Robert Schwemmer's video: Kern River Rapids Spring Snowpack Runoff River Rafting May 2023

As the historic California 2023 snowpack starts to melt, the Kern River provides exciting river rafting opportunities and spectacular views of the rapids during the Spring runoff. Lake Isabella water lever was extremely low in 2022, in 2023 it will crest the spillway as the snow continues to melt. Where to camp Memorial Day weekend on the Kern River: Fairview Campground sits in an area dotted with oak and gray pine along the Upper Kern River, a designated Wild and Scenic River, at an elevation of 3,500 feet. The campground, located 13 miles north of Kernville, has 54 paved sites configured around three loops. Due to record-high snowpack over the winter, the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers (USACE) SACRAMENTO District is preparing for above-average inflows to and outflows from USACE-managed reservoirs throughout California’s Central Valley, including Isabella Lake. The district expects Isabella Lake to exceed gross pool of 568,000 acre-feet this summer, which will cause the dam’s service spillway to release water for the first time since 1983. Based on the rate and timing of snowmelt, this spill could last several weeks, beginning sometime between late May and mid-June. There is no expectation that water levels will reach the top of the new labyrinth weir or spill into the emergency spillway. The emergency spillway is designed to be used in a 4,000-year flood situation, meaning that in any given year there is a 1 in 4,000 chance of such an event. Current snowmelt projections are far below this level and are not expected to get there. The district has received approval to implement a plan to fill Isabella Lake to capacity this year following the substantial completion of Phase 2 of the Isabella Dam Safety Modification Project, but execution of the fill plan will be adjusted to accommodate this year’s record snowpack. The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately 165 miles long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking. It is the southernmost major river system in the Sierra Nevada, and is the only major river in the Sierra that drains in a southerly direction.