My first Vallecito run - why haven't I been here before?

My pictures are having trouble fitting into the blog format here - please view my full Vallecito post BY CLICKING HERE.

Boofing Fuzzy Bunny – one of Vallecito's classic drops. Paddler: Chris Menges. Photo: Kevin Kuuskvere.

I have always had an excuse for not making it to Vallecito during its season even though I only live 4 hours away and I've been paddling clas V in Colorado for the past 6 years. It's too far. There is good stuff running closer. The crew is going elsewhere. We have no guide. Let's run Lime again….and many other lame excuses. After finally getting on Vallecito this season, I definitely have to concur that it is in fact the most quality mile of boating in the state. FOLLOW THIS LINK to the rest of the story AND more pictures…

Great Falls of the Potomac - Maryland Lines

The Great Falls section of the Potomac River is a unique type of water feature that offers up numerous creek boating lines, waterfalls and play spots at a huge variety of water levels. Here, the Potomac River forms the border between Maryland and Virginia. For waterfalls and creek lines, the commonly run sections of the falls include the Maryland lines (low-water), the Virginia lines (medium levels) and the Center lines (high water). On a recent trip home to the DC area I was lucky enough to get on both the Maryland and Virginia lines. This post shows photos and a video of the Maryland side. Virginia lines report coming up soon....

For more information about the play spots and downriver runs on the Potomac check out www.potomacpaddlers.com

I'd like to give a huge thanks to Maggie Snowell and all the other local paddlers who showed me lines and loaned me boats!

All Photos and video by Craig Campbell


Chris Menges - Pummel, Great Falls, Potomac River, Maryland.
Sequence at Pummel.

Maggie Snowell leading through Pencil Sharpener, just downstream of Pummel.

Chris in Pencil Sharpener

Sequence at Pencil Sharpener


Boofing the right side of Horshoe, which follows Pencil Sharpener. The hole is sticky.


Sequence at Horshoe.

Great Falls - MD Lines 22 & 24 October 2008 from Craig Campbell on Vimeo.

Stay tuned for photos of the Virginia lines, coming up next at coloradokayak.blogspot.com

Devils Punchbowls - high altitude waterfalls huck day

The Devils Punch Bowls are a spectacular set of waterfalls accessible from either Crested Butte or Marble Colorado. The falls are in the upper reaches of the south fork of the Crystal River and generally get paddled a couple days each season by boaters who want to get off the couch from their work weeks and take approximately 2 strokes before hucking ze gnar. The drops are definitely clean but do require skilled paddling. Here is a little photo series of a recent day we had up there on July 27, 2007. Make sure to check out some of the text at the bottom of this article as I tally up carnage this year versus carnage last year and we revisit the video of the famous and amazing backwards boof.

Photos: Chris Menges

We met Mexico in crested Butte this spring. He is from Asheville, spending the summer out here. He was the first one to fire off the drops this day. Here he is scouting his line.

Mexi heading towards the lip and looking good.

He started falling off line right about here and kind of flipping over.

Mexico proceeded to swim in the boiling pool between the first and second drops. His leg had popped out of his thigh brace and basicall ejected him when he landed almost upside down. Luckily, the lip of the second drop is pretty shallow and he is able to stand up on the rock and then exit onto the cliff wall.

Our friends DK and Natalie from Glenwood Springscame up from the Marble side (mosy of us descended from the CB side)!

Johnny Myers went next and of course styled it. I talksed to him afterwards and he said the JUST BOOF IT stickers I had recently hooked him up with definitely helped him out.

Here's Johnny!

Johnny's girlfriend and her family came out to watch us huck. Here she is at the perfect viewing spot between falls.

These are some of my favorite shots of the day: Johnny Myers shot from above launching off the bottom dropp in perfect style. Blow these up, they are worth it.

Another angle of Johnny coming off drop number two on his second run.

KEEN!

DK went ahead and dropped next. As seen by this sequence of photos he had a super styling line off the top drop...

...but somehow, a slight over rotation ejected him from his boat causing swimmer number two. Total count so far was two swimmers for the first three paddlers.

Recovering DK's boat.

Zack From Crested Butte has been paddling a lot locally for the past few seasons but had never been out of the punch bowls. Here, he looks down at drop number two in preparation for his run.

This has got to be my best shot of the day (above): Zack on the first drop.

DK's wife Natalie went next and had solid lines. Here she is coming off drop two. Photo: Zack.

Chris Menges was the last to go. Three shots of his lines are below (Photos: Zack):

Top drop...
bottom drop...

Then, we fired up the first-d of this sketchy ass mank above the punch bowl's. JUST KIDDING!

Our trip out to the punch bowl's last year produced a legendary piece of video. Check out the following vid to reexperience the historical backwards boof a.k.a. "First backwards female Descent of the DP's".

Carnage report 2007: Three paddlers, One broken paddle,One backwards boof.

Carnage Report 2008: Six paddlers, two swims, one busted up face, one flat tire, one broken truck axle.

Stay tuned for a North Fork of the Crystal report and potential first D in the CB area coming later this week.

BC Part 3

Part 3 of our BC trip from last fall here following Part 1 and Part 2.

TK:
Ever since I first saw shots of Tatlow, its been on the list of runs to do in BC. But the first couple nights around the campfire at the Checkamus campground, we were hearing horror stories that made us re-think our Tatlow objectives. We were hearing things like, "We set a new record today on Tatlow, seven swims with nine guys!" and "This creek is only for the A-Team on their A-game" which made us reconsider if guys who knew the run were swimming and you can't scout most of the drops, are we in for it? After talking to Brian Smith and getting this super sweet hand drawn map of all the lines, we headed back up through Leadcore-distruction-ville taking place on the Ashlu dranage to the Tatlow. There we ran into Ben Hawthorn who was happy to show us the lines. It lived up to the hype in every way possible as one of the best creek runs anywhere.
Pool at the bottom of Tatlow



Chris on the hike in

Chris and Ben gearing up.


Just another random Tatlow Twenty + footer



Chris looking back at "Wall Check" and thinking "I can't believe that drop goes and it goes blind"


Wood pile portage at the bottom of Tatlow


We had looked at Fear Canyon of the Elaho the week before when it was around 220 CMS (7,500 cfs maybe?). We wanted the flow to drop a little before our first run down Fear Canyon. Knowing that there was a boxed must run section that would be hard to scout we would rather be on the lower than higher side without having a clue about the lines. It always takes a little while to go from steep creeks to pushy big water runs, especially those with a lot of gradient, and going from the Tatlow to the Elaho the was no different.

Chris on the 'sneak' line. When the sneak has over 1,000 cfs, you know your paddling big water.











As many of you are aware, the current demand for new energy sources is coming at the cost of many British Columbia rivers and creeks. The Rutherford and more recently, Tatlow creek are just a few examples. The BC Creek Protection Society plays an acting role in representing kayakers and other enthusiasts who enjoy many of the rivers and creeks in BC. I would highly encourage you to join the Facebook group, become a member, or even make a donation if you value keeping BC rivers and creeks free flowing and natural.