Stolen boats on Lower Kern

[dropnin]

We drove up to the Lower Kern to get in one last trip for the season. Unfortunately, they reduced the flow Friday afternoon, and we made the questionable decision to go anyway on Saturday morning. Hardshell kayaks and IK were doing OK, but it was a tough trip for the rafters. It was taking much longer than anticipated, some folks had run out of drinking water, it was getting late, so at 5:30 pm we decided to leave the boats at the top of Deadman's Curve, hike out, retrieve the vehicles, and come back and finish Sunday morning. Came back Sunday to find all our boats stolen, an old 16' Avon Pro bucket boat w/ 6 paddles, an blue Aire IK with foam floor, a 2010 Blue/green/white Jackson Fun, and a yellow Wavesport EZ, along with throw ropes, pin kits, float bags, etc. It seems extremely unlikely that anyone would have carried all that up the steep hill to the freeway. However, there is a private river camp just below the rapid, on the other side of the river. It seems most likely that someone was watching from that side of the river, saw us all hiking out, went down and loaded all the kayaks in the raft, paddle across above the rapid, and drove the gear out from there. I can't believe that anyone associated with a professional river running company would do such a thing, but you could see that people have driven around the gate in the past, so it wouldn't have to be anyone actually associated with the company. We did see a full sized white pickup tuck with white camper shell and roof racks come partway down the gated road Sunday morning while we were looking for our boats. Seemed kind of odd they just parked way up on the side of the canyon instead of driving down to the river, but who knows.

If any of you see any of this gear being peddled, or hear stories of someone bragging about scoring some major river booty, please give me a call at 805 441 1045. Also, it was a borrowed raft, so we have to replace it as soon as we can. If any of you have any leads on a good used 14-16' raft, let me know.

Thanks,

Ray

[kaihacker]

We did see a full sized white pickup tuck with white camper shell and roof racks come partway down the gated road Sunday morning while we were looking for our boats. Seemed kind of odd they just parked way up on the side of the canyon instead of driving down to the river, but who knows.


Ray

Hey Ray,

Sorry for your loss.

The truck parked half way down the hill is pretty common there. When the flows are higher we often take out using that road for after work play-boating short runs. We would see trucks parked up high like that pretty often. I think they park up and out of sight to maintain a more natural feeling down by the river (this is what we did when I worked for WWV anyhow). Have you contacted the guide company?

I live in Lake Isabella. If I hear of anything that resembles the missing/stolen gear I will let you know.

On a related note, we were running the Big 5 last week and when we finished the run the takeout vehicles at Democrat had been broken into including one smashed window. Totally sucks.

[dropnin]

Thanks Kaihacker. I haven't contacted the guide company yet, as I don't know which company owns that camp. I was going to start trying to figure that out this morning. Do you know which company it is?

[brett duxbury]

hi ray. it's kern river outfitter's camp. (800) 323-4234

[dropnin]

Thanks Brett. I had a nice chat with them and alerted them to what happened. It was your previously owned Jackson that was one of the stolen boats.

[bradhenrypottery]

i wonder if your homeowners or renters would cover the gear?

[dropnin]

We received word that our boats are still in the river canyon, scattered in the rapids just below Royal Flush. Someone must have taken them as far as the Flush and then let them go. I see the flows are rising back up to the 500cfs level, so they will probably move some. We can't get up there until Saturday morning, so if anyone sees them before that, please give me a call at 805 441 1045 and let me know where they are. Also, if you are paddling by and happen to see them, and feel so inclined, please pull them up on the bank so they won't float any further downstream. Any assistance is much appreciated!

Ray