The Kaweah River Page

http://www.kaweahriver.org

The Kaweah River is located in the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada Range of California along Highway 198 at the southern entrance to Sequoia National Park. The river passes through the small town of Three Rivers and ends up in Lake Kaweah (Terminus Reservoir). It's one of the shortest drainages in the US from its headwaters at 12000 feet to Lake Kaweah. The Kaweah River, like its neighbors the Kings, Tule and Kern, never sees the Pacific Ocean. Instead, it splits into many channels upon entering the San Joaquin Valley below Lake Kaweah and is mostly consumed by irrigation. What's left, if any, ends up in Tulare Lake.

Current Flow Information

Post-A-Gauge Also available as http://postagauge.kaweahriver.org User posted gauge data for the North Fork, South Fork, Dinely Br., Park Boundary, and New for 2009 Hospital Rock

Kaweah 4 day Flow Graph or Kaweah 1 Month Flow Graph from dreamflows.com

The Kaweah Rivergauge at Pumpkin Hollow Also available as http://rivergauge.kaweahriver.org is not currently reporting. I have been too lazy to put in back in the river this season.

COE's 10day flow graph (Large file: 538KB)

Current Flow at Three Rivers from COE (gauge above Lower Slicky) Chart , or Table , or Graph

HOURLY Lake Inflow Chart , or Graph from Calif Snow Surveys Better Graph with 6 hour averaging function built in

DAILY Lake Inflow Chart or Graph from Calif Snow Surveys

Graphs of the latest and last 30 days River Conditions

Current Weather Information

Local Weatherstation CW4177 on MesoWest

Local Weatherstation CW4177 on CWOP

Redirect to Local Pumpkin Hollow Weatherstation Page

Latest Hanford, Ca. Doppler Radar Base Image or Composite Image from NOAA

Latest Hanford, Ca. Doppler Radar One Hour Base Loop or One Hour Composite Loop

Local Weather Forecast for Three Rivers, CA from the National Weather Service in Hanford

Hazardous Weather Outlook from the National Weather Service in Hanford

Special Weather Statement from the National Weather Service in Hanford

Winter Weather Advisory from the National Weather Service in Hanford

Severe Thunderstorm Warning from the National Weather Service in Hanford

Other Nearby MesoWest Weatherstations

Station D0117 Three Rivers Museum - 856 ft

Station TSHC1 Ash Mtn. Park Headquarters - 1730 ft.

Station CQ161 Gaint Forest - 6234 ft.

Station MBMC1 Marble Fork Kaweah - 7842 ft.

Station CSWC1 Case Mountain - 6450 ft.

Station WVTC1 East Fork Kaweah near Redwood Creek - 5240 ft.

Message of the Day

Message of the Day has been added on Oct 25, 2005 to allow the webmaster to post this message remotely from any computer with internet access. The message is displayed as a GIF image in keeping with the fact that the KRP is a static web page, i.e. it is not generated on the fly. The message image is updated every 15 minutes.

Boater and Kaweah News

Updated Sat. 02-27-2010

02-22-10 Last week on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb 17-18, the really warm days, a bunch of folks ran Hospital Rock from Buckeye Flat to Zero To Sixty. This was the lowest flow run on record as there was insufficient water below the SCE diversion of 60 cfs above Zero to Sixty. The Hospital Rock gauge was 3.90 feet on Wednesday and 4.00 feet on Thursday. They were boating on 120cfs/140cfs respectively. They reported the run was great all the way to the diversion dam where the water ran out.

02-21-10 We have heard from Southern California Edison that their project to report the gauge data from their gauges on the East Fork and Hospital Rock to the internet will not be completed for the 2010 spring runoff. The delay is related to a bigger project where they are replacing a large amount of hardware with a newer system and they want to wait and make the reporting system part of the new hardware system. They have not forgotten us. The project is only delayed.

02-04-10 The Kaweah snowpack is 148% of average for Feb 1st. At this rate it is going to be a big water spring runoff and extended boating season. It is an El Nino year.

10-26-09 In early September a trip to the Hospital Rock venue at 25 cfs found that Little Niagara is extremely undercut explaining how paddles are often lost in this drop. It can scare you to see what the riverbed looks like without water in it. Little Niagara would not be a place you would want to find yourself in the undercut behind the falls!!!

10-26-09 A 25 cfs low water exploration trip found the Upper Cave below Zero to Sixty goes way back upstream to the right below the drop and The Exit to the Cave is steep and can not be exited from water level without ropes even in the summer when the cave is dry and slime free.

10-25-09 After the flood of Oct 14th the previously removed Steel Channel Beam below The Chute became buried in 3 feet of fresh sand.

10-23-09 The Oct. 2009 Flood has it's own page here.

10-23-09 The Oct. 2009 Flood is compared to the past floods of 2002 and 1997 on the Kaweah River Flood Comparisons Page . In a nutshell, the 2009 flood was only 25% of the 1997 flood in terms of total volume and 69% of the 2002 flood.

10-23-09 The 4 day water temperature graph is replaced with the graph showing water temperature for the entire 2009 season. The graph is no being longer updated after Oct 21, 2009.

10-22-09 The Kaweah-Cam Page has been updated with some links to all the the Kaweah-Cam images for the Flood of Oct. 14, 2009

10-20-09 The river water temperature sensing was removed from the river for the rainy season so as not to risk loss of the hardware in the event of another flood. The graph remains static for now on this page. You can still click the graph to get the entire 2009 water temperature graph.

10-20-09 I was provided this update on post flood changes to the Gateway run. Hammer is wider on the left where willows have been stripped out but has a piton rock at the bottom. As to be expected, Powerhouse is a whole new rapid where a large amount of rock moved turning this all time class 4 into a class 3. Flattened out and teeth removed you can now see all the way down the rapid from the top. The old right center channel has returned but a little bit of tree mitigation will be needed to make the new right center safe. The left center channel has some willows in the path that will also need to be mitigated. The right channel in the rapid below Screaming Right Turn, just below Salt Creek, has been further narrowed and dewatered, a turn for the worse. Nearly all water goes left down the modified rock and debris jumbled mess rapid that now has no defined route, just a bouldery boat bonking mess. Rafts can expect problems here next season as there is no way through at normal flows. This rapid was worsened in the 2002 flood and the recent flood has contined the downgrade.

10-18-09 Taylor Cavin and Justin Patt ran the East Fork on Saturday and report that there are no new hazards and the river boats pretty much the same. A couplde of new logs are clearly visible and not an issue. They ran Hospital Rock on Sunday and report no changes to that run also.

10-14-09 A major flood occurred overnight. Moderate rain all day on Tuesday, Oct 13th, caused the river to start rising very slowly all day but the knee of the flow curve did not occurr until late in the evening Tuesday. 10PM flow at Pumpkin Hollow was about 100cfs and at 11PM the flow had jumped to 1000cfs. By 1AM Wednesday the river was cranking an estimated 4000cfs at Pumpkin Hollow. The river rose at a frantic pace between 1AM and 4AM when finally the rate of rise declined. The river remained at it's peak flow between 5AM and 6AM before starting to receed before daybreak. The river reached a peak flow of 11 feet on the river gauge trees seen in the right hand side of the Kaweah Cam image and 11 feet on the flood marker in the foreground of the Kaweah Cam image. Flow at Pumpkin Hollow was raging at 1AM while the COE gauge in Three Rivers was reporting only 320cfs for the same hour. Your webmaster was up all night monitoring the flood and posting updates often to the Message of the Day on this page. As far as we can tell the flow on the Kaweah above the North Fork was about the same as the flood of Nov 8, 2002.

10-04-09 A Double Rainbow was captured by the Moro Rock Webcam at 6Pm on October 4th

09-28-09 A 21 foot long, 620 pound, 12x3 inch Steel Channel Beam was discovered 100 yards below The Chute. It took five days of work to get the beam out of the river and winch it 100 feet downstream and up onto the right bank into a 500 year flood safe location. The next flood could have sent this hazardous debris downstream where it could have become lodged in a dangerous location between some of the mega boulders in Headwall Rapid and right in the path of boating. Hopefully we can get this beam cut up into smaller pieces someday for easier permanent removal from the river vicinity. There are about 20 more steel beams similar to this one scattered in the two miles below the Southern California Edison Bridge at the Park Boundary. That bridge partially washed out in the flood of January 1997 leaving alot of hazardous steel in the river ever since. At least one beam is in a very dangerous position crosswise to the current in the middle of a commonly run drop above No. 11 on the Park Boundary run. You can follow the beam removal project with this series of three photos.
Steel Channel Beam partially removed from the river
Steel Channel Beam out of the river and on the bank
Steel Channel Beam in it's final flood safe location

09-13-09 Two drownings occurred this summer on the Kaweah. Such a tragic but avoidable loss of life. The drwonings occurred on successive days and both in the same spot adjacent the beach at the end of the paved trail to the river at Hospital Rock. The site is sometimes referred to as the "Toilet Boil", and for good reason as the entire river flows under a twenty foot high boulder on river left into a near perfect death trap sieve. Kayakers putting in here for the Hospital Rock run or finishing the Buckeye Flat section avoid this spot like the plague as it is obviously a place you don't want any part of. Portaging or putting in below the hazard is the only thing to do here. Here are a few pictures of the hazard taken at slightly less flow than when the accidents occurred but by no means a lesser hazard at this lower flow. Moving water generates very high forces and this spot is a hazard at any flow level. Swimmers, please stay away at at times!
The site of the drownings
Closeup of the sieve beneath the boulder
Sequoia National Park Signage posted at the accident site

08-19-09 Good news to report regarding Kaweah gauging. Southern California Edison Company has acknowledged the need for public access to their real time flow data on the gauges at Hospital Rock, the Park Boundary and the East Fork. The project is in the works at Edison and may or may not be ready for the 2010 boating season. This is not without real cost to Edison as hardware, custom programming, and web site creation is involved. Sincere thanks go out to Edison for their expense, time and effort in this project.

Previously posted news is in the News Archive

The Kaweah River Webcams: "Kaweah-Cam", Ash Peaks, Moro Rock

Last image from The Webcam at The Chute in June 2009. The Chute Webcam is currently offline.

The current hours of operation for all webcams are 5:30AM through 8:30PM Pacific Time.

All webcams displayed on one page (now with real time Java clock thanks to timeanddate.com)

Key to the Kaweah-Cam River Level Markings for flood watch conditions

Key to the Kaweah-Cam Rock Formations 22 formations as they were on Mar. 24, 2009 (some will become permanently missing as the water rises)

More about the Kaweah-Cam including the image archive. Also available as http://kaweahcam.kaweahriver.org

The other "Kaweah Kam" is hosted by The Kaweah Commonwealth newspaper in Three Rivers

The Sequoia Park Webcam looks SW into the Kaweah River Drainage from the ridge at Giant Forest

The Latest Mineral King Webcam Image or the Mineral King Webcam home page

The Silver City Webcam

Middle Fork Upstream View and Downstream View at Portage No. 11 on the Park Boundary section from the Buckeye Tree Lodge.

The Kaweah River Picture of the Day

Kaweah River Picture of the Day Nathan Hunkapiller is this year's first Picture of the Day boofing The Chute. (link launches in new browser window) Turn off your popup blocker if this link fails to work!

Picture of the Day Archive for 2000 through 2009

The Kaweah River Picture Page

The Kaweah River Picture Page Also available as http://pictures.kaweahriver.org All the pictures from the 2000 through 2006 seasons. The Picture Page is served by a separate server with always on connection (128kb/sec) and infinite file space so all of this season's photos are available online all season and beyond. If you saw me taking your picture somewhere on the river it is likely to be found here. The Kaweah River Chat Page is also located here for real time Kaweah boater chat.

The Kaweah Rivergauge Project

Realtime Web Based Rivergauge Project Page This was a 2 year home project that became operational in May 2003.

The Kaweah Rivergauge Page Also available as http://rivergauge.kaweahriver.org has the level and water temperature data and plots reported from the rivergauge. The riverguage will be in real-time operation again in spring 2009.

More Weather Information

Temperature, Rainfall and Snowpack Graphs for current conditions in Sequoia National Park. This is one of the webmaster's favorite links. (plot images in this page are broken ever since DWR reconfigured it's plotting methods and broke a good thing, the ability to embed DWR plots in a webpage. DWR broke a really good thing and I can't seem to be able to DWR to fix it.)

Weather Forecasts from: The Weather Channel-Three Rivers, The Weather Channel-Visalia, The Weather Channel-Sequoia Park, USA Today, Fresno KSEE Channel 24,, Fresno Intellicast Weather

Spring Runoff Information

May 27, 2009 report.
Graph updated weekly on Wednesdays during the runoff season. All readings in 1000 acre-ft. To convert 5 day acre-ft reading to average CFS multiply readings in the graph by 102.

More spring runoff infomation is moved Here.

Flow Graphs and Gauge Data

Flow, Gauge and Flow history is moved Here

Kaweah River Descriptions by Section

The Headwaters of the Kaweah (Expedition Boating) from Cliff Creek to Hospital Rock has been run in the spring of 2004

The Buckeye Flat Section (Class 5+) from above Buckeye Flat Campground to Hospital Rock adds a mile of difficult water to the Hospital Rock Run

Hospital Rock Section (Class 5+) Hospital Rock to Marble Fork Confluence

The Marble Fork (Class 5+) from 2 miles above the confluence with the Middle Fork has been reported to have been run

Ash Mountain Section (Class 5+) Marble Fork Confluence to Park Boundary

Extended Park Boundary Run (Class 4+/5) 200 ft/mi The Gorge below Ash Mountain Park Headquarters to the Park Boundary

Park Boundary Run (Class 4+) Park Boundary to East Fork Confluence

Gateway Run (Class 4) East Fork Confluence to Dinely Bridge

Dinely Run (Class 3) Dinely Bridge to Town of Three Rivers

Lake Run (Class 2+)(4) Three Rivers to the Lake

Below the Dam (Class 2+) Dry Creek Road to Woodlake Airport

Dry Creek above the confluence with the Kaweah is unrun

The St. Johns River below McKays Point (Class 2+) and across the Valley has been run

The Kaweah River (Irrigation Canal Boating) below McKays Point is yet unrun

Lower Lower North Fork (Class 3+T/4) from Bailey Bridge to Middle Fork Confluence

Lower North Fork (Class 3+T/4) from Paradise to Bailey Bridge

North Fork (Class4+/5) from Yucca Creek to Paradise Beach

Yucca Creek (Expedition Boating) has been run from 2 miles above the confluence with the North Fork

Upper North Fork (Class 5) from 5 miles above Yucca Creek

The Headwaters of the North Fork (Expedition Boating) beyond 5 miles above Yucca Creek is yet unrun

South Fork (Class 3T/5+) from Park Boundary to Middle Fork

East Fork (Class 5+/6) from Oak Grove Bridge to Middle Fork

Upper East Fork From Lookout Point Trail to Oak Grove Bridge

Upper Upper East Fork (Expedition Boating) From Atwell-Hockett trail crossing to Lookout Point trail is alleged to have been run

The headwaters of the East Fork from Mineral King Valley to the Atwell-Hockett trail crossing is unrun and is likely unrunnable

Pictures

The Kaweah River Picture Page All the pictures from the 2000 through 2006 seasons

Picture of the Day Archive for the 2000 through 2006 boating seasons.

1998 Kaweah River Boating Vacation Pictures

Preston Holmes runnning Cherry Falls at 2.7 ft

Blain Harmon running Cherry Falls at 1.9 ft

Sunset over Case Mtn. or Sunset to the West

The Girls Cliff Jumping into the Gorge below Ash Mountain.

The Gardenfork of the Kaweah ;)

Kaweah Post Office up North Fork Drive

Very Serious "KAWEAH" Boater!

Gas Station at Pumpkin Hollow in the old days

Commercial raft having a normal day at Powerhouse pre 2002 Janet Reno Rock location and very pre the current Al Gored Rock

Commercial Rafting Companies on the Kaweah

Copy of the Flyer sent to local residents concerning commercial operation in 2000 (pdf 150KB)

Kaweah White Water Adventures Locally owned, operated, and Recommended by the Kaweah River Page! KWA offers the highest commercial put in on the river allowing guests to experience 4 more of the best class 4 rapids including Gateway, The Chute, Headwall, and Osterizer. Also, KWA is the least expensive commercial trip available. Phone 1-800-229-8658 (Toll free) or 559-561-1000 (Local in Three Rivers, Ca.)

Whitewater Voyages

All-Outdoors

Whitewater Connection

Adventure Connection

Wilderness Adventures

American River Recreation

Tributary WhitewaterTours

Beyond Limits Adventures Not licensed on the Kaweah in 2004

ABLE Adventure Tours. Not licensed on the Kaweah in 2004

River Access Problems

The Kaweah is difficut to access because all the land adjoining the river is privately owned. The traditional put-in at the river left upstream side of Pumpkin Hollow Bridge at the East Fork confulence was fenced off by the land owner in the spring of 1994 in cooperation with Cal Trans, the California State Highway Dept. The only reasonable access point for private boaters is 0.6 miles downstream of Pumpkin Hollow Bridge at the retaining wall where the highway comes immediately adjacent to the river. There is some parking downstream along the road. Dinely Bridge, has not been contested as an access point. The land on the right bank upstream of the bridge is owned by a public water district. Parking in Three Rivers is available at the School on the south side of Hwy 198 across from the Chevron Service Station. Click here for more on the Pumpkin Hollow Bridge Access situation or Click here for comprehesive general information on the politics of the ongoing Kaweah River Access issue.

Letter from Mr. William Sanders, Tulare County Supervisor in regards to future Kaweah River access

Disclaimer: River running is inherently dangerous. Know and understand the AWA Safety Code before you attempt any whitewater activities. The author makes no warranties as to the accuracy of the information contained herein. ....Bla, bla, bla....

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The Kaweah River Page, http://c2.com/kaweah/Copyright © 1996 through 2010 by Bill Pooley. All rights reserved. The Kaweah River Page is a non profit web site. The links to commercial operations have been freely donated. This web page is Y2K compliant and tediously edited by hand. It contains no browser corrupting, site slowing Java or Java script, cookies, annoying popup windows or banner ads. The main page is designed to work with a dialup connection. Only a simple html editor, Araneae, is used to highlight the html syntax during editing. Spelling and errors in grammar are par for the course, I'm an engineer for Heaven sakes, not an English teacher. This website is best viewed on a monitor with at least 768x1024 display size and 16 Million colors.

Last modified: 02.27.2010