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.