The Lost Valley of the Merced

Until just recently, whitewater kayaking was illegal in Yosemite, making the Merced one of the most sought after “forbidden fruits” of the kayak world. After four years of pursuing legislative change, kayaking’s advocacy group ‘American Whitewater’ succeeded in gaining access to a group of rivers as a “natural trail system” through the Park. Pat Keller and Steve Fisher were then granted the unique honor of doing the first ever legal kayak expedition on the headwaters of the Merced River above the iconic Nevada Falls, as a test of these new regulations.