Justin Butchert drops bags of ice into huge coolers and lifts them onto his pickup truck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is our only form of refrigeration up there,\u201d says Butchert, owner of\u00a0Kings River Expeditions.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s referring to his company\u2019s base camp on the Kings River, east of Fresno in the Sierra Nevada. The outfit has run overnight trips, complete with cookouts and goofy campfire skits, for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
But this is the first time in 25 years he\u2019s packed the food.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know I just do everything now,\u201d he says. \u201cWe used to have a full staff doing this and we don\u2019t have that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has the same number of employees, but they\u2019re working fewer hours. In the best of years, his company stays open until Sept. 1 and guides about 6,000 folks down miles of roaring rapids.<\/p>\n
More at KQED.com<\/a> >>><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Justin Butchert drops bags of ice into huge coolers and lifts them onto his pickup truck. \u201cThis is our only form of refrigeration up there,\u201d says Butchert, owner of\u00a0Kings River Expeditions. He\u2019s referring to his company\u2019s base camp on the Kings River, east of Fresno in the Sierra Nevada. The outfit has run overnight trips, … Continue reading A Short Run for Some California Whitewater Rivers This Season<\/span>