CO Highwater Recap Part II: Wildcat canyon

Another memorable trip from this summer was Wildcat canyon. This is an impressive canyon of the South Platte River in the southern Front Range of Colorado. The run is usually referred to as Cheeseman, but I like to call it Wildcat since that’s on the map and it recalls a funny movie moment.

That we enjoy easy access to explore Wildcat canyon by kayak is due to American Whitewater. Thanks to persistence and lots of negotiation, AW brokered a deal allowing kayakers unfettered access to the ideal put-in for the run, so long as we call the local community landowners ahead of time. On this trip, we managed to briefly high center the shuttle rig under the load of 7 kayaks, kayakers and our gear as we were escorted through private property to one of the more scenic get-ins in Colorado.

Once on the water, the canyon does not waist too much time in beginning to drop. As with most of the State in July, Wildcat was running at high flow. We had close to 500 cfs, which turned out to be the high side of good for some of the rapids. The ample flow also had rearranged some timber, leaving some rapids unnrunable. The classic “slap yo moma” was out due to a giant tree blocking the exit to the falls. Next time…

Here are a few photos recounting the trip, and a video from the day.

Oliver paying his at Club Dues:


Tom following suit:


The waterfall entrance to Punji Stick was out of play with wood issues:


But half the crew earned the bottom of the rapid:


No denying that the canyon is an incredible place to spend the day. Maybe I will go back to fish.


A ‘tweener rapid that dished out some treats.


Kyle doing some downriver freestyle:


Jason enjoying the smooth granite and good flow:


In the end, we all got some good exercise that day. The choice to portage on this run comes easy when you see the sieves and undercuts that wait for offline paddlers. There aren’t too many places in Colorado with Cali-style granite boulder gardens though, so a trip to Wildcat is well worth it for qualified creekers (as soon as someone flosses the logs out…).

Boat waiting for a ride:


Gearing up to earn it:


The most memorable aspect of the run, for many, is the hike out. Hiking out in the heat of July was a bear, and one of our team experienced significant dehydration. The sight of your shuttle vehicle at the end of this day is a great relief!

CO Highwater Recap Part 1: Clear Creek

As anticipated, the huge snowfall of last winter (La Niña I…) led to highwater flows for a majority of this kayak season in Colorado. Especially for the rivers and creeks of northern Colorado and the Front Range.

One of the highlights of the season for me was enjoying our local mini-Payette; that is, Clear Creek. The river ran at over 1000 cfs for more than a month – no rocks in sight!

The afterwork classic run, Black Rock, gained a big-water feel and was not to be missed. I will let these great photos capturing a late evening Black Rock rally at near-peak flow tell the story (photo credits: Justin Merritt):

Lower Narrows in early July:

Rigor Mortis (aka rigo):


Pitted.


A successful highwater blue angel run through rigo is too good not to celebrate:

Here is a video edit to give some perspective from on the water:



With round two of La Niña (Spanish for “the Niña”) appearing to be on tap for this winter, I can only hope more of this is in store for next year. In the mean time, I am looking forward to some fall paddling in the creekin' heartland—the Southeast—with the Huckin Duckie and company.

-Alex

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…

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.

North Fork of the South Arkansas

photos by Nicole Mansfield

The North Fork of the South Arkansas is a small tributary creek 15mins outside of Salida, CO. Due to its short window and steep, woody character these drops are rarely run. It is estimated that the first descent of this creek occurred in the mid 90's.

The main drop- two tiered falls

Since Lawrance had just gotten back to Colorado from New Zealand (hadn't creeked since last summer) and had never been in the new Rocker, we thought it would be a good idea for him to put on 50ft above the lip of the first drop. No worries, if you don't nail the line and boof totally flat on the second drop you piton into 6inches of water from 20ft.

Chris sets up the video shot while Lawrance reviews his line.

The NF S.Ark contains 4-5 runnable drops; 15ft slide, 30ft crack drop, 2 smaller waterfalls and the double drop. On this run we only got the double drop (the most impressive drop of the run), but we hope to get back to do the rest. Be advised that there is a lot of wood between all of the main drops, basically making this a hike n park n huck special.

Lawrance sliding into the first falls

The main double drop is a twisting 15ft slide into an 8ft falls. A short fast moving pool allows for a stroke or 2 to line up the boof for the next drop.

Lawrance lands and sets his angle

Boofing the second falls

Lawrance safely in the pool...

...and setting up for the third part of the rapid.

The last move. part 3 of the double drop.

Chris Menges sets up his boof. Things didn't quite go perfectly and a high impact piton occurred. Amazingly, Chris came out unscathed thanks to the 07 Rocker's Uni-shock bulkhead system. He is grateful to be walking back to the car unassisted.