Colorado Trip Day Four

Monday June 22

Woke up early again, 6ish. It’s nice to have time to slowly get ready. Still loving being able to make coffee in the morning. 48 degrees when I woke up. Got geared up and went to run Brown’s canyon again. Totally sunny and hot day today. We dropped the bike off at the takeout and then decided to try the “cheater” dropoff that our hitchhiker showed us the day before. This was a put-in by a creek that ran through a culvert and eventually into the Arkansas. Saved $6 on parking (yay!). The creek was very fast with lots of bends and big rocks. Kind of reminded me of MN creeking, without the snow and steep gradient. It was a fun ten minute ride. This cheater route starts about 2 miles further down from the park entry, and it starts you right in the meat of things.

The run was the same as yesterday, fast and lots of high rollers. We decided to run the zoom flume more than once, to try and get some video. So we just bombed it without scouting, and J made it fine, I did not, and then T followed behind me upright and not having to roll. I skirted the very right of the massive hole, and got tipped over by a wave, rolled up and immediately got knocked down the other way into the big hole. Unfortunately, this left me with no breath to deal with the sticky hole. It didn’t let me go, and I couldn’t set up for a roll, so I had to swim. Sigh. I was able to get myself and paddle over to the side, and Jeremiah chased down my boat. Those really travel fast and far. After walking our boats back up halfway (on the railroad tracks), I decided I was too tired to try and run the rapid again, and T didn’t want to jinx her clean run, so we decided to just continue on.

After running (and LOVING) the super high rollers by where J helped rescue the raft yesterday we came across a lone floating boat in a rare eddy that could hold a boat (due to the high canyon wall). We then saw the 2 boaters on the opposite side yelling for help. J made the eddy, T and I floated around the wall to the next eddy. We couldn’t see what was going on, but it took a while. The guy’s throw rope wasn’t long enough to help, and J couldn’t use his cowtail because the boat didn’t have a front grab loop and the back one was too close to the cockpit to be safe for J to tow it. Finally, a raft was able to make the eddy, grab the boat, and float it over to the other side. J was wiped out after this.

Finished the run (too short!), and J left on the dirt bike to get the truck. While still in our gear, we noticed a kayak floating upside down in the middle of the river. It was the same boat as before! T started to wade out into the river to see if she could grab it, but the water is too high and too fast. Right after the boat launch is a bunch of fast ripple water, with no eddies on either side. She ran along side the shore anyway, in case it got caught up in the trees. One snaky raft guide asked me why I didn’t swim after it, since I had my vest and helmet still on. I couldn’t believe it. Even if I had somehow miraculously been able to time my swim to catch the boat, that still would have left me holding onto a submerged boat through boulder-strewn whitewater, going around a bend that I had never seen before. What a jerk. Eventfully, the partner of the swimmer paddled on down to catch the boat. The swimmer/walker finally caught up and after a long time they both walked back up with their boats.

The non-swimmer asked for a ride back up to the road so he could hitch a ride to the put-in. There were hardly any cars today. (Which made running the river really nice, hardly any rafts). On the long, windy trip up, the guy told us how the other guy, Jesus, had a tough day. Swam four times! Oof. Hard for just one other kayaker to rescue gear. I guess Jesus doesn’t have a combat roll, and was really pushed around in the little playboat of his. “Jesus needs a creek boat.”

Got back to the campsite at 2 for lunch. It was HOT. 90 degrees outside, 82 inside. Poor doggies. We started the generator and got the AC going. What a relief that was! We all rested for a while before heading to the Salida play hole around 4. J hopped right on in his wavesport and went down to the wave under the bridge. I considered messing around in the hole, but I wasn’t feeling very good. I went upstream with T to work on rolling a bit, but in the end we both just weren’t feeling it and decided to take out. J was done a little while later, tired from all of his rescue work earlier. I think I may not be drinking enough water and am dehydrated. I get headaches and dizzy in the afternoons. I’m going to try to remember to drink more water tomorrow.

Picked up 2 movies at the redbox, and had an early night. Royal Gorge tomorrow!

-Missy