The Final Paddle.
Tired, but want a final day of paddling. I’m out here, might as well. Joe and I meet John at the putin below Rigor Mortis. No way do I ever plan on running that rapid, naaasty. We were running the Lower section fo the Clear Creek into Golden, CO. John was nice and helped us to run shuttle. We scouted the significant rapids on the way back up to the putin. So I kept an eye out for the traffic signs I’d be able to see from the creek. We scouted Elbow. Joe ran it, I did not. We were going to scout ¼ mile, but I messed up and got my traffic signs messed up. We ran it by boat scouting. We aced it. I did spend the first 20 yards in a stern squirt though. We portaged the dam. Although it is said to be runable, it looked really nasty. While portaging, we picked up some locals, Brandon and Mark, who ran the rest of the river with us. It was a blast, fast with many wave trains and small holes. We finished in the whitewater park of Golden. The first real wave was really nice. I got many flat spins in on the wave. Joe did too in his creek boat. I gave Mark and Brandon a ride back to the damn so they could run it again. Joe hung around to let gear dry. By the time we had loaded up, Brandon and Mark had already made it to the play park again. It’s a quick run.
Finally done. It will be nice to see my wife again. I’ve only seen her for 3 hours in the last two weeks. I’ve missed her.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Colorado Adventures (day 8)
From the boat’s perspective.
Being tied to a roof top all night is not a fun thing. It’s not so bad if you're right side up, but the last several night I was tied upside down against another much bigger boat. I’ve never liked bigger boats, they always make fun of me cause I am not as fast as they are. Oh, BTW, they call me Fuse. Not sure why they call me that, but they do.
When the guy who has been paddling me pulled me off the top of the roof, and the world finally righted itself, I got a glimpse of what we’d be paddling today. I was excited, I have never down numbers 6 & 7 of the Arkansas, nor the Fractions section of the river. I’d always heard they were exciting. I did have to get up some courage. The last two days had been nice, big and deep water. Today was going to be much more shallow. I realized I would get a few more scrapes on me. But, that’s alright, those are battle scares and they make you much more popular with the female boats. I’d also heard that there were a lot more chances to surf on these sections of the river. I like surfing.
After what seemed like forever, we finally put on the river. It was everything I had hoped for. Pushy water, holes, waves, and many back and forth across the river. I flipped upside a down a couple of times, but my paddler was quick to upright me.
At one point we stopped to take a break, something about one of the other paddlers getting cold and needing to put on some warmer clothing. Pttht! Stupid creek boats making their paddlers cold. See that’s the advantage of being shorter. Your paddler has to work harder to go faster and doesn’t get cold as easily. Anyways, while we were waiting for him to put on a fleece vest, I noticed a boat on the other side of the river against a rock without a paddler. This wasn’t good. Boats aren’t very good at running rivers without an operator. I tried to get my paddler’s attention, but he wasn’t paying attention. Finally, one of the other paddlers noticed the boat and said something about it. So, my paddler went into action and ferried across the river to the far side. He got out of me and proceeded to rescue the breached boat. And what do you know, it was a very cute red, white, and blue female Fuse48. She was hot. And not too rough for wear. Turns out she was lucky and had just been bought by an older guy. Unfortunately, this was her maiden voyage and he wasn’t quite as skilled at uprighting her as my paddlers was. I gave her a few words of encouragement, before her operator got back to her. She felt much better afterwards. Maybe if I am lucky I’ll see her again sometime on a river.
So we headed back onto the river and ran the remaining portion of Fractions. Got in several surfs. It was good day.
At the end of the day I was dreading being strapped upside down again on the minivan, but figured it had to be done. But, it turns out I got to be upright. The WaveSport Diesel that I had been strapped to the previous days was going to run the entire numbers section later that evening. So, I got strapped right side up by myself on top of the minivan. Turns out later that the other boat wasn’t going to do the whole numbers section, but rather than shift him back over to the minivan, the Diesel was going to meet us the next morning for the Lower Clear Creeks section.
I had a nice ride back to Denver that afternoon. I even felt a few sprinkles, first I’d had all week.
Being tied to a roof top all night is not a fun thing. It’s not so bad if you're right side up, but the last several night I was tied upside down against another much bigger boat. I’ve never liked bigger boats, they always make fun of me cause I am not as fast as they are. Oh, BTW, they call me Fuse. Not sure why they call me that, but they do.
When the guy who has been paddling me pulled me off the top of the roof, and the world finally righted itself, I got a glimpse of what we’d be paddling today. I was excited, I have never down numbers 6 & 7 of the Arkansas, nor the Fractions section of the river. I’d always heard they were exciting. I did have to get up some courage. The last two days had been nice, big and deep water. Today was going to be much more shallow. I realized I would get a few more scrapes on me. But, that’s alright, those are battle scares and they make you much more popular with the female boats. I’d also heard that there were a lot more chances to surf on these sections of the river. I like surfing.
After what seemed like forever, we finally put on the river. It was everything I had hoped for. Pushy water, holes, waves, and many back and forth across the river. I flipped upside a down a couple of times, but my paddler was quick to upright me.
At one point we stopped to take a break, something about one of the other paddlers getting cold and needing to put on some warmer clothing. Pttht! Stupid creek boats making their paddlers cold. See that’s the advantage of being shorter. Your paddler has to work harder to go faster and doesn’t get cold as easily. Anyways, while we were waiting for him to put on a fleece vest, I noticed a boat on the other side of the river against a rock without a paddler. This wasn’t good. Boats aren’t very good at running rivers without an operator. I tried to get my paddler’s attention, but he wasn’t paying attention. Finally, one of the other paddlers noticed the boat and said something about it. So, my paddler went into action and ferried across the river to the far side. He got out of me and proceeded to rescue the breached boat. And what do you know, it was a very cute red, white, and blue female Fuse48. She was hot. And not too rough for wear. Turns out she was lucky and had just been bought by an older guy. Unfortunately, this was her maiden voyage and he wasn’t quite as skilled at uprighting her as my paddlers was. I gave her a few words of encouragement, before her operator got back to her. She felt much better afterwards. Maybe if I am lucky I’ll see her again sometime on a river.
So we headed back onto the river and ran the remaining portion of Fractions. Got in several surfs. It was good day.
At the end of the day I was dreading being strapped upside down again on the minivan, but figured it had to be done. But, it turns out I got to be upright. The WaveSport Diesel that I had been strapped to the previous days was going to run the entire numbers section later that evening. So, I got strapped right side up by myself on top of the minivan. Turns out later that the other boat wasn’t going to do the whole numbers section, but rather than shift him back over to the minivan, the Diesel was going to meet us the next morning for the Lower Clear Creeks section.
I had a nice ride back to Denver that afternoon. I even felt a few sprinkles, first I’d had all week.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Colorado Adventures (day 7)
Gorge is open.
John joins us.
Lisa joins us.
Renee paddles today.
River is cold.
Day is beautiful.
Rapids are big.
Rapids are great.
Some are scouted.
Some are not.
Thousand foot gorge.
Watch skytram above.
We all lead.
Joe leads one.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd rams Renee.
Todd goes under.
Renee flips over.
Renee rolls up.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd rolls up.
Todd enters hole.
Todd flips over.
Todd pulls skirt.
Todd begins swim.
Todd visits hole.
Renee flips over.
Renee rolls up.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd’s boat surfs.
Todd visits hole.
Renee flips over.
Renee pulls skirt.
Renee begins swim.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee has paddle.
Renee has boat.
Todd visits hole.
Todd’s boat surfs.
Renee in eddy.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd’s boat twirls.
Todd visits hole.
Renee nears shore.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee nears shore.
Todd visits hole.
Renee drifts away.
Renee releases boat.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee touches shore.
Todd visits hole.
David catches boat.
Todd’s boat drifts.
Todd visits eddy.
Joe goes to help.
Jon catches boat.
Lisa helps Jon.
Todd visits hole.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd enjoys eddy.
Todd reaches shore.
Everyone enjoys rest.
Renee feels better.
Todd is bruised.
Todd is shaken.
Todd is alright.
Everyone enters boats.
Everyone paddle down.
Everyone enjoys rapids.
Everyone reaches takeout.
Everyone enjoyed day.
We visit Salida.
We get hotel.
We have Mexican.
We enjoy relaxing.
We have Bryers.
We turn in.
John joins us.
Lisa joins us.
Renee paddles today.
River is cold.
Day is beautiful.
Rapids are big.
Rapids are great.
Some are scouted.
Some are not.
Thousand foot gorge.
Watch skytram above.
We all lead.
Joe leads one.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd rams Renee.
Todd goes under.
Renee flips over.
Renee rolls up.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd rolls up.
Todd enters hole.
Todd flips over.
Todd pulls skirt.
Todd begins swim.
Todd visits hole.
Renee flips over.
Renee rolls up.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd’s boat surfs.
Todd visits hole.
Renee flips over.
Renee pulls skirt.
Renee begins swim.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee has paddle.
Renee has boat.
Todd visits hole.
Todd’s boat surfs.
Renee in eddy.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd’s boat twirls.
Todd visits hole.
Renee nears shore.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee nears shore.
Todd visits hole.
Renee drifts away.
Renee releases boat.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee touches shore.
Todd visits hole.
David catches boat.
Todd’s boat drifts.
Todd visits eddy.
Joe goes to help.
Jon catches boat.
Lisa helps Jon.
Todd visits hole.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd enjoys eddy.
Todd reaches shore.
Everyone enjoys rest.
Renee feels better.
Todd is bruised.
Todd is shaken.
Todd is alright.
Everyone enters boats.
Everyone paddle down.
Everyone enjoys rapids.
Everyone reaches takeout.
Everyone enjoyed day.
We visit Salida.
We get hotel.
We have Mexican.
We enjoy relaxing.
We have Bryers.
We turn in.
Colorado Adventures (day 6)
So the plan was to paddle the Royal Gorge section of the Arkansas, but Renee got a call from Lisa and Jon, who really wanted to paddle that section, but couldn’t join us today. So we offered to do a different section of the river today, the section of the river immediately before the Royal Gorge. They we pleased that we would wait for them. So we loaded up and headed down the Canon City which is about 2 hours south of Denver. It was an uneventful drive. We saw a camouflaged B57, Some parachuters and some gliders. Well, the others saw them, I did not since I was driving. Speaking of driving, why the moment I start driving do we hit a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. Turns out the mountains around the Royal Gorge have been having wild fires for the last several days. So while the firefighters were fighting the fires as they came close to the highway, they would close off one side of the road and use a pilot car to guide the next group of cars through the stretch of road. So after sitting and waiting for our turn to follow the pilot car, we finally got to the take out of the Pinnacle Rock section of the Arkansas. There we noticed a sign that said the Royal Gorge section of the Arkansas was closed to boating. Apparently firefighting planes had been using the water in the gorge to put out fires. We thought it would be a good idea not to paddle in sections of the river where they could possibly scoop us up and dump us on a wild fire. As a good thing Jon and Lisa had called so we changed which section of the river we were going to run. We headed to the put-in. Renee was feeling better, so she had decided to join us today. I was feeling warn out. This was day five of running rivers, the hardest day, the hump day. Good thing it was Wednesday. Once you get through Day 5, the rest would be easy. After Todd ran shuttle and got a ride back up to the putin from a nice shuttle bunny for a local raft outfitter, we got on the river. Over all this section of the river was nice. Nothing too challenging, maybe a class 3+ at one point or another, but mostly it was a relaxing day. We got out at the take-out. After loading the car we stopped in at a local outfitter to find out if the ban on the Gorge had been lift, they did not know. They did suggest that we check with the Arkansas Headwaters Recreational Association later in the day or the morning to find out. So in case we were not able to run the Gorge, we decided to go to Salida to get a hotel room.
After getting a room at Super 8, we logged on to find out that they had lifted the ban on the Royal Gorge. We spent the remainder of the day watching eating dinner, watching TV, and messing around online. We also had two queen beds. Todd and Renee got one, Joe and I had the other. I luckily had brought my own sheet, so I slept on top of the covers while Joe slept under them. It was a rough night. Joe does not just roll over, he flings himself into other positions. Luckily he only hit me once. I am not sure how Holly manages. More power to her.
After getting a room at Super 8, we logged on to find out that they had lifted the ban on the Royal Gorge. We spent the remainder of the day watching eating dinner, watching TV, and messing around online. We also had two queen beds. Todd and Renee got one, Joe and I had the other. I luckily had brought my own sheet, so I slept on top of the covers while Joe slept under them. It was a rough night. Joe does not just roll over, he flings himself into other positions. Luckily he only hit me once. I am not sure how Holly manages. More power to her.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Colorado Adventures (day 5)
The story of Joe as told by David Brumbelow
Joe had only arrived the night before. But having slept on the plane a little on the way in, he wasn't that tired when he was awoken by David typing on his computer. Joe was looking forward to his first day of paddling in Colorado. Having heard about the different paddling days that David, Todd and Renee have been having, Joe was having second thoughts about using a WaveSport Fuse64. Joe figured that when Todd went into Confluence Kayaks that he could also get a larger boat.
Joe, with David driving, headed over to Ryan's to pick up Todd and Renee. When they arrived they found out that Renee was going to take the day off from paddling to get over her cold. Even though she wanted to sleep all day, she decided she wanted to help out the boys and be a shuttle bunny. She said she would sleep in the car at the takeout. Joe, Todd and David had decided to run the Dumont section of the Clear Creek. Renee had called Jon earlier and he had decided not to join the guys on the creek.
They all headed out for Confluence Kayaks to exchange both Todd's and Joe's boat for creek boats. Unfortunately, Confluence Kayaks had most of their boats out for a community program to help local delinquents learn to be productive and paddle instead of graffiti. When it was all said and done, Todd decided to paddle Renee's SuperHero, Joe traded in David's SuperStar for a Wavesport Diesel and David decided to paddle Joe's Fuse.
So they all headed out west to the put in for the Dumont section of the Clear Creek. Along the way the boys decided to also paddle a section that Renee and Kate had paddled the year before in addition to the Dumont section. Joe mentioned along the way to the put-in that he had brought his HD water proof video camera. Renee (with a little coaxing from Joe) decided she was feeling well enough to take video of the boys at different sections.
So Todd, Joe and David got dressed and gear up and lunched into the creek. At this point the creek was no wider than 20 feet. It started off with a bang; the rapids seemed to be continuous. Joe felt the creek reminded him of the Savage. Class 2-3 read and react continuous. They took turns leading through the curving stream. At one point Joe and David noticed Renee kneeling on the bank taking video as they passed by. Todd happened to be leading at this point and was concentration so hard on the creek that he didn't even notice her. Shortly after this, they came to a point when it seemed reasonable to get out and scout.
Joe climbed the 15 foot creek bank of rocks and when he got to the top, asked Todd and David to hold on second. Joe was feeling very dizzy. He decided to sit down for a second while he got some air. Now Joe was realizing what David had meant when he said it took a while to get used to the higher elevation.
They scouted the rapid and found a line through it. So they ran this rapid and many many more, occasionally seeing Renee on the side of the shore, but mostly it was just the three of them.
Then there came a point when they saw Renee downstream motioning for the boys to pull over on the left side of the creek. So Joe, Todd and David pulled over under a bridge. They got out and scouted the most significant rapid on the section of the creek. The line seemed clear, so they got back in and Renee set up to take video in a spot labeled Photos. Todd went first followed closely behind Joe. After the first slope, Joe found he was going way faster than expected. He ended up hitting the big hole at the bottom of the second slope and got flipped. He quickly rolled up and ran the rest of the rapid. It was exhilarating.
Later Joe looked back at David who was sweeping and saw that he was upside down. David appeared to be having a lot of difficulty getting his boat upright. Finally David managed to get it up. Joe asked David if he was alright. David started cursing Happy Feet. Apparently David hates Happy Feet. He told Joe that the footbag had deflated or moved and he had no foot purchase and his legs had fallen out of his thigh braces. David reinflated the Happy Feet and seemed to be alright now. So they continued downstream.
At one point they asked a raft guide when Kermit was coming up. Joe did not want to go past Kermit into the section of the Clear Creek called Black Rock. This section was mostly class 5's with one called Rigor Mortis. The guides said that they would see a big sign for Kermit’s Bar and Grill and that they had 5 more rapids to go before that. The guide also told Joe to run the next two drops that were fun and easy to take out after.
So the boys headed on down the creek. They laughed about the rapids that the guide had described. These rapids weren't even worth noting in Joe's book. Not compared to the rapids they had already run today.
Turns out Renee was waiting for them at the take out. Joe wanted to run at least the first drop. Todd was not interested in the second drop. David didn't care and said he'd do whatever. Todd caught an eddy on river left to get out and scout. Joe and David caught an eddy on river right, just above the drop. Joe could not see what the correct line was, but the guide had described what to do. Joe asked David if he wanted to get out and scout. David said no, he pulled out of the eddy and laughed, "You only live once" and vanished over the edge. Joe heard him cheering seconds later. So Joe pulled out and ran it himself. After Todd got back in his boat, he also ran the drop. It was definitely worth doing.
So they got out. Changed into clean clothing and loaded the minivan. Instead of driving back to Denver, they drove along the creek and looked at the rapids of the later sections. Todd pulled the van over later to look at one of the class 5+ sections of the Black Rock section. Joe and David could not see ways through certain sections of the rapid. The entire rapid was almost a half mile long and nightmarish. Joe never wanted to run a section like this, David agreed.
They just made it back in time to exchange Todd's 4Fun for a Remix which had been out earlier in the day. They all went back to Ryan's. David found a hotel for cheap down the street from Ryan's apartment for Joe and him. Todd went out for dinner with his sister. Joe, David, Renee, Ryan, and Check (Ryan's friend) went out for Mexican. Then they went back to Ryan's for a couple of round of Flux. Afterward, Joe and David walked down the street to the Hotel.
Overall, it had been a great first day for Joe in Colorado.
Joe had only arrived the night before. But having slept on the plane a little on the way in, he wasn't that tired when he was awoken by David typing on his computer. Joe was looking forward to his first day of paddling in Colorado. Having heard about the different paddling days that David, Todd and Renee have been having, Joe was having second thoughts about using a WaveSport Fuse64. Joe figured that when Todd went into Confluence Kayaks that he could also get a larger boat.
Joe, with David driving, headed over to Ryan's to pick up Todd and Renee. When they arrived they found out that Renee was going to take the day off from paddling to get over her cold. Even though she wanted to sleep all day, she decided she wanted to help out the boys and be a shuttle bunny. She said she would sleep in the car at the takeout. Joe, Todd and David had decided to run the Dumont section of the Clear Creek. Renee had called Jon earlier and he had decided not to join the guys on the creek.
They all headed out for Confluence Kayaks to exchange both Todd's and Joe's boat for creek boats. Unfortunately, Confluence Kayaks had most of their boats out for a community program to help local delinquents learn to be productive and paddle instead of graffiti. When it was all said and done, Todd decided to paddle Renee's SuperHero, Joe traded in David's SuperStar for a Wavesport Diesel and David decided to paddle Joe's Fuse.
So they all headed out west to the put in for the Dumont section of the Clear Creek. Along the way the boys decided to also paddle a section that Renee and Kate had paddled the year before in addition to the Dumont section. Joe mentioned along the way to the put-in that he had brought his HD water proof video camera. Renee (with a little coaxing from Joe) decided she was feeling well enough to take video of the boys at different sections.
So Todd, Joe and David got dressed and gear up and lunched into the creek. At this point the creek was no wider than 20 feet. It started off with a bang; the rapids seemed to be continuous. Joe felt the creek reminded him of the Savage. Class 2-3 read and react continuous. They took turns leading through the curving stream. At one point Joe and David noticed Renee kneeling on the bank taking video as they passed by. Todd happened to be leading at this point and was concentration so hard on the creek that he didn't even notice her. Shortly after this, they came to a point when it seemed reasonable to get out and scout.
Joe climbed the 15 foot creek bank of rocks and when he got to the top, asked Todd and David to hold on second. Joe was feeling very dizzy. He decided to sit down for a second while he got some air. Now Joe was realizing what David had meant when he said it took a while to get used to the higher elevation.
They scouted the rapid and found a line through it. So they ran this rapid and many many more, occasionally seeing Renee on the side of the shore, but mostly it was just the three of them.
Then there came a point when they saw Renee downstream motioning for the boys to pull over on the left side of the creek. So Joe, Todd and David pulled over under a bridge. They got out and scouted the most significant rapid on the section of the creek. The line seemed clear, so they got back in and Renee set up to take video in a spot labeled Photos. Todd went first followed closely behind Joe. After the first slope, Joe found he was going way faster than expected. He ended up hitting the big hole at the bottom of the second slope and got flipped. He quickly rolled up and ran the rest of the rapid. It was exhilarating.
Later Joe looked back at David who was sweeping and saw that he was upside down. David appeared to be having a lot of difficulty getting his boat upright. Finally David managed to get it up. Joe asked David if he was alright. David started cursing Happy Feet. Apparently David hates Happy Feet. He told Joe that the footbag had deflated or moved and he had no foot purchase and his legs had fallen out of his thigh braces. David reinflated the Happy Feet and seemed to be alright now. So they continued downstream.
At one point they asked a raft guide when Kermit was coming up. Joe did not want to go past Kermit into the section of the Clear Creek called Black Rock. This section was mostly class 5's with one called Rigor Mortis. The guides said that they would see a big sign for Kermit’s Bar and Grill and that they had 5 more rapids to go before that. The guide also told Joe to run the next two drops that were fun and easy to take out after.
So the boys headed on down the creek. They laughed about the rapids that the guide had described. These rapids weren't even worth noting in Joe's book. Not compared to the rapids they had already run today.
Turns out Renee was waiting for them at the take out. Joe wanted to run at least the first drop. Todd was not interested in the second drop. David didn't care and said he'd do whatever. Todd caught an eddy on river left to get out and scout. Joe and David caught an eddy on river right, just above the drop. Joe could not see what the correct line was, but the guide had described what to do. Joe asked David if he wanted to get out and scout. David said no, he pulled out of the eddy and laughed, "You only live once" and vanished over the edge. Joe heard him cheering seconds later. So Joe pulled out and ran it himself. After Todd got back in his boat, he also ran the drop. It was definitely worth doing.
So they got out. Changed into clean clothing and loaded the minivan. Instead of driving back to Denver, they drove along the creek and looked at the rapids of the later sections. Todd pulled the van over later to look at one of the class 5+ sections of the Black Rock section. Joe and David could not see ways through certain sections of the rapid. The entire rapid was almost a half mile long and nightmarish. Joe never wanted to run a section like this, David agreed.
They just made it back in time to exchange Todd's 4Fun for a Remix which had been out earlier in the day. They all went back to Ryan's. David found a hotel for cheap down the street from Ryan's apartment for Joe and him. Todd went out for dinner with his sister. Joe, David, Renee, Ryan, and Check (Ryan's friend) went out for Mexican. Then they went back to Ryan's for a couple of round of Flux. Afterward, Joe and David walked down the street to the Hotel.
Overall, it had been a great first day for Joe in Colorado.
Colorado Adventures (day 4)
Ryan's place was hot throughout the night
I slept on the floor with a sheet and pillow
Renee still is not feeling well.
Lisa is going to join us for the Poudre
Jon is busy getting the truck ready for their trip back
We leave for Cache La Poudre around 10:30am
Pass through Loveland on the way
Aparently I drove by this section of the river in 2002, before I started Kayaking, but don't remember it
Met Heith at the take-out
Heith asked to paddle with us and lead us down since he knew the river
No, Lisa at take-out, so we went to put in
No Lisa at put-in
We unloaded boats
Todd and Heith went to tak-out to find Lisa
Lisa found below take-out, she thought we were running a lower section
Put on river
Discovered that although Heith has run the river many times before, he's never led anyone
After taking us through a nice hole, Renee decides to take out cause her cold is leaving her with no energy
Renee gets ride for her and boat before we even leave our eddy
The rest of the run is exciting
Lisa takes out before Pine Falls, the last rapid.
Lisa takes pics of Heith, Todd and I running the rapid
Everyone rolled at least once today
Heith rolled twice, last time during Pine Falls rapid
Said by to Heith
We met Dan, a college friend for dinner
Got back to Denver late.
Checked into hotel aroudn 11pm
Finished almost all my timesheets for work
Joe got into hotel around 1am
I slept on the floor with a sheet and pillow
Renee still is not feeling well.
Lisa is going to join us for the Poudre
Jon is busy getting the truck ready for their trip back
We leave for Cache La Poudre around 10:30am
Pass through Loveland on the way
Aparently I drove by this section of the river in 2002, before I started Kayaking, but don't remember it
Met Heith at the take-out
Heith asked to paddle with us and lead us down since he knew the river
No, Lisa at take-out, so we went to put in
No Lisa at put-in
We unloaded boats
Todd and Heith went to tak-out to find Lisa
Lisa found below take-out, she thought we were running a lower section
Put on river
Discovered that although Heith has run the river many times before, he's never led anyone
After taking us through a nice hole, Renee decides to take out cause her cold is leaving her with no energy
Renee gets ride for her and boat before we even leave our eddy
The rest of the run is exciting
Lisa takes out before Pine Falls, the last rapid.
Lisa takes pics of Heith, Todd and I running the rapid
Everyone rolled at least once today
Heith rolled twice, last time during Pine Falls rapid
Said by to Heith
We met Dan, a college friend for dinner
Got back to Denver late.
Checked into hotel aroudn 11pm
Finished almost all my timesheets for work
Joe got into hotel around 1am
Colorado Adventures (day 3)
Sunday by the numbers.
Section Ran: Arkansas River, Brown's Canyon.
1 - Times we had to scout a rapid
2 - Times I rolled from surfing
2.5 - Hours on the river
3 - Boats we had on the river
9 - Miles of river ran
60+ - minutes waited at put-in for shuttle to be ran
142 - miles from take-out to Ryan's place in Denver
195 - Minutes on the road throughout the day
Section Ran: Arkansas River, Brown's Canyon.
1 - Times we had to scout a rapid
2 - Times I rolled from surfing
2.5 - Hours on the river
3 - Boats we had on the river
9 - Miles of river ran
60+ - minutes waited at put-in for shuttle to be ran
142 - miles from take-out to Ryan's place in Denver
195 - Minutes on the road throughout the day
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Colorado Adventures (day 2)
I'm going to try something different for each day of this trip. At least until I run out of ideas.
This is our second day of the trip and the first real river run of the week. We decide to run the Fractions section of the Arkansas. Unfortunately, we can't seem to find any real informaiton on the rapids. But Todd and Renee did this section last year. Of course it was at a noticeably higher level. In fact when we get to the put-in, they comment that last year they put in about 10 feet further up the slope. They also mention that the rock out in the center of the river was under water.
We put on the river. Todd leads, Renee follows and I sweep. We are all just getting familiar with our boats, but the river doesn't care about that. It starts off with a pretty much continuous class 3/3+ read and react for at least a mile. At some point, Renee catches an eddy in the middle of the river, it looked very impresssive, until I catch up to her and find out she didn't exactly do it on purpose. I catch another eddy further down stream to wait for her. Todd is so intent on finding the next path, that he never even realizes that we had fallen behind. We manage to catch up to him though.
There is a ton of small catch and release waves along the way. But, I am still not fully comfortable in my boat and neither are Renee and Todd. Renee wishes she'd paddled her SuperHero a few times recently to get back in the flow. Todd feels the new Fun design has much less rocker, and is constantly try to keep the nose of his boat out of the water. Of course their isn't much rear to his boat either. Talk about lack of rear, the new SuperStar design has none.
After several miles of this, I see a black and white sign on the river left bank. It says "entrapment hazzard on river right". If impassible, portage on river left. I look at the river left bank. Some idiot local land owner thought it would be a great idea to line the entire left shoreline with barbed wire. So much for porting on the left. It turned out that the river left line wasn't that bad. There was a steep spill over on river right and a slot further right (I assume where the entrapment could occur), but the left line through the rapid was straight forward.
The scenery is amazing, with snow capped mountains in the background. I managed to get a few shots. I think Todd got more though.
By the time we stop for Todd to eat a snack bar, we are all getting much more comfortable in our boats. I'm even catching some surfing along the way.
The last notable rapid was School House Rock (It was not the same at the Lower Yough rapid of the same name). There was a massive hole on the river left side of the rock. The far river right side had an undercut. The usual line is to run right of the rock pointed left and driving left away from the undercut. Renee went first, cause Todd had caught an eddy and Renee missed it. Renee ran the correct line but being in a longer boat than the rest of us, she drove slightly too hard and ended up behind the School House Rock in a very swirly eddy. I breezed by her while she was trying to get out. It wasn't a hard rapid, I just angled left and gave one stroke. At this level, the water wasn't really pushing into the undercut. Renee had been in the same eddy last year when it was much more violent, so she got out of it fairly easy this time.
A few minutes further and we were at the park-and-play spot Todd and I had been at the day before. This was our take-out.
It was a good day on the river. Only a couple of hours, but over 6 miles.
We went to the FibArk festival for the afternoon and evening. We watched several of the rodeo boating competitions. We even got to see the Houligan Race. This is a race where people design their own floating monstrosities to run a short section of the river. If their craft stays intact to the main rodeo hole, then there is a chance they can jump up and grab an orange bag strung across the hole about 10 feet up, which contains money. Notable contramptions were: The Styrofoam 16 -oot long boat that disintegrated seconds before thy hit the hole. Many pool floats held together buy duct tape. The flaoting trampooline never made it to within sight. Some made it through the hole perfectly fine. Others by the time they got to the hole had only someone clinging to something that barely floated. It was hillarious.
We ran into Jared Seiler just before we left the festival and he convinced us to stay for the Boater X video at 10 p.m. He wasn't able to compete this weekend cause he had injured his finger skateboarding. But, his brother Graham came in second on the BoaterX race. So we watched the 30 minute video with all the past years carnage and the ful races of this year. It was intense.
We got back to the hotel just before midnight.
This is our second day of the trip and the first real river run of the week. We decide to run the Fractions section of the Arkansas. Unfortunately, we can't seem to find any real informaiton on the rapids. But Todd and Renee did this section last year. Of course it was at a noticeably higher level. In fact when we get to the put-in, they comment that last year they put in about 10 feet further up the slope. They also mention that the rock out in the center of the river was under water.
We put on the river. Todd leads, Renee follows and I sweep. We are all just getting familiar with our boats, but the river doesn't care about that. It starts off with a pretty much continuous class 3/3+ read and react for at least a mile. At some point, Renee catches an eddy in the middle of the river, it looked very impresssive, until I catch up to her and find out she didn't exactly do it on purpose. I catch another eddy further down stream to wait for her. Todd is so intent on finding the next path, that he never even realizes that we had fallen behind. We manage to catch up to him though.
There is a ton of small catch and release waves along the way. But, I am still not fully comfortable in my boat and neither are Renee and Todd. Renee wishes she'd paddled her SuperHero a few times recently to get back in the flow. Todd feels the new Fun design has much less rocker, and is constantly try to keep the nose of his boat out of the water. Of course their isn't much rear to his boat either. Talk about lack of rear, the new SuperStar design has none.
After several miles of this, I see a black and white sign on the river left bank. It says "entrapment hazzard on river right". If impassible, portage on river left. I look at the river left bank. Some idiot local land owner thought it would be a great idea to line the entire left shoreline with barbed wire. So much for porting on the left. It turned out that the river left line wasn't that bad. There was a steep spill over on river right and a slot further right (I assume where the entrapment could occur), but the left line through the rapid was straight forward.
The scenery is amazing, with snow capped mountains in the background. I managed to get a few shots. I think Todd got more though.
By the time we stop for Todd to eat a snack bar, we are all getting much more comfortable in our boats. I'm even catching some surfing along the way.
The last notable rapid was School House Rock (It was not the same at the Lower Yough rapid of the same name). There was a massive hole on the river left side of the rock. The far river right side had an undercut. The usual line is to run right of the rock pointed left and driving left away from the undercut. Renee went first, cause Todd had caught an eddy and Renee missed it. Renee ran the correct line but being in a longer boat than the rest of us, she drove slightly too hard and ended up behind the School House Rock in a very swirly eddy. I breezed by her while she was trying to get out. It wasn't a hard rapid, I just angled left and gave one stroke. At this level, the water wasn't really pushing into the undercut. Renee had been in the same eddy last year when it was much more violent, so she got out of it fairly easy this time.
A few minutes further and we were at the park-and-play spot Todd and I had been at the day before. This was our take-out.
It was a good day on the river. Only a couple of hours, but over 6 miles.
We went to the FibArk festival for the afternoon and evening. We watched several of the rodeo boating competitions. We even got to see the Houligan Race. This is a race where people design their own floating monstrosities to run a short section of the river. If their craft stays intact to the main rodeo hole, then there is a chance they can jump up and grab an orange bag strung across the hole about 10 feet up, which contains money. Notable contramptions were: The Styrofoam 16 -oot long boat that disintegrated seconds before thy hit the hole. Many pool floats held together buy duct tape. The flaoting trampooline never made it to within sight. Some made it through the hole perfectly fine. Others by the time they got to the hole had only someone clinging to something that barely floated. It was hillarious.
We ran into Jared Seiler just before we left the festival and he convinced us to stay for the Boater X video at 10 p.m. He wasn't able to compete this weekend cause he had injured his finger skateboarding. But, his brother Graham came in second on the BoaterX race. So we watched the 30 minute video with all the past years carnage and the ful races of this year. It was intense.
We got back to the hotel just before midnight.
Colorado Adventures (day 1)
June 18th, 2010
5:30am: Wake up and take shower. Make sure all the last items are packed, including Lumpy Jr. Frantically search both cars and house for auto power converter to no avail.
6:10am: Wake Katie up. Already 10 minutes behind schedule. She gets up, dressed and we head out the door for the airport.
6:35am: Arrive at airport. Check in and check both bags, including the oversized bag that contains everyone's paddles and PFDs.
6:50am: Arrive at gate. Todd shows up, walking slowly. Not sure if he is awake yet. He only has one carryon. Renee took all the rest of his stuff the previous day.
7:20am: Boarded plane. Todd boarded with me, cause I am flying first class. hehe, Todd is in coach.
7:50am: Plane takes off. I slept for a little bit, but awaken when the flight attendant asks us what breakfast we want. I get the last omelet. Everyone else has to have yogurt. It was a good Omelet. They serve us 2 different rounds of drinks, even a snack. I hear Todd slept through his drink service and they didn't even offer any breakfast in coach.
9:50 am: Land in Denver. We are now 2 hours behind everyone else in Philly. We deboard and go to get luggage. The paddle bag takes forever to come out, and when it does, we head to the offsite Enterprise rental center. Todd takes the last spot on his bus, so I get on the following short bus. We end up getting a long minivan which will seat 7 comfortably with factory racks installed. Todd spends 15 minutes trying to find out if he got the correct gas plan. They weren't able to verify either way. When we hit the road, we find out that none of us have a GPS. Todd tries to use his Iphone as a GPS, but it's hard for him to drive and use it, and I don't even want to try and figure it out. We manage to make it to Confluence Kayaks, across the street from REI. We get our rental boats for the week. Todd gets a Red 4Fun, the new design. Renee's is a Yellow SuperHero. Mine is an Orange SuperStar. We figure out how to get the boats on the factory rack without denting the roof of the minivan.. We set out for Ryan's place (Renee's brother) following the direction Renee sent us. Unfortunately, by going to get the boats, we are already off track. Rather than back track to the highway, we decide to go old school and use a map. (For those of you who don't know, a map is a large sheet of paper that show the layout of streets). We stop by Ryan's and say hi to Renee. Unfortuanly Renee has to work and wait on her brother to get home from work.
1:00pm: Todd and I head out for Buena Vista where we are staying for the night. We figure out that apparently when we are talking we ineveitably miss our exits. After at least 4 wrong turns, we finally get on the correct road.
4:00pm: We arrive in Buena Vista and check in to our hotel. I call the small room with the twin bed. This way Ryan can get his own Queen and Todd and Renee get the other Queen.
5:00pm: Todd and I arrive at the river side, we drive, even though the river is only a 15 minute walk from the hotel. We gear up and put on the water for a little park-n-play. Todd tells me the first hole/wave is a little sticky on the river left side, but not too bad. I look at the hole and think, looks nasty to me. Neither one of us are really comforatable in the boats yet. So I say, "Show me how it's done Guinea Pig" Todd jumps into the hole and begins to get worked. After his third or forth roll, he seems ready to be done. He flips one last time and by the time he rolls up he is out of the hole. He catches an eddy on the far side fo the river. He is completely out of breath. Not only did he completely get work in the hole, but Buena Vista is 8,000 feet above sea level. There's not as much air up here. Watching Todd, I decide to not repeat his surf, but I go into the easier side of the hole. I go in and out about 5 or 6 times. I go in once more and it catches the edge of my nose and it flips me. I roll up. I start to feel water coming in my boat behind my back. My skirt has imploded. I yell, "I'm sinking" Todd laughs. The sinking boat drags me into the nasty part of the hole, and my boat quickly fills up with water. Once the boat is full, It just drifts under the pillow and I come out of the hole. I then paddle the submerged boat over to the side of the river and get out of the boat. Yep, no swim, even in a sunken boat. Once recovered, we played in some of the other holes, but left that hole alone.
6:30pm: Took out of river and walked 10 minutes back to car along path. By the time we got back to car, I was completely out of breath. This elevation is brutal. We let gear dry in the sun and humidless air. Then we headed back to hotel.
8:00pm: Renee and Ryan arrive to join us. We go out for dinner at a local home-style restaurant.
Over all it was a good start to a Colorado vacation.
5:30am: Wake up and take shower. Make sure all the last items are packed, including Lumpy Jr. Frantically search both cars and house for auto power converter to no avail.
6:10am: Wake Katie up. Already 10 minutes behind schedule. She gets up, dressed and we head out the door for the airport.
6:35am: Arrive at airport. Check in and check both bags, including the oversized bag that contains everyone's paddles and PFDs.
6:50am: Arrive at gate. Todd shows up, walking slowly. Not sure if he is awake yet. He only has one carryon. Renee took all the rest of his stuff the previous day.
7:20am: Boarded plane. Todd boarded with me, cause I am flying first class. hehe, Todd is in coach.
7:50am: Plane takes off. I slept for a little bit, but awaken when the flight attendant asks us what breakfast we want. I get the last omelet. Everyone else has to have yogurt. It was a good Omelet. They serve us 2 different rounds of drinks, even a snack. I hear Todd slept through his drink service and they didn't even offer any breakfast in coach.
9:50 am: Land in Denver. We are now 2 hours behind everyone else in Philly. We deboard and go to get luggage. The paddle bag takes forever to come out, and when it does, we head to the offsite Enterprise rental center. Todd takes the last spot on his bus, so I get on the following short bus. We end up getting a long minivan which will seat 7 comfortably with factory racks installed. Todd spends 15 minutes trying to find out if he got the correct gas plan. They weren't able to verify either way. When we hit the road, we find out that none of us have a GPS. Todd tries to use his Iphone as a GPS, but it's hard for him to drive and use it, and I don't even want to try and figure it out. We manage to make it to Confluence Kayaks, across the street from REI. We get our rental boats for the week. Todd gets a Red 4Fun, the new design. Renee's is a Yellow SuperHero. Mine is an Orange SuperStar. We figure out how to get the boats on the factory rack without denting the roof of the minivan.. We set out for Ryan's place (Renee's brother) following the direction Renee sent us. Unfortunately, by going to get the boats, we are already off track. Rather than back track to the highway, we decide to go old school and use a map. (For those of you who don't know, a map is a large sheet of paper that show the layout of streets). We stop by Ryan's and say hi to Renee. Unfortuanly Renee has to work and wait on her brother to get home from work.
1:00pm: Todd and I head out for Buena Vista where we are staying for the night. We figure out that apparently when we are talking we ineveitably miss our exits. After at least 4 wrong turns, we finally get on the correct road.
4:00pm: We arrive in Buena Vista and check in to our hotel. I call the small room with the twin bed. This way Ryan can get his own Queen and Todd and Renee get the other Queen.
5:00pm: Todd and I arrive at the river side, we drive, even though the river is only a 15 minute walk from the hotel. We gear up and put on the water for a little park-n-play. Todd tells me the first hole/wave is a little sticky on the river left side, but not too bad. I look at the hole and think, looks nasty to me. Neither one of us are really comforatable in the boats yet. So I say, "Show me how it's done Guinea Pig" Todd jumps into the hole and begins to get worked. After his third or forth roll, he seems ready to be done. He flips one last time and by the time he rolls up he is out of the hole. He catches an eddy on the far side fo the river. He is completely out of breath. Not only did he completely get work in the hole, but Buena Vista is 8,000 feet above sea level. There's not as much air up here. Watching Todd, I decide to not repeat his surf, but I go into the easier side of the hole. I go in and out about 5 or 6 times. I go in once more and it catches the edge of my nose and it flips me. I roll up. I start to feel water coming in my boat behind my back. My skirt has imploded. I yell, "I'm sinking" Todd laughs. The sinking boat drags me into the nasty part of the hole, and my boat quickly fills up with water. Once the boat is full, It just drifts under the pillow and I come out of the hole. I then paddle the submerged boat over to the side of the river and get out of the boat. Yep, no swim, even in a sunken boat. Once recovered, we played in some of the other holes, but left that hole alone.
6:30pm: Took out of river and walked 10 minutes back to car along path. By the time we got back to car, I was completely out of breath. This elevation is brutal. We let gear dry in the sun and humidless air. Then we headed back to hotel.
8:00pm: Renee and Ryan arrive to join us. We go out for dinner at a local home-style restaurant.
Over all it was a good start to a Colorado vacation.
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