Meet Our Guides

Kristen – Ventura, CA.  Kristen is a small town girl with a desire to travel the world.  Although she is currently pursuing a career in nursing, the lure of the Kern draws her back every summer for much needed stress release and a good adrenaline rush.

Meet Our Guides

Firestarter – Fontana, CA.  Starter has a degree in Economics and a love of the outdoors.  Having traded a lucrative teaching career for a life of zen on the Kern, he now enjoys charging through whitewater, relaxing in eddies, and howling at the moon.

Mike (aka Spradillac) - Lake Isabella, CA.  A CSU Bakersfield graduate, Mike is a Kern River Valley native.  Mike enjoys skiing the steeps, paddling the gnar, and shooting photos and videos of extreme adrenaline action.

Forks of the Kern

The big water years of 2005-06 gave us the opportunity to test our experience and skills on our 3-day Forks of the Kern trip.  Forks season is generally May through July (water level permitting) so consider planning this trip soon.  Enjoy this video action of rafting the Forks of the Kern.  

Filmed and edited by Mike Spradlin, KRO guide staff 

First Trip of the Season

The 2008 season is officially underway. Our first trip put-in Saturday morning to kick off the season. With unseasonably warm weather, it was a perfect day on the water. The Upper Kern has started it's spring melt, and the warm weather made for a good flow that will only get better in the coming months. We expect that our Upper season will last well into July, with the best flows tumbling down the Sierra slopes between mid May and late June.


You can check out photos of this trip, and all our trips at Shutterfly.

Meet Our Guides

Giff – Honolulu, HI.  Giff is an Eagle Scout with a Masters Degree in Computer Science.  He spends the off season in Hawaii where he enjoys long walks on the beach and hula dancing.

KRO Donates Sleeping Bags to South Fork Middle School

Continuing our long-standing relationship with the South Fork Middle School, here in the Kern River Valley, we were able to donate our retiring generation of sleeping bags to their outdoor program. Over fifteen years ago we started our partnership with South Fork School, when their teachers came up with the novel idea of having their 7th and 8th graders spend a week camping, hiking, climbing, boating and learning about this incredible area. When the program started we supplied the kitchen gear, and whatever other odds and ends that they needed. Since then the program has grown. Through donations, local goodwill, and the efforts of their dedicated teachers and administrators they have been able to collect much of the equipment that they need to run this terrific program. We will get to see the kids in a few more weeks when we will again run the whitewater portion of their program on the Upper Kern.


Jana Maki, Resource Specialist at South Fork Middle School, receives the sleeping bags from Gary “Firestarter” Thornbrugh a former teacher, current guide, and our resident “good guy”.