Kegger Chronicle

Fifty years of stories, traditions, bad ideas that worked out, and good friends who keep coming back.

The Chronicle is the collected memory of the Kegger Backpack — written by the people who were there. Click any article to read the full story.

People & Culture

Coming soon

John Baird's Advice Column

Hard-won wisdom from a man who has hiked in with a keg more times than he can remember.

Now available

Dogs in Camp

Non-aggressive dogs only — and they always fit right in. Five decades of good dogs at the Kegger.

Now available

Swag

T-shirts, mugs, koozies, and stickers. Jake's designs. Mike's mugs. The wearable history of 50 years.

Now available

Memorial

Remembering the friends we've lost along the way. They were here, and they mattered.

The Experience

Now available

Swimming

Pretzel's hole, the pools up river, and Bare Ass Slide. The Sierra's best (and coldest) swimming holes.

Now available

Snow Years

The years the Kegger got snowed out or moved. Alternate sites, alternate plans, same tradition.

Now available

The Official Kegger Song

Who wrote it. When it started. The words everyone sort of knows by Saturday night.

Now available

Poetry of the Kegger — Haiku Contest

The annual haiku competition. Winning poems by year. Five-seven-five has never been so mountain-adjacent.

Now available

Bigfoot at Spicer Reservoir

An official BFRO report from 1977 — filed by a former Kegger participant, three miles from our campsite, on the same river.

Now available

Rattlesnake Warning

They live here too. What to know, what to do, and why you shouldn't reach under rocks barefoot.

Gear & Tradition

Now available

Stretchers & Kegs

From the original 2×4 lumber stretcher to modern versions. The engineering history of moving 160 pounds uphill.

Now available

The Kegs

Which kegs have made the trip over 50 years. A surprising amount of variety in this particular category.

Now available

Equipment & Recipes

Tom's packing list. John's list. Teresa's recipes. Everything you need and some things you don't.

Fun & Games

Now available

Trivia Contest

Questions, answers, winners. A test of Kegger knowledge that gets harder every year there is more history to know.

Now available

When Should the Next Kegger Be?

The perennial scheduling debate, documented. Everyone has an opinion and no one is wrong.