Colorado 2009 - Trip Report

[ScottH]

Teaser---

So I’m sitting in this small eddy. I have just seen Lance get WORKED in the very first ledge hole of the Rockwood Box. A box canyon on the Upper Animas that, once you drop into it, you cannot walk out or portage. Also, If you swim there is a very good chance you will lose your gear in the un-runnable canyon 2 miles below.

Tired from having just paddled 24 miles in 6+ hours I want out, I don’t want to run it, but I HAVE to. I peel out, make the same move as Lance but harder and more determined. Crap! I get shoved right just like Lance, drop into the monster hole we wanted to avoid. The stern loads up and over I go. I roll up IN the hole. The ride is on…

[Tmuse]

Glad to see ya'll made it back home in one piece, when you get a chance will you make a list of the runs ya'll did. Thanks

[canoe]

AND????

[ScottH]

Glad to see ya'll made it back home in one piece, when you get a chance will you make a list of the runs ya'll did. Thanks

Not home yet... I will try to get some things together tomorrow.

[Cowper]

I've heard tell the locals sometimes hike into a long-established log jam during late summer to recover the season's bounty of boats...

Glad your's aren't among them...

[dcheshier]

good . . . looking forward to something interesting to read at work on a Monday.

[Lupe]

good . . . looking forward to something interesting to read at work on a Monday.

Wait a second....don't you work at a library?! :shock: Are telling me you work at a library and might not have anything interesting to read???

[RandyJ]

One of the best trips I've ever done. Great boating w/ a great crew! 3-4 new runs for all of us.

Sat: Santa Cruz, a short ditch run. Fun way to knock off the road funk, but I'm still picking bits of tree limbs out of my eyes and teeth.
Sun: Rio Embudo. Never scouted so much on a single run. 5 miles in 5 hours. Meaty, committing run.
Mon: Animas Town Run. Needed an easy day!
Tue: One-day Upper Animas. Wow - forgot how good this run was. The continuity up there is amazing; no swimming allowed. 25 cold miles in 5 hours, including breaks.
Wed: Uncompahgre "Quality Quickie" @ Ouray. Short section of beef in that run, too!
Thu: Oh Be Joyful, top half. We were all feeling a little ragged from the Upper Animas. Two-day lag effect, I guess. Headed over to BV; had some great camping above town under a big moon, with campfire and the Collegiate Peaks in the background.
Fri: Heath and I did Royal Gorge, optimum fun level, then headed home. Scott and Lance hooked up with Jack "at spa" Hollingsworth and did the Numbers and Clear Creek of the Ark.
Sat: Scott and Lance did play park stuff (?).

Will gather up some pix and video and post later.

[JBradley]

where is the video

[ScottH]

I think these guys were trying to kill me. Anyways here is my trip report from a great trip.

Fri
Left at 4:45pm, drove to Foss Lake in Oklahoma. Camped by Lake now know as dirty dippers lake. Slept in back seat of Tundra. Not bad. Heath, Randy and Jesus caught up while I slept. Yes Jesus was our co-pilot and shuttle driver.

Saturday
Woke up and drove and drove and drove. Tried to get Lance to let me buy a stuffed Cougar for $8,000. But he wanted the full, life size stuffed buffalo for $20,000 at the Frying C Ranch in nowhere New Mexico. Paddled the Rio Santa Cruz -NM. Like upper Crooked Creek near Albert Pike but overgrown. Slowest Arby’s ever. Camped at Rio Grande’s Tao’s Junction Bridge.

Sunday
Woke up at 7:30 and was holding up all the others. Plugged a flat on the Tundra. Drove around looking for the gauge and take out on the Rio Embudo - NM. Probably the hardest, defiantly the most COMMITTED run I have paddled. 5 hours to paddle 4 miles. 20+ scouts, One swim at LJ Falls. Our team of 4 was working as a tight unit. Just before the takeout and local Hispanic man yelled at us for paddling down his private property. He told Lance he would kill him if he scared his fish. At the takeout Randy is quoted as saying ”Well fella’s, I found the edge of my paddling ability today”. Drove way into the dark to Lake El Vado to camp. Dodged hundreds of Mule Deer, Elk, and other furry creatures to get there.

Monday
Drove to Durango to get staged for the next major undertaking we had planned for Tuesday. Paddled the Animas –Town Run -CO with Jesus. This was his first time on whitewater, he was in a ducky. He did great with only one swim. Heath cartwheeled into Jesus’s lip during the rescue. Heath felt bad for days about it. Ate at some great place. Total bill for 5 of us including a few beer, $35. Camped up on Hemosa Creek. Went to bed after watching ourselves on video from the Embudo.

Tuesday
Up early and out of camp quick to take on our biggest commitment. Upper Animas - CO, all 26 miles in 1 day. Launched about 9am. Cold and rainy most of the day. It was the longest rapid any of us had ever paddled. Seriously, we would pull out of an eddy and paddle a class III and some class IV continuous rapid for 30 to 45 minutes without stopping. Super cool run. Heath was very cold, Randy was not feeling it, I was thinking of walking the 2 miles out with them and skipping the Upper Animas – Rockwood Box - CO but I did not want Lance to have to paddle it by himself. You can scout from the tracks but you cannot get out of it once you enter. So I am sitting in this eddy above the first major drop. It is a beefy set of holes. Lance peels out gets knocked off line by this reactionary wave and drops right into the meat of it for a working. I can’t see the working but finally see him roll up. I now HAVE to run this drop, do I go right instead of the left line we scouted? Based on the fact that Lance finally got out, I go the same way. I get Pummeled. Side Surf for a while and according to Heath and Randy looking on from above, throw into a loop to finally exit and roll up. See I knew all that playtime at Dierks would pay off. The rest of the canyon was amazing. 25’ wide at one spot. Hike up and out. 7 hours from launch to finish.
Eat crappy diner in Silverton and headed over to Ouray to camp and take a rest day.

Wednesday
Sleep in a little and then go see the sights around Ouray. Amazing town and scenery. Make what might be a bad decision, order a lamb gyro at local shop. Lance, Randy and Myself paddle the Uncompaghre – Ouray Run - CO that runs through Ouray and out of town for a nice relaxing float. Meet up with Heath and Jesus at the Secret Stash in Crested Butte for the best pizza and beer in the world. Camped at Oh, Be Joyful.

Thursday
Wake up feeling bad. Stomach churning and head swirling. Altitude? Bad food? Anyways we debate about driving across the Slate River to run Oh Be Joyful - CO. A dead Tundra that made a bad line choice sits next to the river offering no encouragement. We drive across with no problem in Heath’s big Ford and scout the run. Randy goes MIA so Lance, Heath and myself put on and drop some gradient. Level is healthy, Nice high side of medium. Biggest I have run it. After pogo-ing the big drop, I call it above Avalanche and take out. Feeling really bad, Lance and I head over to Buena Vista while Heath and Randy head up to get another lap. Lance plays the features in the Buena Vista - Playpark - CO while I sit and moan. Get a call from Jack Hollinsworth. He is in the area and wants to paddle. Cool!

Friday
Feeling a little better, we say goodbye to Heath, Randy and Jesus. Meet up with Jack and his dad. Head up for a run on the Arkansas River - Numbers - CO. Jack has a rented boat and paddle. Good level and great lines. Grab some lunch. I ask Jack if he is feeling sassy, he says yes. We head up to Clear Creek of the Arkansas - CO for an afternoon run. We plan on doing a couple of laps, but end up taking quite a while to get through the 2 gorges. This creek shows no mercy and any lapse in reaction get penalized. A boat recovery was executed in each gorge. We drive around for a while to find camping.

Saturday
We finally give the creek boats a rest after spending most of the trip in them and head to Arkansas River – Salida Playpark -CO for some park and play. After a couple of hours we hit the road with one last stop in mind for Sunday. Planning on camping at Diaper Lake again but the weather looks like it is going to be too warm to sleep. I try for about 2 hours to Priceline a room. No takers but one of the places listed had 3 reviews giving it a 3 out of 5 stars for $49. I call and get it for $39. It should have been $9 but the A/C worked and the trickling water in the shower was as hot as you wanted it.

Sunday
Side trip to the Wister Wave in OK. Lance and I get some rides but are pretty worn down and are not spectacular. This is a monster wave feature that should give up some great dynamic moves if you have the energy. Roll in to the house before 7pm. Unpack and relax.

Used 5 days of vacation, got 9 straight days of paddling. 5 new runs, 1 new state and pushed my body and paddling to it’s limit. Review of my new video camera and video and pictures of the trip to follow.

Scott

[dcheshier]

Better than a Library Hotline or Publisher's Weekly anyday! Thanks for sharing; looking forward to pics and video.

[Lazer]

Scott mentioned, his title theme for the trip was Committed. Mine is Rushed and Beaten .

Go back a month to start of May. The rains moved in and didn’t stop for 2 weeks so I spent most of the time chasing the rain and creeks. Somehow managed to find a break to work a couple days and get my campershell installed on my truck.

The rains settle down and I plan on working for a few weeks and figure out a truck rack design for a late June Colorado trip. But on Monday, May 18, Scott and I both had the idea of looking at the CO flows and noticed they were going off. A little more investigation and found reports that the peak flows were 3 to 4 weeks early this year due to dirty snow from a couple of winter dust storms. The dust in the snow makes it retain more heat and therefore melt faster.

So we start looking a schedules and figuring out how to get out there before the peak is all gone and decide the first week of June is best for us, if we can get prepared. We skip going East on Memorial Day weekend and head to Dierks instead. I pass on Sunday and Monday to help (very little) Heath with a rack for the truck. Damn good rack!

Now I have a short week to get prepared to leave on Friday and get work, housework, truck work, etc. done to allow for a roadtrip. With some help and tools from James, finish adjustments to attach my crossbars, stackers and basket from the Explorer on the new truck rack late Thursday.

Friday – the trip is on, still no definite plan, but all four of us (Heath, Randy, Scott, myself) wanted to fit an Upper Animas trip and some Crested Butte time into it. On the way out Friday night we decided on heading to NM first and make a loop up through CO as the week progressed.

So as Scott mentioned, we drove until 11:30ish, got up early and drove some more. Rushed to get quick run on the Santa Cruz late Saturday. Beaten on the Embudo on Sunday (heat, exhaustion, one particular hole and a late night drive over furry critter pass.)

Monday, drove a little and ‘rested’ but not enough. Rushed and Beaten on the Animas on Tuesday. Rushed to make sure we finished the 26+ miles in one day, beaten by the cold, exhaustion and on particular hole. (notice a pattern?).

Wednesday ‘rested’ but not enough and made it to CB by 7:30pm. Made it about ¼ down OBJ on Thursday before the crack in my hull was letting in more water than I cared for. I think the Embudo did it in. Played at the BV holes that evening and felt good, but…

Friday, Numbers in the morning were cold, but my tendonitis flared up in my elbow, so didn’t play it to hard. Took some vitamin I and headed to Clear Creek for an afternoon run. Put some duct tape on the crack and took off. Bombed the first gorge chasing a boat that escaped from its driver. After some scrambling and pulling, we recovered the boat but not the paddle. Peel the ragged duct tape off and head to the second gorge. Scott hits the main ledge boof and goes past vertical on his stern. I drive farther right and nail the boof into the eddy to avoid the hole. Alright, I’ve avoided the beating . NOT! In the brief euphoria of the boof, I forget to drive back into the current and get tripped up and pivot/flip on a rock at the back of the eddyline. Try to roll several times, but can’t get a bite because my head, paddle, boat, shoulder, etc. are pinballing off the shallow rocks in the fast moving water. Eject, grab the bank and signal Scott to get the boat. Walk down the rest of the gorge, swim across and reunite with the boat for the short remainder of the run. Notice a new crack in the bow from the ghostride.

Saturday, short session at Salida until my elbow starts aching again. Beaten and Rushed once again, we drive and drive. Little rest at the rat-hole motel and drive some more. Wister Wave is sweet, but my elbow would not let me get more than a few rides on the edge of the meat. Get out before it breaks off. Drive the final 3 hours home.

Back to work. And time to look for a new creekboat, rest my elbow and hope it feels better for some Dierks action.

[RandyJ]

...Randy goes MIA so Lance, Heath and myself put on and drop some gradient [on OBJ].

I was scouting the lower end of the run - what normal, sane people do. But my compadres got their reward for leaving me behind...let's just say it was related to a certain "lunar phase." :twisted: (Too bad there's not a smiley for it here).

Thanks, guys, for a GREAT trip. My only pix are from the Embudo (camera hatch popped open the next day, innards got wet, and it fritzed out), but here are a couple of samples from the run.

1) Scott, somewhere above Slots o' Fun:


2) Heath, dropping into the crux of Slots as Lance looks on:

[Heath]

great trip, one of the best I have had. great group to be a part of and I think we worked well together when needed.

props to Jesus for putting up with us, and props to zack W for the hook up on the gorge.

there is plenty of stories to be told, but for now all I can say is that the Embudo is probly the toughest thing I have been on to date.

the Upper animas is the longest rapid I have ever run.

OBJ still = my favorite run/. even if I only ran the upper half:)

and there is nothing like seeing the look on a friends face for their first whitewater experience.

later Heath

[JTarver]

Greeeat trip report guys, glad you all made it home safe and sound..ish. Did you ever recover the paddle, Jack said it was jammed under a rock pretty well.
The pics are awesome..great clarity on those.

We missed you guys at Dierks this weekend...but only a little. lol
Joe