In April of 1998 Bruce Barnes, a kayaker from New Zealand, lost track of where he was while running the many unusual waterfalls of Dry Meadow Creek, a tributary of Southern California’s Kern River. The river cuts into a steep granite shelf, forming the smooth, sheer-walled potholes that create the falls. The last two drops are unrunnable. The victim paddled on after running the third ledge from the bottom. Despite shouted warnings from his companions, he paddled across the pool into the next falls, a 60’ drop onto a smooth granite dome. The nose of the boat tucked under and glanced off the rock, throwing his body forward so he landed on his forearms. The impact broke both arms just below the elbow. Barnes bailed out and swam weakly down a sheer-walled gorge, across a jet of water into a right-hand eddy. This was just above a final 100’ falls that would have undoubtedly killed him. As it was, he suffered two Broken Arms (in multiple places), broken ribs, internal bleeding, and a head injury. He was in shock and hypothermic

Corran Addison, who spoke with me to clarify his rec.boats.paddle posting, witnessed the accident from the opposite shore and moved into position to help. He was able, after some delicate 5.10 barefoot rock climbing, to cross the river behind the 60’ waterfall and make his way to the eddy. Here Addison grabbed the victim and eased him onto a rocky shelf.  After making  Barnes as comfortable as possible, he went back across the creek to find more manpower. He sent a photographer to call for help then brought two other people back across the creek. They attached a line to Barnes’s rescue life vest, and, using this and other ropes slowly raised him out of the rocky defile. They laid him in the sunlight and splinted his arms. Everyone stripped down to provided Barnes with extra clothing.

The photographer returned at this point with the news that a helicopter would be there in 20 minutes. Three hours later, with the sun was setting behind a ridge, there was still no sign of help. A chill breeze carried spray from the falls to them, making the surrounding area cold and wet. Everyone was getting chilled. Barnes, an experienced mountaineer, elected to try to walk out over steep 5.8 terrain rather than risk spending a night in the open. The group created a makeshift climbing harness from rope. They then kept Barnes, who could not use his arms, in a tight, supportive belay all the way to the top. The chopper arrived at dusk, soon after the group reached the crest of the ridge.

Addison called the rescue “the biggest epic he’s ever been on”, and notes that  someone less tough and experienced than Barnes would probably not have survived. He reports that Barnes is now permanently disabled, losing the use of one arm and having only limited use of the other. He also observed that Dry Meadow Creek is becoming quite popular, and that on the days he was there he saw a lot of people swimming “just like on the Ocoee”. Several people came close to dropping over the same falls! Although Dry Meadow Creek is only 45 minutes from downtown Kernville,  and the runnable drops are not extremely hard, the steep and unusual  terrain makes this a committing and intimidating venture. The slowness of the helicopter’s arrival was not unusual; it is often difficult to call in these craft on short notice. Most people recommend calling the chopper, then proceeding with an alternate rescue plan..

SOURCE: Corran Addison posted to rec.boats.paddle.