11 Mile's sweet 1/4 mile & fun for everyone!

11 Mile Canyon has something for everyone. It's on the South Platte River and the water is nice and warm (for Colorado). Here are some pics from a day trip a few weeks ago.

Spring flora on 11 mile

This is a sweet run fro the whole group. By that, I mean that you could take a group of paddlers with a wide range of skill levels and have everyone be happy with what they get to paddle. There is lots of slidy granite class 3 for the intro level creek paddler. There is also a fun V- intro rapid and a multi tiered V drop at the end of the run.

The fun V- intro rapid. The top half is shown above, and there is a slot boof with a little 'sieve thing' in it that splits the rapid (hidden behind the rock pile in the lower right frame).

Scouting is always a good idea. Chris and Nicole scout the super gnar manky mank from the top.

Nicole in the midst of intro rapid. Paddlers in the class 3 range can put in below this drop.

The halfway point of the intro rapid above (slotty boof w/'sieve thing').

Chris and Nicole enjoy some of the quality class 3 drops that make up the bulk of the run (above and below).

There is also some awesome flatwater to, um relax on, and, uhh, enjoy the great scenery.

The main drop as seen from below

After plenty of class 3 followed by flatwater, paddlers arrive at the above drop, a stacked class V with some fun moves, boofs and slides. One can easily take out here or drop into this fun, fast and long drop.

The main drop as seen from above. Note how far down the paddler standing on the river center rock is. That is the bottom of the rapid.

Nicole drops in (above) and drives back to center (below) before quickly going back to river left to set up for the lower half of the main rapid.

Nicole lines up a sweet boof on the lower half of the drop.

Chris heading into the top of the main drop (above) and dropping into the second half (below).

Chris heading towards the last fun boof (above)

More classic 11 mile scenery and flatwater.... Good swimming abounds for dogs, kids and non paddling friends or significant others.

Photography: Soraya Jacob, Paul Gamache, Nicole Mansfield.