The Other Side of Dinkey Creek- CO

Daniel from “A Wet State” continues to get the goods. I can not wait to see what is next……

Dinkey Creek is certainly best known for the “Waterfalls” section which contains many steep bedrock slides and falls as Dinkey Creek plummets its final 6.25 miles to the confluence with the North Fork of the Kings River. In the few miles above the Waterfalls, the creek drops through steep cataracts, which although commonly canyoneered, have yet to see a kayak descent. Above those cataracts however, lie more good whitewater. Working upriver, you have the “Cherry Bomb” section which we ran at very low flow and was mostly class IV at that flow. Higher up still you have the “Superdink!” section. Superdink! starts with the infinislide, a half mile (no joke) slide that drops over 200 feet in altitude with literally only one very small “pool” in the middle. We arrived after our hike into Superdink! to find the water a bit high for the slide (for our taste) but perfect (ok, actually probably a little low) for the 3.5 miles of river below the slide. Downstream, we found lots of class IV+, a few class V, and a few portages. In the end, we were disappointed that we had not been able to run Infinislide, but ended up pleasantly surprised at the whitewater downriver. California’s high Sierra scenery never ceases to amaze me and keep me coming back for more!