Essential Colorado Class V: The Big South Fork of the Poudre

I've had my eye on the Big South for some time now and everyone has been telling me that it's the one "must do" run in the state. So I finally gave in to curiosity and headed to the front range last weekend to check this river out.

We started the trip by driving from Buena Vista to Boulder to check out the scene there. It's been a while since I've partied in a college town. Being in downtown Boulder made me miss Columbia SC quite a bit, but I'll be heading back there soon so I'm not to concerned about it.

We woke up late Saturday morning and headed up to the Poudre Canyon. At the time, it was just me and my friend Tango, so we ran the Middle Gnarrows and Lower Gnarrows while we waited for the rest of the crew to show up. The Upper Gnarrows looked good to go, but pretty burly (hiiiiiiigh water on the Poudre) so we opted not to run it because we weren't able to set effective safety. Anyway, the middle and lowers were good and the rest of the crew pulled up right as we reached the takeout.

big holes...

After the Gnarrows mission, we drove further up the canyon and a few of us ran Joe Wright Creek. It was a little low, but Carnito Canyon was awesome. It rained pretty much the whole time we were on Joe Wright, so no pictures...

After Joe Wright, we continued down to the confluence with the Big South and we ran the Spencer Heights section of the Poudre. I really like Spencer Heights. It gives you that "big water creekin" feel, its easy to read and run, and it's still Class V. It was still raining on Spencer Heights, so no pictures from there either.

So after a crazy night in Boulder and 300 miles of driving, we were able to paddle 4 different sections of whitewater before heading to camp that night. While we were driving around looking for the rest of the crew, we saw a few giant mooses hanging out and it really made me feel like we were in the backcountry.

Sunday morning we woke up early and started running shuttle for the Big South. By the time we organized at the put-in, we accumulated a crew of 11 people. None of us really knew the run that much, but one or two of the guys had done it once before, so we were able to figure most of it out.

the whole crew at lunch

The Big South is the only federally designated Wild and Scenic River in the state of Colorado. It makes me wish that there were more federally designated rivers, but this one really gave me that 13 mile full day wilderness experience.

fantasy flight, one of my favorite drops on the run

backender in Meltdown, one of the tougher drops

Cool World, the most difficult rapid on the river. Hint - you don't want to be as deep as that guy above

my line through Cool World. It was a little scary when I rolled right above this part

The rapids were a lot of fun. We ran everything except Double Trouble. It's hard to believe that out of a crew of 11 Class V boaters, no one wanted to pony up for that thing. When I looked at it, I got that feeling I get every time I look at Gorilla on the Green: I want it sooooo bad, but it just doesn't feel right, so I tuck my tail between my legs and walk it. I think I'll definitely run DT next time I'm on the Big South, and hopefully I'll be able to fire up the monkey in a couple weeks when I'm back in the southeast.

After Work Gnar: Lake Creek and the Secret Spot Huckfest

Now that Lake Creek is at a manageable level, it's my new after work Class V fix. I was able to get up there a couple times last week and we had a blast. I'm really looking forward to running the bottom four drops (brains, paralyzer, kiss the wall, and cauldron) at higher flows. Here's some pictures:

Gordon, dropping into the cave drop

some boogie above the cave drop

me, lining up for the boof on paralyzer

Gordon (above) and Fil (below) hucking their Brains out

Somewhere in an undisclosed location in the Ark Valley there's a perfect 12 footer which is about as good as it gets in terms of clean drops. We've been hitting this thing after work as a mellow cool down to a long day. Just don't ask where it is.

Fil, Plugging hard

me and sky, tandem boof

me, setting up for a simple bare hand boof

me and fil, flying solo

This little drop has handed out a couple beatdowns and broken boats. Just try to keep your bow up mate.

inspecting the damage after a poorly attempted wavewheel

10 Things I Learned in Pandora's Box

I recently had one of the best river experiences of my life. Pandora's Box (formally known as Baker's Box) on the Animas River is by far the most beautiful river gorge I've ever been in (including the Grand Canyon). The river has a high volume character with gorge walls that come straight out of the water and shoot 400 feet to the top of the canyon. This run is committing to say the least. Big water Class V rapids with thrash the uninformed boater. Access is illegal. The lines are tight. And here's the kicker: You can't scout or portage any of it.

(the put-in. that rapid on the left drops about 20 feet.)

Here's what the guide book (Whitewater of the Southern Rockies) says:

"...The whitewater is pushy and the walls overhang the eddies for the first four major drops - including the unportagable, unscoutable Swollen Member. Actually the entire first 1/2 mile or so if of this nature - but Swollen Member is the largest of the bunch and can be downright terrifying. Even your guide will be scared. Swims here have resulted in expert paddlers literally swimming down the ensuing rapids until they could escape the walls towards the end of the run...

...Despite the poop floating around in your boat, and as long as you're still in your boat, this is one of the most enchanting and intimate river stretches that I have ever experienced..."



So on my 2 runs through the box, I learned a few things.

1. You don't hike in - you jog. Hiking is an afternoon activity that involves water breaks and granola bars, not trotting up and over rocky mountains for miles to get to an illegally accessed river. When "hiking in" to Pandora's box, you aren't allowed to stop and switch your boat over to your other shoulder, if you do - you will be left.

2. You don't scout any of the rapids. All of the rapids must be run solely on verbal beta. If you don't like running Class V+ blind, stay on the Upper Animas.

3. You DO NOT swim. If you are getting the beatdown of a lifetime (I did), you stay in your boat and stick it out. Coming out of your boat requires that you swim through the remainder of the rapids until canyon walls recede near the takeout. Luckily, after my 4th or 5th recirc, I was able to rally out of the boxed-in hole that handed my ass to me. Others weren't so lucky.

4. You don't go in there with anything less than a super solid crew of local boaters that know the hike and the lines like the back of their hands. If you try to do it without a guide, you will likely get caught on the hike or take a bad line (remember, you're not scouting in there) into a sieve.

5. Just because you had clean lines on Vallecito (a nearby Class V+ creek) doesn't mean you'll be ok in Pandora's Box.

6. Unless you run everyday, you won't be fast enough to keep up with your guide on the hike in.

7. There's no talking allowed until you're in your boat at the put in.

8. If you don't like sketchy 200ft rappells (without your climbing harness), you won't make it to the put in.

9. You aren't allowed to take pictures of the rapids, the locals don't allow it.

10. You DO NOT swim. Period.

I hope whoever reads this will someday get to experience this gorge the way I did last week. Pandora's box is by far my favorite section of river I've ever paddled and I'll never forget my voyage through there.

(the scene above the rappel at the put-in, don't slip - it's a long way down)

4th of July in the Tiny Valley: The Vallecito

I spent my 4th of July in Durango paddling the Vallecito. This is by far one of my favorite rivers I've ever paddled and this little creek brings a new meaning to the words "gorged out." We were able to run it once on Saturday and then two more times on Sunday.

The river started with a sketchy 18 foot waterfall, where if you botch the line you go into a cave where you have to take your PFD and helmet off to free climb through a small crack to get out. We ran this rapid blind, so no photos.

After Entrance Falls (the blind 18 footer) comes Trashcan, one of the nastier looking drops in the gorge. I really wouldn't want to swim through this thing. Bad things happen to people that swim through this thing, so try to keep it upright.


Another great rapid on the creek is called "Fuzzy Little Bunny" which is a difficult 15 foot boof into a highly aerated slot with several curtains of water pouring in from different directions. I imagine it's kinda what it's like running Gorilla on the Green River Narrows

Our guide, Eric, launching off the Bunny


Chris Menges, Plug and Pray

One of the last rapids is the toughest, it's called "Paddle Bitch" and if you screw it up, you get surfed in a hole that slams you into a rock that's shaped like a giant penis... Here's my line:
I ended up "getting dicked" at the end of the rapid, but I was able to surf out with some minor shoulder rape.

Overall this is one of the best rivers I've ever paddled. It is truely a unique experience being down in the gorge with the walls coming out of the river on both sides and going straight up for hundreds of feet. I highly recommend it if you get the chance.
After paddling the Vallecito, I was fortunate enough to experience the hospitality of Eric Parker and his wife Lisa in Durango. They hosted Chris and I for a few days and put on one helluva barbaque, complete with a late night float down the Animas through downtown Durango to watch the fireworks. Thanks a lot guys, you made this one of the best paddling trips I've ever taken.

The South Fork of the Crystal and the Devil's Punchbowls

(Schofield Backcountry)

I recently took a day off work to run some drops near Crested Butte on the South Fork of the Crystal. I always thought that the only runnable drops on the SF Crystal were the Devil's Punchbowls, but we drove up Schofield Pass from the Crested Butte side and found some great runnable vert in the upper part of the drainage.


At the top of the pass, we were greeted by a clean 12 foot drop into a short pool that moved into a manky lead-in to an 18 foot drop. These were a lot of fun to run, so much that I walked up and did it twice. That's me in the photo above, and my friend Chris Menges below.



After these fun drops, we continued down the SF Crystal to the Devil's Punchbowls. The photo below shows my friend Ethan Passant scouting the landing after the first drop.


The level seemed really high and the lag time between the 2 drops was only a couple seconds, so if you messed up the top drop, there wasn't much time to set up for the second drop. Normally this wouldn't be too much of an issue, but the first drop has a very tricky entry, and if you run the second drop on the wrong side, you drop about 25 feet onto a rock. This whole situation really only appealed to one of the guys in our group, Eric Parker. He was the only one of the four of us to run it, and his line was a little less than pretty...

Eric ended up running the top 30 footer backwards, which resulted in a hard landing and a sketchy recovery. Luckily he was able to pull it together and style the second drop. Big Props to Eric for "sackin' up" and running that thing.

Clear Creek Season Wrap Up in the Arkansas Valley

This year I fell in love with Clear Creek, a tributary of the Arkansas River. It's about 20 minutes from my house and it runs through one of the most beautiful valleys in Colorado. I had the pleasure of running this creek about 20 times this season at many different levels ranging from super low, to really high, to flash flood.

Since I moved to Buena Vista, Clear Creek has definitely become my favorite run in the area. It's just so nice to be able to get off work, drive 20 minutes, and then run a few laps of fun/low stress Class V.

Over the past couple weeks, I've adopted a one shuttle vehicle policy which forces me to do a little jogging after kayaking. I'm by no means a "good runner" so 2.5 miles at 10,000 feet can make me start sucking wind pretty quickly. I also am not a big fan of running, but if I have to, the Clear Creek Valley is the most beautiful place to do it.

This creek is a little over 2 miles long and it's only one rapid the whole time. Any single 100 yard stretch of this creek would be considered Class IV by itself, but due to the lack of eddies and recovery zones, it gets a Class V- rating. I think no matter how good of a boater you are, if you flip over on Clear Creek you have a 50-50 chance of swimming. I watched several really good kayakers swim and pin/break their boats up there. It is definitely not a good place to be upside down.

We didn't take many pictures just because it's such a chore to get out of my boat on this run, but here are a couple shots I managed to take last week:

(the crux of the second gorge)

(the end of the first gorge)

(put-in bridge, as you can see - the creek is not very wide)

(I got boofed on about 1/2 second after this was taken)

(myself on the fun one in the second gorge, photo by curtis england)

(dropping into the crux of the 2nd gorge)

I soloed my last lap today after workf. It was pretty nice to go in there alone and have the entire valley to myself. I've found that jogging the shuttle afterwards can be pretty rewarding, it gives you that "earn your turns" mentality that backcountry skiers always brag about.

Now that Clear Creek is too low to run, Lake Creek will be coming down to a more manageable level in the next week or so. Hopefully I'll fall in love with Lake Creek soon and be able to have a new after-work favorite.