By Kyle McCleish, Age 13, Grandson of William McCleish, F374709
October 2023
Hi, I’m Kyle.
Kyle McCleish’s grandfather treated him to an RV trip where they stood among – and, in Kyle’s case, inside – giant sequoia trees.
The Kern River goes from the southern Sierra Nevada through Bakersfield to the San Joaquin Valley. This is the closest river to Los Angeles that has white-water river rafting, so that’s why we went there.
We got the raft and guide from Kern River Outfitters. There were four paying customers — two kids and two adults — and one guide. Us kids were in the front because the adults didn’t want to get too wet. During the raft trip, we stopped at a little beach, and I jumped off of a 20-foot cliff into the water.
The next day we took a rather long hike through the giant sequoias. And on our way back, we saw a funky log that looked like a calf. Then we went to California Hot Springs to swim in the warm pool and chilled in the hot tub for a while. The trip was fun (the Class IV rapids were easy) and I would do it again.
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