Brush Creek

Level: 5-6" on the bridge gauge at the takeout (Kern @ 6,500 cfs)
Paddlers: John Webb, Nick Barron, Adam Griffin, Brian Mills

John, Adam and I drove out from Knoxville, TN in 2 rushed days and arrived at the Kern at 4 am. Catching a few hours of sleep in a little league ballfield, we headed straight to Kernville in hopes of catching Brush and Dry Meadow before heading further north.

What we found was a raging high Kern River and a matched high Brush Creek. We figured Dry Meadow must be equally as high and decided not to even try to hike in a see it. So rather than go driving around looking for some river that was low enough to run, we hung around the area for about a week and gave Brush Creek a good go.

Looking down from the overlook, I decided it looked on the high side from there and thought it would be really high when we got down in there, and opted to sit the first run out and film. John and Adam decided it was good to go and dropped in. They found it to be really high and scary with lots of big holes and almost zero eddies, and decided the upper gorge of the run was too high.

John boofing some of the bigger drops in the upper gorge

Photo by Adam Griffin

We did find, however, that we could hike up about a mile from the takeout and run the last part before it dropped into the Kern. The last part of the run is much wider than the top, and handles the water much better. So for the better half of the week we ran laps on that last part, along with a few high water sections of the Kern, while we waited to meet up with Brian, who was coming down from a snowboarding trip in BC.

Adam on the lower portion of Brush Creek

Photo by Nick Barron

John on the big slide

Photo Adam Griffin

John in a fun slide on the lower stretch

Photo Adam Griffin

We had a good time racing thru the lower stretch of Brush, but were excited to move north to see some other areas and better runs.

Here's a short video of Brush Creek