As the season has been winding down slowly, it's been a challenge to find people to go boating with. Last Wednesday I called Vito, the friendly head guide at Three Rivers Resort and he was kind enough to let me know Taylor Dam would be spewing 250 cubic feet per second into the river below it until October 1st. With this information in hand I attempted to find paddling partners for this weekend, hoping to pull off at least one, but hopefully two (or more) trips.
My plans were clearly shot after calling through my phonebook. Between people leaving town, not "feeling" paddling anymore, people out with injuries, and others just too lazy to go, it was soon looking grim for even going at all. I had resigned myself to a couple of solo missions on the Gunny until I was saved by my buddy Paul "Studmuffin" Muirhead, who I boat with on the Taylor every once in a while. We met up in Gunny with blue skies and found our way north to the Taylor, where dark blue clouds and the occasional rain shower greeted us.
The Taylor at this level is a blast. Everything is fun and defined, and the drops tend to be large with more vertical to them, but nothing on the river is too pushy at this level. Sneaks are everywhere and it is hard not to have a great time. Unfortunately it was raining off and on so we were making progress downstream and not worrying much about video. Still, I managed to fire off some jerky, out of breath clips here and there. Enjoy.
It's hard to tell in this picture but at this moment it was raining really hard. Two minutes later it just quit. Welcome to Colorado!
Some more leaf-peepin' on the way back to town. With the rain and wind this weekend I think the leaves are pretty much done, so I hope ya saw em when ya had the chance!
As the 2008 boating season wraps up, it's time to dig back out that list that we all made back in the spring, the list of runs that we wanted to get on this summer. Some were a success and some were not. My biggest shutdowns this year were Texas Creek and Muddy Creek. We got chased off Texas Creek by some lightning, and Muddy Creek never ran, except for some multiple-thousand cfs flooding in August. So as always, its time to add to that list, and get some runs on it for next year. Although I have a lot of desired runs on my personal list, I have come across four runs in particular that look especially delicious for next year. The first one, Texas Creek, has been on the radar for a couple of years, but the other three I believe to be relatively unknown, and I'm almost certain all are perfectly ready for that initial first descent. Of course what kind of kayaker would I be if I spilled the beans prematurely, so I will give you just a taste and you'll have to wait until next year to see what it holds......
Texas Creek. There is a two mile long shallow gorge on the bottom of this creek just as it spills into Taylor Reservoir. It's mostly shallow, boulder bed with a consistent gradient. There are several small but notable drops in the upper half, but the lower half is almost all continuous cobble stoned rapids. We were ready earlier this summer, boats in hand and ready to drop in, but then the lightning started up......
Don't look now, but this one has already been featured in my Webshots galleries. There is a gorge proper on this creek that looks marginally runnable- in the class V/V+ range with some portages around logs thrown in to the already steep gradient. Still, the rock is lava bedrock and the water does get high, so gnar-fiends look no further. The two miles above the gorge, however, contains a long series of class II and III rapids ultimately leading up to the above drop- which ends up in the takeout campground directly above the gorge.
The longest of the top projects, this one looks to be about a three to four mile trip through a shallow class III canyon. The beavers have been in here, and this stretch is quite popular with the fishermen. Still, it looks fun and the flows are more than enough. I will be surprised if this is a first d, considering a section of the Colorado Trail runs right alongside it. The only downside to this run will be access- the bottom of it's canyon is located on private land, requiring either a hike back up the creek after we're done boating, or a steep bushwhack directly up and out of the canyon onto some sketchy forest roads that may or may not be there.
The one showing the most potential, this one is a shallow class III high mountain desert creek that drops through some lava rock rapids in a shallow gorge. I originally had intended to look at the creek below here, and much to my surprise there is a significant looking patch of white in amongst the meanders visible from Google Earth, but a lack of suitable access has me stymied. Like the above creek, the bottom of the canyon is located on private land and thus downstream exiting is not an option. So with a brutal hike in (6 mi to the goods), an unknown section of whitewater, and shitty exit options, the main stem will remain shrouded for a little while longer. However, in my lookings I stumbled across some photos of a feeder stream to the one I was looking at, and they look mighty fine. This creek is number one on my list, so stay tuned because it will likely go first!
I have other projects on my mind too, but none as good as the above. As I attempt to garner more information this winter I will post it, but for now the wait begins....
We got dispatched to do a job in Lake City today, and with Whirlpool paying us 3x normal rate to go, it seemed worthwhile to go. It also happened to be the perfect time to go for the aspen trees as well- multitudes of reds, yellows, and browns were all around, mixed in amongst the greenery. While not the full on peak, it was definitely a very beautiful drive. We went down 149 but came back up Cebolla Creek, where we stopped in and I checked on a little project for next year.........
We forgot the still camera AGAIN, so y'all get a good round of vidcaps again. I'm still surprised how well this camera does with them.
Low Water Lake Fork @ The Gate C.G.
Grassy Mountain
Wetterhorn & Uncompahgre Peaks
Williams Peak
View From Slumgullion
Slumgullion Slide (it's technically an earthflow)
Cebolla Creek Headwaters
Upstream from this mess lies a potential beauty....
So there ya go. Get out there quick if you want to see some because it will be nothing but sticks in a couple of weeks!
First off, let me apologize for the photos. Between the three of us we all managed to forget a still camera, so the few stills I have were captured off video. They ain't bad but they could be much better.......
With the flows dwindling to "low" & "too low" across the state, and a trip to Denver on the agenda, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some last minute boating in, even if it was some easy, short lived class II action. Any day being in a boat is better than being inside. With my mom & sister attending a play, my dad was game to come along and either boat with us, or run shuttle for us, depending on how scary it looked.I called my cousins, Jeremy Allen & Zach Allen to see if they wanted to go. They were both interested when I brought it up, but Jeremy unfortunately wasn't able to make it due to his work schedule. Still, Zach was not to be deterred and came on down. We met up at the new Safeway between Conifer & Aspen park, loaded up the boats in the back of the truck and took off. It's a pretty drive down into the South Platte Canyon, the Reynolds Park Open Space is very scenic, as is the winding dirt road the parallels the North Fork of the South Platte on your way to the confluence.The confluence itself is a very beautiful place, with two beautiful, meandering Rocky Mountain streams converge and then plunge into the forbidding depths of Waterton Canyon.
This creepy looking hotel sits overlooking the confluence; contrary to popular myth it is NOT haunted. It is an old hotel from when then the Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad went through here.
The Chutes. There are two kayakers on river left below it (not members of our party). As you can see there is lots of granite. A much better picture can be found here thanks to Flickr member PaulMeisburger.
We headed up first to run the South Fork of the South Platte, also known as the "Chutes" or "Deckers". It's a class II+ at most, although I would rate the Chute itself as a class III, due to some awkward but fun hydraulics that you encounter while in the granite hallway. The Chutes themselves are actually a multi-stage drop, with a small easy rapid up top that leads into a small ledge that drops you into the granite hallway. From here you plunge through the Chute, into a large flat pool around a corner, and then you pop through the Lower Chute, which has a fun ledge/wave on the left side to boof. There whole area is supposedly "off limits", so PK was unable to get any video of us in this section. We put in about a half a mile above the Chutes and ended up floating about 2.5 miles down.I should mention at this point Zach suffered a perfect case of "insta-karma" on the river. Not 50 yards below the put in, he lines up for a sleeper in the river, looks at me and says "Watch This!" amd goes tearin' ass for the rock. He goes jarring up onto it, immediately gets stuck, tries to wriggle his way off, flips, and then proceeds to swim in chest deep flatwater. Fortunately he self resuced, gear and all, but we did get some laughs from the fishermen that were just below us. Zach laughed it off and we soon were moving downstream.
Approximately a half a mile above the confluence there is a bridge over the South Fork where the Colorado Trail crosses it and proceeds on it's way to Denver. The bridge is named in honor of Gudy Gaskill, who was a strong advocate of the trail in it's early days. The bridge made for a goode filming platform for PK, and a great takeout for us to avoid the landowners just downstream. Apparently there used to be an old man who lived just above the confluence and used to regularly threaten boaters with guns and lots of threats. While the cantankerous old coot is gone, the new landowners (while nowhere near as crazy) are still unfriendly to boaters so it's best to avoid them altogether.
Gudy Gaskill Bridge
Zach said he saw a snake on the hike out but I failed to. I believe him, I guess.
Our plan was to then drive downstream and have a look at Waterton Canyon, which is one of the few standard off-season runs for Denver and Front Range-area boaters. Boasting an incredibly long season and at least a basement flow, Waterton is about as standard as class III+ gets. We were stoked to go down, but unfortunately about halfway down in started pouring rain on us. We ran a couple of drops and went about a half a mile but ultimately decided to hike back to the safety and warmth of the truck.
Waterton Canyon in the rain.By the time we got back to the truck, it had of course stopped raining. Not wanting to hike back out the same shit we had just hiked out, we decided for another quick run down the Chutes. We sat around at the confluence for a while, warming up and just generally enjoying the outdoors. You could see evidence from the Hayman Forest Fire, which was still fresh seven years later.
The burn area. There are large splotches like this everywhere.
A map of the area
After running the Chutes again we headed back out to the Safeway, where we reunited Zach with his Subaru, and we rallied out, making it to my cousin James' house in record time.Despite the fact that it is a class II, the Chutes are still supremely enjoyable. The canyon is very scenic, with large granite domes popping up in between the large swaths of ponderose pine. The water is mostly flat and burbly, but there are a few class II rapids to keep the beginner on their toes. The rock is all granite, so the rocks in the riverbed tend to be sharp and unfriendly. Zach cut his hand pretty badly early on and will likely be sporting a fresh scar from it before too long. All things considered, a great way to spend September 20th!
