Canyoneering is a combination of hiking and rappelling and this case also since it is on waterfalls – Â swimming.
We just finished an adventure in the Kern River called The Seven Teacups where we hiked into the start of a series of waterfalls with tea-cup shaped pools of water carved into the rock below each of them. To get down we rappelled down in or next to the waterfalls into the pools of water below.
We started by driving to Lake Isabella, which is a man made lake near the Sequoia National Forest. Here Kara, Jim, Sara and I met up with John and his friend Laura to do some practice rappelling on a nearby rock to make sure we were all comfortable for the adventure ahead.
First we climbed up to the top of a nearby rock and this was the view of the surrounding area. If you could see farther to the right you would be able to see Lake Isabella down in the valley.
After securing an anchor to a nearby tree John started the review with all of us on the safety precautions, our harnesses, the ropes and some basics on rappelling.
After a short time we were all rappelling down the rock and getting comfortable with the gear again.
Sara looked really comfortable on the rope… and was having fun using her new piranha descender.
It was really fun getting out – but man we were happy because there was wind blowing because out in the sun it was 90+ degree’s handing out on the rock… 😉
We were all feeling more confident and we were ready to check-in to our hotel for the night called the Coral Creek Resort. The place used to be a place for fishermen to stay to go fishing in the Kern but now open to all..
The hotel was in an awesome spot with the mountains in the background and the Kern river across the street…
The rooms were comfortable and clean and looked like they had been recently renovated. Besides a couple loud people on the front deck for a short while before we fell asleep the place worked out for us.
It had a kitchenette with a sink, refrigerator, microwave, and small table to eat at….
We dropped our stuff, changed our clothes and headed to the river to hike in an check out the water temp and the exit from the canyon.
After hiking to the exit to the Tea-cups – John, Jim and Kara jumped in to check out the exit and the water temp..
the consensus was that the water temp out of the tea-cups was considerably colder than the water in the Kern river…which made the decision easy for Sara and I that we were going to wear wet-suits the next day..
Very cool tree on the trail heading back to the car…
After the hike we were all very hungry and on the way back to the hotel stopped at the local place to eat called Cheyennes Dining Hall.
Cheyennes was all about meat and other things are secondary.. so fun. Most dishes came with meat and a side of meat 🙂  – food was food at this point..
After dinner it was back to the hotel to get our gear set for a 7:15 AM head to the trail head.
Morning came quickly and we were ready for a fun day outside. We first parked a car at the exit point on a bridge on the Kern river and then drove about 3 miles up the road to the trail head.
We parked, prepared our packs and started our hike..if you look just above the open trunk of the car you can see the trail head leading up the hill between the bushes.
We started our hike in and the trail went up for a short while and then the trail continued into a small wooded area and into a
beautiful meadow… check it out…
We then came to our first water crossing and then we knew we were getting close…we could hear the rushing water…
At the top of the Teacups we had some food, unpacked our gear and get ready for the first rappel….
Check out this video of  our Rappelling down the Teacups….
At the bottom of the last rappel Sara and Kara at the last fireman’s belay location, staying out of the cold water for a minute…
We hike the 3+ miles out and  finished on the bridge over the Kern river…Awesome group and awesome day!
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