CO Day Eight

Friday, June 26

Woke early and spent some time walking around with the dogs. They really enjoy hunting in the rocks. I think prairie dogs hide out in them, and tease the dogs with their appealing prairie dog scent. It was sunny and very hot! We were confused, because the weather report listed overcast and a high of upper 60s. We decided not to risk it being a scorching day, so we left the generator running and the thermostat set to cool the dogs just in case. Packed a lunch and our gear and headed for Pinnacle around 10ish. The river had spiked up to 3300 cfs! Very high!

I was very nervous and anxious for the first half of the run. I’m not sure why, but it sure was tense. The first rapid, Three Rocks, we came to was a huge hole with a series of smaller holes and boulders with swirly water. J&M just ran it blind, but I pulled out to scout. They went left of the big hole and skirted around other holes and boulders. I didn’t like the chances of my lil Juice, so I ran a sneak route on the far left. For reasons not clear to me, the river wanted me in a small eddy 2/3 of the way through. I was too nervous and highstrung to attempt getting out of the small eddy into the current. So I walked a few yards downstream to the end of the rapid.
After that big rapid, the rest of the run was filled with long, continuous sections of HUGE wave trains and crashing water. It was intense. I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of the demands of CO paddling. You have to keep part of your attention on getting through the feature you’re on, but then you also have to keep an eye on what’s coming up, because the water moves too fast for you to ignore downstream for even a second. For the most part, we all just had fun styling the rapids section. Then we came to one part that was filled with ginormous waves (some probably at least 10 feet) and side-crashing waves and it was just a jumbled mess. It’s hard to see ahead over huge waves and water crashing into you. I just tried leaning forward and keeping my paddle in the water. I was unlucky to hit a couple of holes with no speed (couldn’t see them; even if I had, not sure I could have paddled around). I had to roll 3 or 4 times. But each roll was effortless, so no worries. After a brief rest in a eddy, we were on our way. M tried to get a video to show the difference between the Mega Rocker and the Juice going through waves, but it’s not the best. So hard to get good video and pictures here, because there aren’t good spots to stop.

We pulled off the river after 1.5 hours, and just barely ahead of a small storm. We had lunch and watched some rafts go through the big rapid at the top. We debated doing the run again, but ended up leaving. M&I planned to do another run of our section at camp. So J was our shuttle bunny. The section was cranking! The beginning third was no longer just a gentle warm-up run. It now had some serious rapids sections with legitimate 4-6 footers. Tons of fun! We don’t know how we can go back to MN and dried up rivers after this. We discuss the possibility of just staying here and living off our savings.

We ran into town to get some ice cream. After getting back to camp, we washed the dogs (so they won’t be stinky for the ride home). I was sitting outside reading, and Cassie started furiously licking at a back paw. We all looked and couldn’t see any cuts or cactus barbs, so we think she may have been bit by an insect. She was quite distraught, limping around constantly and licking at it. Luckily she seemed all better by the end of the day.

[Only a few minor CFs and Bs: first, I tried to make a pancake breakfast. But sadly we had no Pam spray, and no acceptable substitutes. (If anyone is wondering, cream cheese will not work as a grease). The pancakes stuck horribly and so we had to make other arrangements. The other incident was that M couldn’t find her socks when we were getting dressed at the river. She had been certain she brought them, but maybe they got left in the truck? She didn’t want to go down with nothing on (chances of blisters are high if you have no sock layer inside the dry suit). She put on my tight river shoes and got dressed. I picked up my boat to head to the ramp, and there were her socks! So she had to get out of her dry suit and change footwear and get back in.]

-Tina