NF Kings - Granite Gorge

[jeflevin]

Does anyone know what gear is needed for Granite Gorge on the NF of the Kings? I've been wanting to check it out for a while now, and I'm sure someone here must have done it. I figure the waters way too high now, planning on September. Any rappels?
Jef Levin

[paul martzen]

Ropes are not required for the Granite Gorge itself, but a handline/belay line could be very useful for the many downclimbs. I have only hiked the main Granite Gorge and i have not continued all the way downstream to Black Rock. I hope to do that this year.

The main difficulties are downclimbing through steep piles of huge boulders. There are some jumps, typically at the bottom of the boulder pile. Route finding tends to be inobvious, convoluted and exposed. "Quite Interesting".

Paul

[catware11]

I don't know where Granite Gorge is on the North Fork but the river gauge from the dreamflows.com website I posted in the other thread is showing a flow of 80cfs below the Dinkey Creek Confluence. Fwiw.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryplot?clock=y&trans=y&interval=96hours&width=600&height=350&id=8041

[paul martzen]

Most of that flow is coming down Dinkey Creek into the NF below Balch Camp. From there it is 3 miles of roadside river to the main Kings River. No canyoneering in this section of the NF, but great swim holes and rocks to jump off of.

It probably does mean that Dinkey is maybe still too high to canyoneer. Getting close though.

Granite Gorge is way upstream, just below Wishon reservoir.

Paul