Class V Shenanigans , Summer '05 - Part One

Greetings Everyone!

Home is where I hang my Canyon Chapoe (Ed) and I made it here just in the nick of time to get my dead a** back to delivering goods, services, and petroleum products to the deserving public.  As luck would have it, I have been fortunate enough to have spent the majority of my summer in the never ending search for the whitewater I so dearly love.  This year I found it in spades!  About 7 weeks ago I traversed west with two of my most beloved friends, Mikey (our Present Fearless Leader, and E.G. [one of OMP’s rising stars and future instructors]).  Despite my efforts to go out there and attempt to kill my friends in a horrible watery death, we managed to not only survive, but we had the most unbelievable places to be, stay, camp, and boat that I have had in quite some time! 

We started with a warm-up in the famous Golden Whitewater Park (Clear Creek).  This is a playboater’s wet-dream-come-true and it was running!  This is in Historic Downtown Golden, CO and it has a hole/playspot for everything you can possibly contrive to do in a playboat.  We also saw tubers, inflatable canoes, and the people there are so unbelievably cool that I wanted to move out there!  Fortunately, janetlee has promised me a hole in our back yard for Christmas and it looks like I won’t have to leave home again!  (My upstream neighbor loves gas and water skis, my downstream neighbor loves to fly fish, I am a boater!  We are planning to dam upstream, release for my hole, and stock downstream for my fisherbuddy!  Merry Christmas!!)  We blew out of there and blasted out to see my lifetime/lifelong friend in Snowmass Village where we put in on the Slaughterhouse run of the Roaring Fork!  Technical Class IV+ Western Run and always a blast! Caught it at a very fun level and my only regret is that we didn’t get to Woody Creek Tavern (not only possibly the best place to eat/swill beer I have been recently, but that is where I met Hunter Thompson when he was alive!)

Borther Kevin (Snowmass) gave us the key to Paradise!  He has the most awesome spot in the Crystal Valley imaginable; 2nd rock holds the key! (Huge deck & Yurt!)!  We experienced the most amazing sights there complete with mountain dual rainbows, changing sky and the Great Spirit shined The Light on us!  Words fail but we have photos!  Photos fail, but ask E.G.!  The River was up; and I mean high water!

The Crystal River Gorge is a solid and most continuous Class V+ at 350 cfs for a couple + of miles.  350 CFS!!!!  You can piss 350 cfs!!  We were lucky enough to catch it at 1350 cfs!!!  I never thought the gorge was runnable, and it isn’t for me!  This thing was pounding!  So, in typical fashion, we found the worst shuttle (4wd harrowing I can’t believe we are doing this!) and put in on the Crystal Mill run!  Now this is probably the most picturesque, and most photographed spot in the entire state, not to mention at this level a solid Class V run and Put-In!  It took us 3 hours just to get the 3 miles of Class VI shuttle to the mill!  This run is above the Gorge and there is no easily recognizable take out!  You cannot stop once you put in and no way did we want to miss and flush into the Gorge!  All of us would have died a horrible, but yet unknown death had we have done so!  So, we hung a spare, brightly colored boat on the bank (thanks E.G.!) so we would not miss!  I was adamant about this!  For some reason, I wanted to see another day in the Valley!

And another day we saw!  Next day, we put in on the Bogan Canyon run!  Short, and one of the most beautiful Canyons I have ever seen!  Easy!  But we are in a high water situation!  Class IV+ (and keep in mind, this is solid and continuous!) and this is high water!  So…. We did it twice and it’s another awesome day in the Valley! 

Next day is the famous Narrows!  This is (and I can’t emphasize this enough!), a solid and non stop level!  Class V!  It is 2.1 miles.  2.1 miles of continous Class V.  We put in, caught one eddie accidentally, and beat our shuttle there!  WE DID THIS RUN IN 2O MINUTES!!  20 minutes we did the entire Narrows Section, took out, and were done for the day!!!!!  It was on for this!!  It is, without a doubt, the most fun I have had with my clothes on!  And I was naked under my sprayskirt!  (Thankfully Mikey didn’t know this!)

There is another section of the Crystal that I would like to mention that we, in no way, no how, no chance, would we put in on!  This is the Meatgrinder.  Approx. 5 years ago I did this run and I’m not too sure I knew better! I survived, and swore I would never do it again.  It was, for me, a matter of survival and I have no idea what I was thinking!  As soon as I was lucky enough to get off of it, I called my then and now sweetie janetlee and fessed up to all of my previous sins because I thought I had died and someone just forgot to tell me!  E.G. & I took a look at it and it was the most horrifying thing I have seen this year at that level!  It was a good time for me to reflect upon my own mortality and it makes me happy that as I do, I have had the opportunity to have you all as my friends.  Funny, but when it comes down to the nut-cutting, that is what/who I think of!

The next Summer Trip Report will be the next time home because duty becons… and there is more…!

Keep Your Stick In The Water!
Terry

Class V Shenanigans , Summer '05 - Part Two

Greetings Board Dwellers!

Since I am sitting around here feeling sorry for myself because I am doing no boating, I thought I would do another installment of my Summer Trip Report just to amuse myself!

After our Class V shenanigans on the Crystal, Mikey took his leave from E.G. and myself.  Apparently, he had to go somewhere and be somebody.  I had no idea at the time what could possibly be more important that boating in CO, but "stuff" always seems to get in the way!  E.G. and I were now on our own and free of any adult
supervision whatsoever.

Because this was E.G.'s first big CO whitewater trip, and we wanted to bag as many runs as possible, we decided to head over to the Arkansas River and check out some classic Colorado runs.  I would have preferred to hit the Gunnison, and we were close, but that would have been a pretty good investment in time.  It is efinitely
worth it, and the Gunnison ranks among the most awesome rivers I have ever done.  But sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, so it's off to the Ark for us!

E.G. had wanked his shoulder, seemingly a common occurrence for him, on the Bogan Canyon run on the Crystal, so we took it easy when we got to the Ark.  First day saw us on the Fractions/Frog Rock section, which is a nice Class III/Class III+ approximately 7 miles long.  The take out is in Buena Vista where they have built a new play feature at the city park.  It's a nice feature, but at the level we encountered, the spot was pretty trashy so we didn't stay in it long.  E.G.'s shoulder seemed like it was going to keep his arm attached to his body so next day, we thought we step it up a bit.  Little did I know that E.G. was going to get still yet another chapter in his fledgling edumacation!

Keep in mind that we are now a vehicle of one and I am implementing one of my favorite tried & true art forms:  The Horn In!  Which of course means that we have to hook up with someone for shuttle purposes.  We have to make sure that we have all of our resumes and credentials in order and our take-out beer is cold!  So we ecide
that that day we would shoot for the Numbers section.  This is THE Classic western Class IV by which all other Class IV's are judged. So off we go to the put-in to hang out and wait for me to work my Horn In Magic!  We didn't have to wait long!  We found a guy who wanted to do the Granite run, which is a Class III-IV run with one
Class V on it.  Pine Creek, and quite possibly the most famous terminal hole in Colorado.  The run itself, with the exception of Pine Creek, is not as difficult as the Numbers, in my opinion, but Pine Creek is where I almost bought it one time way early in my career. And that is still yet another story.  I wanted E.G. to see the Numbers, and we still had the issue of his wanked shoulder.  The potential Horn In agreed to do the Numbers with us and it was on!  Now this gentleman was the epitome of Old School!  From his head to his toe, gear, paddle, boat, the works.  Which is why he & I immediately hit it off!  I think E.G. may have been snickering to himself as he watched this dude put in, and watched me put in with my Creeker (big volume boat)!  But very quickly into the run, E.G. was snickering out the other end!  We put on the most dazzling display of Old School seen this side of the Days of Yore!  Air-borne enders at the Ender rock at Number 4, and the whole ball of wax!  I even cart wheeled my big-a creeker just to add a touch of New to the Old!  This dude we hooked up with was one of the most smooth and poised boaters I have seen in years, and one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet.  E.G. was suitably impressed with us, as well he should be.  About time these hotshot young punks had a little respect for the people who pioneered their sport!  I found that between our Horn In and myself we had over 60 years of combined boating experience!  E.G. told me that he had always wondered what it had meant to be "Old School" and we showed him how the hog ate the cabbage!  We had a blast and E.G. now has something he will keep with him for the rest of his boating days!  Right On!

Guess I should wind up this installment since I seem to be getting a bit windy!  But there is still yet more to come and I have no qualms whatsoever boring all of the Board Dwellers with my sh**!

Keep Your Stick In The Water!
-Terry-