Steep, freezing and fast: California's epic snowpack promises a whitewater rafting season for the ages

Imagine racing down a steep river of recently melted snow toward a roaring rapid.

You're sitting on the outside edge of an inflatable raft with a paddle in your hands, so you can't hold onto anything else. All that's keeping you in the boat — and out of the freezing water — are your feet wedged into slippery seams of rubber on the raft's floor.

Then the guide at the helm, a world-class whitewater specialist who grew up on this stretch of the Kern River and whose intimate knowledge of the spot is all that stands between you and disaster, jumps to his feet, stares at the approaching rapid and says, "Wow, this changed."

A second later your world explodes: the raft dives into a deep trough and smashes into a standing wave, the first of many. You're at the front, so you take the full force of unspeakably cold water in the face. Gallon after freezing gallon finds its way inside your wetsuit and down your spine.

You gasp and struggle to keep your balance while heeding the commands to paddle, "FORWARD TWO," "BACK TWO," "FORWARD. FORWARD. FORWARD."

And then, as suddenly