom of Fear and Loathing. It was really only a ten minute hike down to the river from the road pullout. A great time had by all of us but Joe and I agreed that we wouldn't go back with rafters due to the time it took to line boats at some of the drops. Agree that it was an absolutely quality run especially when combined with Garlic Falls. Glad to hear you guys had a great time.

[paul martzen]

Hey Taylor,

I have tried to get people enthused about the SF Kings for years. Maybe you will have more influence. The roadside boating is pretty outstanding as well, I think.

There are likely a number of reasons for the seeming lack of use. First off, I think boaters have gotten a lot better in recent years coupled with boats that run ugly drops a lot easier. Then, as I state on the AW page, the '97 made major changes to the river and to that particular rapid, Fear & Loathing. It was super ugly at low flows and I checked it out closely, several times. The whole right side was nasty, nasty sieve action and the normal line became a guaranteed pin situation, at least with pointy boats. With modern boats and modern paddlers, Fear and Loathing may not have been as fearsome even at its worst, but it is impossible to say now. The 1997 flood completely rearranged much of the river, destroying all rapids not formed by monster boulders. All rapids of class 4 or less difficulty were destroyed and moved. Rapids of class 5 difficulty were all changed somewhat.

One year (1990?) some rafters lost their boat at Fear and Loathing and got stranded on the far side. One hiked all the way over the ridge to find a place where he could cross, but two others were not as strong climbers. I swam across the outflow of Fear and Loathing and escorted them downstream through the other non walkable rapid. Quite exciting and probably about the same flow you had. Naturally we could not swim the drops, so we had to dive across the jets to get to eddies and rocks that we could climb over and get down.

So, keep boating the SF Kings. It is an amazing area with a flow window later than most other runs. There are mind blowing adventures to be had down there.

Paul

[Taylor_Cavin]

Hi, Paul. I agree that the SF Kings is terrific and worthy of more recreational use. I also think there is a greater likelihood of TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) than over-use or crowding on the SF Kings, so I feel fine about telling people about it.

I do not mean to down-play the difficulty of the run. It has some challenging rapids, but I would rate the run over-all as class V, not V+. I feel that it is comparable in difficulty to Garlic Falls (aka King's Canyon), the continuation of the river downstream of the confluence with Middle Kings.

What I do wish to make known is that there is no longer a crux or "crucible" moment in the run. I don't think that there is a need to hike out above or hike in below "fear and loathing." Anyone who has made it that far in the run will not find inordinate challenge in that rapid. I also think that the rapid could be re-named, much as "old scary" on the SF American was re-named following its re-arrangement. Maybe "old fearful" would be a fitting revision.

I was frustrated in the difficulty of persuading people in joining me on the trip, given the specter of "fear and loathing" that has lingered. This is why I want to share this information.

I would like to go back with more time and add on the road-side run that you mentioned. The major rapids there looked like the Merced Gorge rapids, only better and more runnable. They also looked like they could have used a touch more water, maybe 1,000-1,400 cfs at Rodger's Crossing.

The horseshoe bend of the Kings gave me the feeling of being in a deeper canyon than I have experienced elsewhere in California, with more vertical, craggy, and lichen-painted walls. I would be happy to work with you in updating the AW page if you would like. Thank you for everything you have done to further whitewater recreation in the Southern Sierra.

[uuilly]

There are really only about a dozen runs in California that I'm interested in consistently running. I was on this trip w/ Taylor and the whole package of South Kings through Garlic Falls is one I'll run again and again. Everything was clean and fun. The horseshoe canyon was almost the aesthetic equivalent to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Looking at it from the road was very intimidating for me. Somehow it looked worse from the road than the boat. It is a runnable-in-a-weekend-zero-portage-overnight that has a good gauge and doesn't conflict with anything else. Vague history aside, it's a wonderful spot and people should go enjoy it.

[paul martzen]

Thanks for the input guys. I am updating the AW page a bit and will welcome any further comments, descriptions and photos. If you want to work on this or any other AW pages yourself, just email or send a pm and I will step you through the process.
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/co...detail/id/230/

Paul