Terry Prater?

[Tim Eubanks]

Need some info on Brown's canyon, etc, for July trip.

[Prairie Tater]

Hey Tim. I do not claim to be an authority on Brown's Canyon. In fact, there are some who may say not to listen to me at all ("right", Randy D.? ). Anyway, when are you going? I will probably be there in mid-July.

Terry

[Tim Eubanks]

I think we'll be there the 14-19th?
Guess one big question is how cold and bad is a swim? I'm not so worried about rocks, just hypothermia!

[okieboater]

Brown's Canyon is one of my favorite runs. This is probably more than you want to read. My opinions only and you should get more opinions and make up your own mind.

Been blessed to make this run over the years at high water and last fall at some 400 cfs. Many runs at 700 to 1200 cfs.

All are fun.

I will not go into lines for each rapid as there are just too many and lines change. Get one of the many river guides for suggested lines.

My opinion here, there are few rapids if any in Brown's that are forgiving swims. Problems being in the 700 plus levels current gets stronger and less forgiving. Pretty easy to get banged up in a swim. Rocks every where that come into play big time as the levels go below 700. The good parts are at higher levels plenty of padding and alternate routes open up, with the push and hole formation being higher.
At the lower levels below 700 much more rocks to slalom around, less push but still plenty of pin opportunities. I have seen more pins at lower levels and some long swims at higher levels.

Having said all the above, Brown's Canyon is in my opinion, one of the all time best runs on the Ark for most of us. A great way to get introduced to western runs.

Water is cold year round to me and the push at most all levels is more than what we normally run here in the state of Arkansas. I am sure there are trails to walk out of Browns, but I am not familiar with them. IE you put in at the top you normally will take out at Heckla. Lots of commercial raft runs most of which will help out a injured or over their head private boater needing a ride. Most of the rapids have a good scout from either the bank or top eddy. A few do not. Some rapids can be walked. The RR is close by for most of the run, but may be extremely dangerous due to train traffic.

I think of Browns Canyon being the Cossatot falls section normal run on steroids. Think of the falls area with colder water and more push and the push and named good rapids goes on most of the Browns Canyon run.

Be very comfortable on the Tot and hit Browns Canyon at maybe 700 to 1000 cfs with a good set of buds who are familiar with the lines in Brown's and your chances of a fun run are increased. Like any river run, the decision is yours alone to go.

A problem for me is in the July time frame the air is really hot most of the time and the water is cold to me all the time.

What I do is dress for a swim and do a lot of rolls to cool down

I have asthma as well. For anyone with breathing issues, here is what I do for my asthma. Altitude does come into play for me. What I do is take my albuterol inhaler along and take a few hits before I start the run. Then take numerous short breaks as we go down stream. Take a nebulizer along and do a breathing treatment as needed. Tell your Doctor where you are going and get his advice. The above is just what I do and may not work for others. Getting a bit short of breath may happen to even well conditioned flat landers tho.

My typical July paddling dress for Browns is dry top and fleece paddle top and NRS hydroskin pants and a pair of wool sox inside my paddle shoes. Come to think of it if you paddle the Nantahala Run in summer, the water is similiar in temp to Browns. I think it is better to have too much layers on any run as you can always take it off and store it in your boat.

Ask your buds you paddle with on a regular basis and who have boated Browns what they think and make your own decision. You can also warm up on some of the more mellow Ark runs before hitting Browns. Stop by the information building in Salida close to the play park and get more information on all the Ark runs.

Like I said, Browns is a classic Colorado run. I see some message boards rating it as a 3. I think there is a bunch of class 3 and multiple class 4 sections. It all depends I guess.

Be safe, have fun and make sure your first trip is with a strong group of boaters who know the lines and will share them with you.

[dogpatch]

We've run Brown's, Fractions, Numbers, etc. several times over the years.
We're heading west for a Middle Fork (low water) trip launch on July 22. Could be we might hook up on the way out. When will you be there, Terry?

[GutIt]

As always, Dave’s assessment is right on the $$!

Brown’s is one of the moat beautiful runs on the Ark. Very scenic canyon run. It is, to me, a relatively long run. It will be very crowded with commercial Rubber Dwellers.

As for “push”? One thing that means to me is that western whitewater is pretty much continuous. Meaning really not a “pool/drop” scenario. One reason you can usually count on some protracted, quality time in the water if you and your boat decide to part ways. Even if your buds are on the ball. Then you might get to warm yourself up walking another two miles to get to where the rest of your buds performed the “World’s Worst Boat Rescue Ever and It Is On the Wrong Side of the Creek When You Get To It”! I have personally performed some of the worst boat rescues ever! Then, I dug around in their drybag and ate the owners lunch while I was waiting for him/her to walk down to me! It ain’t necessarily easy or quick to get a boat out of continuous whitewater! And as Dave mentioned, dress for success. I have seen boaters who had to hoof out after a few swims in the middle of July with blue lips! The Ark doesn’t necessarily qualify here, but a lot of (most of?) their water is snowmelt. Might be that just a couple of hours ago it was frozen. The Ark is released, but don’t for one minute think it won’t cause some serious shrinkage!

I have seen a lot of write-ups that consider Brown’s a Class III with Zoom being the one Class IV. I would partially agree with this assessment, but only because of relativity. A Class IV west is a lot different with a lot different consequences than a Class IV here, or even east. Certainly if it is a Class IV above a pool, which again, there won’t be any on Brown’s to speak of. You’ll notice that and the push right off. And you’ll get used to it. Then, if you are like me, you will enjoy pace and focus.

I have always wanted to do Brown’s with some rubber support and stay in there a couple or three days. Awesome beaches to camp on right next to some awesome play spots. Be easy to spend a lot of time in there.

And don’t believe Mr. Prater! He is an expert whether he cares to admit it or not!

[okieboater]

GutIt's post reminds me of a Brown's rescue I did many moons ago. He and I had similar experiences, I did not get a free lunch out of the deal tho.

One of my Tulsa buds was making his first trip down Browns, he was in a Dagger Freefall following me down the rapids. At the time the Freefall was a very forgiving hi volume boat. Well the big hole on Zoom worked him and he swam out. There is a very small pool at the bottom of Zoom. I got him to the bank there. His boat went on down and I chased after it. He did not have air bags in his boat. The darn thing had a mind of its own. I would get it moving towards the bank and look over my shoulder and be heading into another drop. The only way I could move the Freefall was get my bow into the cockpit opening and paddle hard. As luck would have it, I did not run into another party along the way.This entire procedure was repeated many times and I finally went a long ways down stream to one of the few pools in that section. Finally got the Freefall onto the bank. Got out of my boat and was flat on my back totally exhausted. It took a while but finally one of the commercial groups came down with my bud riding the lead raft. Rest of our party was behind the raft. We had a very nice talk about kayaks and air bags. I personally took him to CKS and we purchased same and put them in his kayak.

LESSON LEARNED: Make sure you and your buds have air bags in kayaks before going on any WW run. Sure makes recovery easier.

[Roger]

Timmeh! You got the skill set to run Brown's. Weather, temp, and river levels will dictate your dress code!

Even on the sunny and warm days, wear at least a farmer john shorty or similar with appropriate outer wear. If it's cool and overcast, that drysuit makes for a better day. Have fun and be safe.

[Prairie Tater]

Sounds like things will work out, Tim. We're planning to leave on the 10th and stay thru the 17th. We will camp at Brown's Creek, which is a primitive C.G. between Salida & Buena Vista.

We should be able to get you down the river in fine shape. Could possibly have some raft support, too. Roger is correct about the shorty wetsuit. I wear a polypro top underneath. If its warm when I launch, I put my jacket in a dry bag. You've got a couple of miles of warm-up before you get to the big stuff. I normally pull out my jacket before that.

I guess the biggest dilemma for me is which way to run Zoom Flume. There is a raft-catching pyramid boulder in the middle of the river towards the end of a long steep rapid which is blessed with some river-wide hydraulics at the top. After busting through the holes (see photo), you need to get either left or right to avoid the boulder. I've gone both ways: sometimes in my boat...sometimes not in it. There is great scouting from the R.R.tracks.

As the time gets closer, I'll PM you, and we can firm up our plans.

See ya in July, Terry

[Randy Dodson]

Hey Tim. I do not claim to be an authority on Brown's Canyon. In fact, there are some who may say not to listen to me at all ("right", Randy D.? ). Anyway, when are you going? I will probably be there in mid-July.

Terry

Terry, even though my one and only swim was YOUR FAULT I actually told Tim that I highly suggest you as a guide. From that pic it looks like you've got a new Ocoee. Ya'll have fun, while your on Brown's Canyon, I'm gonna be paddlin with Eli over in NC......in my brand new Ocoee.

[okieboater]

here is zoom's top hole if memory correct around 1000 cfs a few years ago

[Prairie Tater]

Randy, I've been taking my Outrage to Colorado. It seems to be a little more forgiving on "big water" than the Ocoee. And at my age, I need all of the forgiveness I can get! Glad to here that you got an Ocoee. I think you will love it. Wish you could join us this summer.

Terry

[Randy Dodson]

Thanks for the memories Terry. Even though I look at this pic all the time as it's my desktop background, I've forgotten that it was one of the most fun days on the river I ever had.

You, Roger, Wills, me, and some open boater from Tennessee that had been waiting for days for some other open boaters to show up and paddle with. If I remember right the Tennessee guy was the only one of us that had zero swims that day.......and Browns Canyon hadn't seen so many open boaters at one time in a long time.

special thanks to Roger Head for helping this dinosaur post a pic

[Tim Eubanks]

Terry: You look very serene in the midst of that chaos!
Dave: Do you paddle with your eyes closed to increase the difficulty or are you just showing off?

[okieboater]

Tim, when you drop off into that top hole, eyes either get big or shut tight. I never know what is going to happen