I ran the Kaweah on 2/2/97 from the condos down to Slick Rock in a 14' SB
paddle raft at +/- 2500 cfs.  I don't have enough time now to give you a
detailed description, but here's a little.  Most of the trees are cleared out
of the channel, however a few remain.  The entrance to Hammer (the class 3
rapid below Bumper) comes to mind.  The very dangerous midstream tree that
was at Twin Treat is gone.  There are a few piles of debris that are hazards
for those with less experience.  Generally speaking the river channel is
wider and shallower than in was before "the event."  We had to portage 3
cobble bars that had no runnable channel for a raft @ 2500: one  below
Wedding rapid (the class 3 rapid below Cyanotic); one just above the
confluence with the North Fork; and one at the left (high water) entrance to
Holiday.  Many deep holes have been filled in or significantly narrowed, and
almost all rapids have had the rocks in them rearranged.  The left side
"chicken run" channel at Suicide Falls is gone (all filled in with rocks.)
 There is a new ledge/hole  100 yds. below Tuber's Religion (and a sticky one
at that!)  At Dislocation it is no longer necessary to get anywhere near the
big monolith rock on the left (the channel is now much wider.)  The channel
at Toilet Bowl has been narrowed a lot... filled in by a huge cobble bar
coming in (and pouring over) from the left.  A huge boulder on the right side
of the main drop at Grady's Ledges has moved downstream, but the main left
side run is the same.  It appears that the old chicken run around the far
right side at Slicky did not have enough trees blown out of it to be usable.
 Slicky and Holiday are pretty much the same.

Olie Brown