It has been a year since my first foray into Gore Canyon which also marked my 100th day of kayaking last season, and on Saturday, 9/15/2012, I had my second opportunity to paddle the majestic canyon. An abysmal snowpack and extreme drought resulted in the worst kayaking season in a decade, so when we began paddling Gore on Saturday, it marked only my 42nd day of kayaking in 2012. I felt a bit rusty but was with a great crew that consisted of Peter, Cindy & Stacey, Josh, Berkeley, and Kim the Man. The flow was only 760cfs and no one in the group was quite sure what to expect at that low level. It turned out that there was still plenty of water to run the usual lines, although in the cases of the Pencil Drop Sneak on Gore Rapid and the left sneak line on Toilet Bowl, this meant some serious knuckle dragging over rocks. It was a gorgeous, 70 degree day and everyone made it through the run in one piece even with Berkeley’s swim right above Tunnel Falls and my unintentional run of Tunnel.
I got to use my new WiFi Backpack with my GoPro for the first time and was able to capture footage of almost the entire run except for Tunnel and Kirshbaum’s Rapid. Here is the 4 minute version of Gore Canyon from my perspective—enjoy!
Today marks the 2011 Winter Solstice which means the days are getting longer in the U.S., but in my case, the days are about to get much longer. Rather than a paltry 10 hours of daylight per day, starting today I am embarking on a journey that will be providing continuous, 24 hour-per-day sunlight! If your physical geography lessons are still fresh in your mind, then it won’t be too difficult to solve the puzzle of how I am about to affect this change. That’s right, I’m going to Antarctica!
It is going to be a topsy-turvy trip akin to Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole during which my 24+ hour travel will result in a complete loss of a calendar day (only 364 days in 2011 for me) and an almost immediate transition from winter to the Austral summer where I will be hanging by my feet upside down on that quirky side of the planet. Apparently, our old friend Coriolis will make the toilets flush backwards and the sun will traverse the sky counter-clockwise. It truly will feel like a upside down, mixed-up Wonderland.
This incredible opportunity presented itself this summer when my friend and colleague at LASP, Lars Kalnajs, asked if I might be interested in joining him and another friend and colleague, Sam Dorsi, on a campaign to install and test ground ozone monitoring stations in remote locations on Antarctica. First off, if these names ring a bell, it’s because these two guys are the same characters with whom I launched 3 balloons to the edge of space in 2010! One of the most important lessons I learned from those adventures is the incredible importance of working well with others in challenging situations; and I knew that if I had an opportunity to work with them again in the future, I wouldn’t blink an eye. So when this proposal was put on the table, my answer required no deliberation: Of course I wanted to join this expedition to the far reaches of the Earth!
The details of this scientific enterprise will be addressed in future posts, but I’m sure you’re wondering where exactly we’ll be going, how long we will be going, etc. Our research campaign will be based out of McMurdo Station which is the largest such research station (~1000 people), which by extension also makes it the largest settlement in on the continent, since Antarctica is a continent of science only! The launching point for McMurdo is 6 hours north in Christchurch, New Zealand, but international flights only go to Auckland on the North Island of NZ which are 14 hours from LA which is 3 hours from Denver. As you can see, it is quite a journey just to get to Antarctica, but compared to the epic journeys of the early polar explorers, this trip is a breeze. The additional complications of the holiday season helped dictate a slightly early departure from Denver with the added benefit that we will get to explore a sliver of New Zealand over the Christmas weekend before getting down to business on the icy continent. After the quick holiday, we will hop our flight down to Christchurch where we will deal with the final logistics before boarding a C17 military transport on December 28th for the actual flight to the ice. Upon arrival at McMurdo, more logistics and training will ensue before we can finally begin our work in earnest. We will then spend 5 weeks preparing the ozone instrument stations and deploying one per week in remote locations in the vicinity of McMurdo. Then finally in mid-February after the scientific campaigns have been completed, we will fly back to Christchurch where I will vacation with the Kiwis for a few weeks. Finally, in mid-March I will return home to Colorado.
My departure from Denver is imminent, and I must admit that the build up to the trip is like nothing I have ever experienced. I have pored over books and movies of the great white South, and have pictured myself a thousand times on the exotic continent of Antarctica. In my mind, this is the trip of a lifetime and is like going to the Moon or Mars to me. And like the pioneering polar explorers, the Apollo astronauts, and the Mars rovers, I aim to document my experience to my full capacity. My gear packing is short on clothes, but long on electronic gadgets. I have no fewer than 6 GPS devices, 5 cameras, 2 panoramic time lapse rigs, and a fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with onboard video that I will be exploiting to the fullest to capture my experience of Antarctica. This adventure will certainly be the essence of my website title as I share my stories and explore technological means of sharing those stories.
Although I am skeptical of its performance in Antarctica, I will be checking in periodically using my SPOT Messenger which will update the map below. So sit back, sign up to follow this blog (top right of the webpage), and enjoy our expedition from your favorite easy chair!
We all knew that 2011 would be a year for the record books in the Colorado kayaking world, but none of use knew exactly how it would turn out. After an absolute whirlwind the past several months, I finally have a few moments to recap some of the most memorable trips from this exciting kayaking season! During the month of May, I spent almost every waking minute that I wasn’t working on my van installing the turbo charger and the solar panels, so I didn’t have much to show for kayaking, but on Sunday the 22nd, I had the opportunity to join some friends on the Upper North Fork of the Poudre River which is a beautiful wilderness run that cuts through the rolling grasslands north of Fort Collins and just south of Wyoming. We had plenty of adventure including extraction of a kayak that was pinned on a log above a class V waterfall. The day was beautiful and the photos actually do the scenery justice quite well, so be sure to check them out in this photo album.
Challenges define who we are in life. Whether they are brought about from unforeseen external circumstances or are conjured in the imagination on a snowy night, challenges take us to places that test our character. And the way we respond to these tests ultimately shapes the people we become. In some circumstances, we succumb to the circumstances and come away feeling like we have lost part of ourselves. But when we make the deliberate choice to rise to the challenges, we grow mentally, emotionally, and physically. This growth is like the branches on a tree that year after year add to the shape and ultimately to the definition of who we are. The very fact that we have shaped our own growth and definition is deeply satisfying and ultimately provides meaning in life.
This Thursday morning, I will begin 5 days of whitewater kayaking with several friends down the Arkansas River in Colorado starting on the Granite section and ending in Canon City almost 100 miles later. The trip was dreamt up by Scott Winkleman as a perfect way to see all of the whitewater sections of the Arkansas River that we all usually kayak as day trips, but instead as one long, mulit-day, kayak-self-support adventure. We will be meeting friends along the way to share different stretches with us and hopefully provide some dinners, but we will carry all of our camping gear in our kayaks throughout the trip. It is sure to be an unforgettable journey, and you can follow along from the comfort of your living room by checking on the live updates on this map from my SPOT GPS this Thursday through Monday.
Happy July 4th!
On Saturday, June 19, I will embark with my friends on a 4 day whitewater trip down the Green River through the Gates of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument! This is a wonderful trip through desert country in northwest Colorado that is sure to be a good time! As I've done in the past, I will update our remote location using my SPOT GPS messenger beacon, but I'm going to try using the real-time tracking with 10 minute location updates on this trip. Check back here on the map Saturday through Tuesday to monitor our progress as we wind our way down through the remote desert canyons on the Green River!
What better way to kick off meteorological summer than a long weekend of kayaking? A bunch of us headed out to Glenwood Springs over Memorial weekend 2010 to catch the run off on the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers and we had an incredible time!
The excitement started early in the trip when the van decided to stop working 1/4 mile into Eisenhower Tunnel during one of the busiest travel days of the year! Like the Secret Service protecting the President, the tunnel crew swept into action within 30 seconds by closing the tunnel and dragging the van out with a tow strap! We were shocked by the immediate response and even happier when the van started up again after 5 minutes of rest. Whether it was vapor lock or overheating, we were happy to be on our way again.
On Saturday, we had a great high water (5000cfs) run on the Cemetary stretch of the Roaring Fork River that included some fun wave trains, and then we headed up stream towards Aspen to run the Slaughterhouse section (1000cfs) of the Roaring Fork. It was Scott's, Robert's, and my first time down the run, but it felt pretty comfortable with Mark leading the way. After that, we picked up Dede and Karen and continued down the Upper Woody stretch which was really exciting at that level.
On Sunday, we turned our attention to the Colorado River which was pumping through Glenwood Canyon at 8900cfs! Scott, Robert and I put in at Shoshone and were blown away by the big water feel of the run at that level. We then picked up Dede, Karen, and Jen and continued down through the Grizzly stretch all the way to the Glenwood wave where we got some surfing in. The girls were able to capture some video action of us going through Shoshone, but of course it doesn't really do justice to the feeling that we had in the chaotic water!
Monday started out a bit slow and we found ourselves back at the Glenwood wave for some more surf action. Once again, there was some video captured and I spliced together a fun little movie of our surf sessions.
Afterwards, we hopped back on I-70 towards Denver with a stop off to run the Upper Eagle. Robert and Mark got in a quick shot down Dowd Chutes where Scott and I joined them for an incredibly quick run down to Avon at 2500cfs.
I have a handful of photos from the weekend in this photo album.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend of kayaking and hanging out with friends!
You might think the South Platte River that runs through downtown Denver is dirty. And you’d be right, which is exactly why I had always avoided kayaking the whitewater drops in Confluence Park. But yesterday, the spring rains had flushed most of the junk way down river (or so I told myself), and the waves were at a perfect level for a few hours of kayak surfing in the Spring sunshine. Have a look at the video and you’ll see why I have a newfound respect Denver’s kayaking scene.
What do you get when you strap a camera to a ski pole, then to mountain bike handle bars, and then kayak one handed so you can film the river? You get my decidedly “recreational” entry in the 2010 Salida Pole Pedal Paddle race and you get a fun, first person view of the race course shown in the video below.
So what if I came in last or second to last place? When and where else can you get the opportunity to ski, mountain bike, and whitewater kayak all in the same day? And when and where can you actually link these three activities together sequentially in a really fun course? April in Salida Colorado, that’s when and where. And that’s exactly what the 3P organizers and around a hundred athletes do each year in this unique event. In case you couldn’t tell from the video, it is a fantastic time and I highly recommend it if you enjoy these sports.
In addition to filming throughout the course, I also carried a GPS in order to mark the route and get an idea of how fast/slow I went. You can get a sense of race course location and my speed in the interactive map below, or you can download the GPX or KML file to view in Google Earth.
Labor Day weekend in Gunny Gorge. What could be better? I’ll tell you what, not a whole lot.
I have to thank Scott for conceiving of and organizing this really cool self-support, overnight kayak trip through Gunny Gorge. In addition to those responsibilities, he also carried all of the group gear and food in his monstrous, 12’ long Dagger Crossover so that we could have a luxurious time in camp!
Although I had done this run about 4 years ago, my only memories were of rain, cold water, shivering, and not being able to wait to get the trip over with. This year’s trip was in stark contrast to that, with beautiful, warm weather spread out over two days, stunning scenery, and lots of playful whitewater. Spending a night on the river slowed down the pace of the trip so that we could soak it all in at a pace that was truly fitting for Labor Day! After such a great experience, I would have to rate Gunny Gorge as one of my all-time river running favorites that I’m sure to do time and time again!
The weather was cold and the nights were long back in late December when I decided to attend EJ’s kayaking class on the Ottawa River. My decision morphed with other goals and New Year’s resolutions to the end result of having kayaked 50 days (including the Numbers), having bombproofed my roll, and having radically modified my Westfalia by the time I completed the long drive to the Ottawa in late July. You could almost say that the very act of choosing and committing myself to this challenging class was the watershed moment that had the greatest impact on my kayaking. But as I like to say, it is one thing to talk about something and another to commit yourself and actually follow through.
Three other students (Olly, Neval, and Scott) and I were paired with the king of kayaking, EJ, and the prince, his son, Dane for five intensive days of instruction and playing on the river and an equal amount of goofing off and story telling off the river. When the week was over, we were all sad to part our separate ways, but our bodies were grateful for the respite.
The Ottawa is a very interesting river that is in great contrast to the rocky mountain rivers of Colorado that I am so used to. It is located in a very flat section of Canada a few hours north of Toronto and drains an extremely large area that corresponds to an equally large flow. For all intense purposes there should not be any rapids, but several geologic faults in the underlying granite bedrock cause large step changes in the river profile that results in the ultimate pool-drop rapid situation with big water! The whitewater sections of the river are dispersed over several miles with large lakes (pools) between each of the main rapids (drops). And within the stretch of water, the river splits into two primary channels- the Main Channel and the Middle Channel.
We spent every day except Wednesday on the Middle Channel, since it had a larger number of features in which to play and practice our skills. The gauge height of the river was 6’ on Monday and was certainly much bigger flow than anything I had was used to boating. It just so happened that our class occurred on the perfect week, since the previous month of rainy weather resulted in uncharacteristically high flows for that time of summer but with the added benefit of sunny weather. The flow was not only high on Monday at 6’, but it actually doubled in gauge height while we were there!
Both channels began with the first drop down McCoy’s rapid. Sattler’s Hole blocked the left portion of the river and just down stream, Phil’s Hole blocked the right portion. Fortunately, there is a multitude of ways to navigate these large obstructions, many of which involved finding a small seam right through the gut of the holes or just plain going into the holes and getting spit out eventually. Each day, EJ had us run a different line, so by the end of the week, we had learned to make it through the rapid no matter the situation. Personally, I had a few issues with the holes, since my skirt imploded on not one, but two occasions while getting window-shaded in them! The first time, I eventually exited my boat after about 5 rolls with a boat full of water, so when it happened again, I committed myself to paddling through the remainder of the rapid with just head, shoulders, and paddle above the water!
The next major feature that we encountered on the Middle Channel was the scenic Little Trickle, which was comfortingly reminiscent of Colorado boating. Once again, we ran many different lines down the rapid, each of which I thoroughly enjoyed, but with the boof move at high water being my favorite. Following that were two smooth, fun surf waves- Angel’s Kiss and Butterfly, which served up great playboating opportunities at every water level.
And then came Garvin’s Chute- a 15’ river wide waterfall with several navigable routes and many places that you don’t ever want to find yourself. Approaching it always got my heart racing as primal fear overtook my body. On Monday, the scout left me initially awestruck at the power and beauty of Dragon’s Tongue that coursed right down the center of the drop. But after watching Neval heroically run it without incident, I vowed that I would perform the feat the next day. And that I did! Despite the fear that cloaked my whole person, I followed Dane right down the smooth tongue while focusing on my target at the end of the tongue and not the side drop offs into living hell. I dropped off the bottom, experienced a surprisingly hard impact in the white, aerated water, and emerged a second later unscathed and easily able to make the move to avoid the huge hole that remained below. Phew! I definitely earned my lunch on Tuesday!
But then came Thursday with flows at the 12’ level and the option to run Elevator Shaft on the far right side of Garvin’s. Dammit! If I thought Dragon’s Tongue was intimidating, Elevator Shaft was at an entirely different level. The water plunged 10’ straight down onto the rocks below, which we were assured would not present a problem. That is, as long as we went over it right-side up. Because God only knows what would happen if you decided to have your face cushion your boat’s landing instead of the other way around. And one more thing. There was a reactionary wave just above the actual drop that wants to flip you, but that is not particularly challenging for a solid Class III boater. EJ summed it up appropriately, “Only run this if you are absolutely, 100% positive that you won’t get flipped by the wave.” So there I stood again on the precipice of Garvin’s Chute with that wave of fear descending on me. But I decided to keep a pact with myself that I would throw myself into every challenge that was presented to me during the class as long as it was within my ability. And when I looked at the moves that I needed to make, I had absolutely no doubt that I would be fine. And as fate had it, I went smoothly over the wave, down the drop, and earned my lunch once again. However, the next day one of the students in the Keener program did not stay upright but fortunately managed to make it out of there only banged up and limping. Yikes!
After Garvin’s came the two most poorly named rapids on the river, Upper NoName and Lower NoName. Upper NoName presented a fantastic, clean surf wave while Lower NoName featured big-water rapids with numerous waves and holes scattered throughout. The higher flows on Thursday and Friday changed Lower NoName’s character from a fun, semi-mellow descent to a rockin’, rowdy trip over big waves and around (or through) big holes. On the appropriately dubbed Big-Water-Thursday, attempting to surf a difficult to catch wave at the bottom of Lower NoName was on the menu. The trick to catching this wave was to “surf across Vampire hole” in order to ferry over to the wave. Well, it was technically within my means, so I had to do it, right? After not using Vampire Hole to my advantage the first time and missing the wave, I decided to throw my self smack-dab into the hole and then simply ferry across. Of course, we all know that good stories come from things never being as simple as they seem or as easy as EJ makes them look, which ultimately ends up with some quality carnage. I definitely caught Vampire Hole the next time and got a super rockin’, powerful surf for much longer than I had hoped for! It then spit me out and over into a deceptive little hole that was hiding completely out of sight in the center of the river upstream of the nice surf wave. Vampire has a deservingly mean name, but that nameless hole put more of a beat-down on me than its Transylvanian neighbor. I was window-shaded, or as EJ calls it, “power-flipped” for what seemed like an eternity and which included a shocking, kerthunk of my helmet on the rocks below in this supposedly rockless river. Thankfully, it released me and no swimming was involved. I then proceeded to rest my tired body on the shore for a few minutes before getting back on the horse by hiking back up and running Lower NoName again. When all was said and done, a new hole had been named on the Ottawa- Pat’s Hole.
You would think that was it for play features and beat-downs on the Middle Channel, but you would be wrong. There was minor feature named Warm Apple Pie just around the corner from the take out. So on Big-Water-Thursday, we decided to check it out. As we approached, EJ described it as a “super-retentive hole, but you can always make it out the sides.” Dane and EJ proceeded to throw ends, blast, mystery-move, and generally make it look like good fun. So at his invitation and in keeping with my pact, I decided to hop right in there. It turns out that when EJ describes something as “super-retentive”, it is no joke. I got flipped in the pour-over, rolled up completely disoriented, only to get sucked back in and flipped again in what seemed like an infinite loop. Well eventually, at the first opportunity when I had my wits about me, I heeded EJ’s advice, paddled like hell to the corner of the hole and made it out of there in one piece. Wow! What a day Big-Water-Thursday was for me- skirt implosion in Phil’s Hole and no swimming, then running Elevator Shaft, then getting trashed in Pat’s Hole, and finally getting spanked in Warm Apple Pie! Oh, and did I happen to mention that I did all that in a playboat that I had never paddled before? :-) When people ask me what I came away with from the class, I now say that I went to see the Wizard and I was given Courage!
But wait there’s more! I can’t neglect to mention the Main Channel that we ran on Wednesday at 11.25’. Compared to the number of features on the Middle Channel, the Main was sparser but also that much bigger. With names like Bus Eater, Waikiki, and Coliseum, you can instantly recognize that the Main is not for the faint of heart. Bus Eater is easily one of the most famous surf waves in the world, but it doesn’t “come in” until the flows are great than 14’. Below that level, it is basically a big, mean hole that you don’t want to be anywhere near. It resides at the bottom of Lorne Rapid which consists of a magnificent wave train down river right, so it is theoretically a simple matter to avoid Bus Eater at the bottom. Of course, nothing is ever, ever simple. As we approached the top of the rapid, Dane said to me, “Pat, the top wave is the perfect wave to try a kick-flip. Watch me do one and then you try it.” Rather than fully describe this to you, I will refer you to Wikipedia and suffice it to say that this move was way beyond my ability, not to mention a bit crazy to try considering I had never been down the rapid before with Bus Eater lurking at the bottom. But remember that little pact I made with myself? What the hell! Moments later, I watched Dane launch himself off the crest of the first wave and completely roll his boat as it soared through the air! I approached the wave with as much speed as I could conjure, pulled hard off the lip of the wave, and tried my damnest to corkscrew my boat and myself through the air! All I know for sure is that I launched myself into the Wild Blue Yonder, didn’t pull off the move, and spent a fair bit of time upside down on the subsequent waves. The other thing I know for sure is that I got the courage up to try something that I never, ever thought I would try! The bottom of Lorne Rapid also featured a great surf wave named Waikiki with the most exhaustive eddy-service I have ever experienced. Once again, I put my fears aside and managed to get two decent surfs on this wave that made almost everything in Colorado seem puny by comparison. Wednesday’s lunch? Earned it.
Once again, it seemed like there wouldn’t be anything more to fear on the river, but Coliseum Rapid waited half a mile above the take-out with what seemed like the sole purpose of inspiring awe in us. The entire river converges and simultaneous drops about twenty feet with the result being a string of massive waves that behave erratically with occasionally crashing fronts. And just to spice things up, there is a ten foot high, 150 yard wide pour-over down stream of the waves. Once again, that is a place you don’t ever want to find yourself. A testament to its potential danger is the fact that commercial raft companies employ jet boats to pick up swimmers who weren’t so lucky in Coliseum. The day we were running it, the commercial trips deemed the flow to be too high for them to run it safely. Gulp! For all the build up and potential consequences, Coliseum actually paddled quite easily, save for the fact that I got surfed at the crest of the 3rd wave! Wow, what a river!
Since I have returned from my trek to Mecca, I mean…, the Ottawa, I have been asked on numerous occasions about the most important thing I learned. It is a great question and one that I’ve pondered for several weeks now. After all, I spent 5 days kayaking with EJ, who is undoubtedly the best kayaker in the world, and that time was spent on the Ottawa, which is one of the premier rivers in the world.
First off, although I didn’t learn this for the first time during this week, I was reminded once again how great the people are who kayak. It has been, and remains one of the main reasons I spend so much time on this activity. My comrades in the class were all exceptional on the water and off, and the entire Jackson family was a blast to be around for a week.
As with any difficult pursuit, whether it be golf, skiing, or in this case, kayaking, there is no Golden Ticket that takes you from rank beginner to expert. And so in five days on the water, I wasn’t surprised that my ability level didn’t improve dramatically. But like I said, there were intangibles that I gained that will stick with me, the main one being the courage to try that which is within my ability but that I fear. And what I also learned was not a single skill, but a plan that will allow me to progress and continue to achieve at a higher level. I have summarized the game plan in three steps that are no-duh obvious to most people but that are firmly ingrained in me now.
Fundamentals: EJ describes these as “the rules of the game”. These are the skills that he goes over in great detail in his “Strokes and Concepts” and “Rolling and Bracing” videos. I had been working on these skills throughout the season and the class was very beneficial in terms of correcting bad habits and explaining proper technique. Equally important was the fact that I was able to witness that EJ and Dane focus on these fundamentals all of the time! In order to be great, you need a great foundation!
Repetition: Learning the Fundamentals is not sufficient to become great; you need to repeatedly reinforce those skills through repetition! Once again, I got to see this in action by EJ and Dane all of the time and I have no doubt about how important it is to their success. And, I came to the conclusion that Repetition is something that can be experienced on multiple time scales. The roll can be practiced repeatedly over the course of 5 minute warm up. We are all familiar with this type of repetition, but I think it is equally important that it be practiced over the course of the day on the river and over the course of the entire season. I can’t count how many times I looked over and saw Dane practicing his roll throughout the day. And I have no doubt that he continues to practice it day-in, day-out. That continued level of repetition of the fundamentals at all of those time scales is absolutely necessary for them to become second-nature and there for you at the times when you really need them. Another aspect of repetition that I had never really given thought to or witnessed previously was Dane’s persistence in running the same stretch of river multiple times in a row. Again, I can’t count how many times I looked over and saw him hopping out of his boat, running back up the shore, and hopping in again in order to get another go at the rapid. By Thursday, I had subconsciously caught on to this and found myself running 4 stretches of the river a second time, just because I wanted to. This isn’t only a great approach to getting better, it is also extremely practical. When you consider you much time and effort is expended getting to the river, setting up shuttle, driving home, and all the other little details, the amount of time to run a fun rapid a second time is absolutely minimal! So what if it’s going to take me 10 minutes to walk back up and do it again- I spent 5 hours driving to get here this weekend to do just this!
Staying Positive: Kayaking is an extremely challenging activity. It is part of the reason why it is so fun, but it can also get people into a funk. I am always hearing about “the mental side” of kayaking or rolling, and I have certainly experienced that myself. That mental side is basically when you tell yourself that something might go wrong, or you might not be good enough. In the five days on the river with EJ and countless conversations off the river, I don’t think I ever heard him say something negative! That means that in thousands, if not tens of thousands of situations, he always, always chose to be positive! Wow, what a difference that makes! One of his Fundamentals is to “Always look at/focus on your target.” Always being positive is the ultimate expression of this rule. It not only allows you to achieve your goals and avoid the pitfalls, but it almost guarantees that you are having fun when you make those goals a reality. It is the difference between “making it through” and having a great time.
Like I said, the three steps in this plan are nothing earth-shattering, but I now fully appreciate them and have made them part of how I will be kayaking.
Finally, (wow, you read all the way down to here?!) I managed to pull together some photos and videos that I captured while on the river as well as some from some other sources. I hope you enjoy them!
-Pat
Video compilation, but Youtube removed the soundtrack :-( You can download the video below to your computer for posterity and some great tunes!
I finally kayaked the Numbers section on the Arkansas River after 7 seasons of fearing the class IV run! Here I am celebrating after rapid number 1 went extremely smoothly.
It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day in the Arkansas River valley which was in stark contrast to the cool, rainy months that characterized Colorado kayaking for most of 2009. The river was flowing at 1160 cfs, which was a nice, manageable level for the first time down this classic stretch of water. Our solid group of kayakers chugged through rapids 1 through 6 and all of the intermediate “boogy water” with no issues to speak of. The combination of 42 days of kayaking this year, my commitment to my roll during the late winter months, and the Colorado Whitewater boating class I took late in the spring led to a wonderful first experience and the satisfaction of fulfilling one of my New Year’s Resolutions! It was so much fun that I plan to do it again this weekend!
And how can I not mention the run down the Taylor River that we did on Saturday? I think the Taylor River is my favorite river in Colorado! It is a quintessential mountain river with large boulders strewn throughout and shores that rise steeply into cliffs, pines, and aspen. The water is fun class III+ at the 400 cfs level that we experienced and I think it would be even more fun with some extra water. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be returning to the Taylor in the future!
I attended Colorado Whitewater's annual Training Camp this past weekend and had a great time helping out by sweeping on Saturday and Sunday. We had a really great group of folks and I managed to grab a few photos, so I thought I would post them for the whole crew to see. Hopefully, I will get a chance to get back on the water with some of them again!
The weekend began with yet another April blizzard along the Front Range, but ended with warm, sunny weather in the Utah desert!
I began Friday (4/17/09) by battling awful road conditions through Clear Creek Canyon and up I-70 and was treated to lack of heat in the van during the blizzard as my thermostat decided to flake out on me. (Oh well, another project for next weekend.) But hot or cold, I was lucky to make it through the rough conditions. Laurie, who had the Westwater Canyon permit, got delayed for hours and eventually stuck in Dumont, CO after I-70 was closed. Good thing I made it through there 2 hours earlier! A few hours later, I met up with Kim and Brad in Fruita, where we modified our trip plan slightly. Even though Laurie had most of the food and kitchen gear, we were able to purchase some food and forge on through Ruby-Horsethief canyons on our own. Or perhaps you were able to infer most of this by tracking my progress on the web? :-)
Saturday proved to be much warmer than Friday, with temperatures in the high 50's and sunny skies. The water was moving quickly and thanks to our boat rigging the night before, we arrived at the Black Rocks camp by mid-afternoon just in time for siesta on the beach! I followed my nap up with a hike to the rim above the river and was able to capture the settings below on film.
Sunday was even warmer and the hot desert sun quickly reminded me of newly acquired sun burn from the day before. We broke camp at a reasonable time and arrived at the Westwater Ranger station by 1pm, where Laurie and the rest of of our group was waiting for us. The rest of the day was a continuation of our mellow float and we camped at Upper Little-D with all the whitewater waiting for us the following day. A great dinner and great company around the campfire topped off the day.
Monday was a rush of rapids in succession that gave way to another warm, sunny float to the Cisco take-out. Best of all- no wind! Of course, I couldn't be satisfied with merely rowing my raft through the whitewater. No, I had to use my new waterproof camera to make a movie of the experience, and Raft-Cam was born!
Sure the camera angle could use a little work, but it is still pretty cool! And if that isn't enough action for you, check out the photo, GPS tracks, and Google Earth files below!
I am heading out to raft the Colorado River through Ruby/Horsethief/Westwater canyons at the Colorado/Utah border this weekend, and I found a cool, free website that will allow me to embed a map with my current location into my blog. It is called SPOT Trip Manager, and it seems to be a free service that is hosted by an individual named Jason Jonas who likes to take big motorcycle trips. I love how the web can deliver up almost anything you ask for thanks to resourceful individuals like Jason. It reminds of the "magic box" on Lost that will deliver to you whatever you can imagine! Now if only SPOT will add this capability to their website the way Youtube includes it.
(Update- 4/6/09: The San Juan trip fell through due to attrition, so no updates for it.)
So anyway, here is the map with my most recent locations!
My kayaking season had to begin somewhere with flowing white water, and the class III Shoshone run on the Colorado River seemed like a nice way to ease back into the cold April water. Plus, it seemed fitting that the van's first long voyage away from Loveland Pass should take it Glenwood Springs just like it did last year!
I met up with Vlad on Saturday afternoon, and we did two fun but chilly runs down the one mile stretch of rapids. And I was able to get a few photos and videos with my new waterproof Olympus Tough 8000 camera! I'm looking forward to lots more boating and water photos this year.
Once again, I camped at the Glenwood Resort campground within 20 feet of the river. The exhaustion of kayaking the cold river in 45 degree temperatures coupled with a late Friday night out seeing the Wailers must have really caught up to me, because I slept 13 restful hours Saturday night! After some coffee and quiet reading Easter morning, I headed up the highway a few miles to the Hanging Lake rest stop. I have intended to hike up to Hanging Lake on many occassions, yet it never happened until Sunday. It's a moderate, 1+ mile hike from the rest area, and the trail was covered by snow for about half the distance. It is definitely worth it though. The lake is perched on the side of cliffed wall with water pouring over lips into the aquamarine pool. If you have 2-3 hours, be sure to check it out for yourself!
When the day was over, I had been asked this by at least four separate individuals. And to think that I had never heard of this trick before this week. Unfortunately it didn't help, and I needed a bigger metaphorical hammer to get my van moving in the snow again.
The spring snow storms have been continuing here in Colorado, so I decided to venture up to Loveland Ski area and sleep in the Westfalia last night. The anticipation and excitation built within me during the last hours of work on Friday, since at least a foot of snow was predicted to fall overnight with similar amounts throughout Saturday. My plan was beautiful. I would drive my souped up van to the ski area, sleep blissfully in propane fired warmth, and awake to a foot of snow and first chair while all the other suckers in Colorado battled the elements and each other on I-70 to make it up to the mountains.
The plan began great too. I made it up to Loveland quickly with favorable road conditions, but then I faced the issue of where to park the van over night. If I parked in the middle of the lot, I risked getting asked to move by plow trucks. If I parked at the exit on the side pull-off, I risked getting plowed in and having to listen to 18 wheelers drive within 15 feet of my bed all night. So I opted to park next to the snow cat operators trucks at the edge of the Loveland parking lot near the maintenance building. I would blend in with them and wake up early to gobs of snow and the best skiing of my life- a tremendous plan. I spent the evening chatting on the phone, watching a movie on my laptop, and drinking hot chocolate with Bailey's. I have to say that it was all quite civilized up to that point when I turned in at midnight to catch some Z's.
I discovered that there are some serious issues with camping in your van in a ski area parking lot and that they are compounded when it is snowing out and you are parked next to the maintenance shed. First off, the snow cats like to go out and groom for a while and then return to the shed for a while. And when they do, their engines idle loudly and their ultra bright lights illuminate the entire area. And for some reason, they go out on missions for a while and then return, and they do this several times over the course of the night. Of course, I was paranoid that they would discover the imposter in their parking lot and they would kick me out. I don't like snow cats quite as much any more. Second, guys who operate plows must really love their jobs, because they don't just plow a row once. They do it over and over and over again. And they don't seem to mind plowing snow right up to parked cars. Maybe the pull off parking spot wouldn't have been so bad after all. Finally, Loveland and CDOT like to blast for avalanches early in the morning. There's nothing quite like explosive charges to get your day going.
With all the racket and my paranoia, I probably got about 3 hours of sleep between midnight and my alarm at 7am. To top things off, the propane ran out some time during my slumber, so I awoke to freezing conditions inside the van and the inability to make coffee and toast in the van. Suddenly, things weren't quite so civilized any more. No problem, I thought. I will start the van to warm things up, get my ski clothes on, grab breakfast in the lodge, and blast through feet of fresh powder. Not so fast sonny. The forecast was a little optimistic in terms of snow accumulations. I would say that there was 6-8" of fresh snow, which was still good, but not the blizzard I had hoped for. Alright, turn the key to start your wonderful new Zetec engine- rrrrr, rrrrr, rrrrr. Ah crap, did I mention that the only piece of the van that I didn't replace during the engine conversion was the starter and that it started having "issues" with the solenoid not engaging the gear teeth last week? When I talked to Brady at Bostig on Wednesday, guess what he asked me? "Did you hit it with a hammer?" So on Tuesday, I crawled under the van, tapped the starter with a hammer, played with the gear shifter position, and got it started. It started without issue the rest of the week, so I thought I was in the clear. Apparently not.
SUVs, trucks, and Suburus began to pour into the parking lot and now I had to figure out how to start my van- crap, definitely not civilized. All of these Front-Range-get-up-in-the-dark-to-drive-I70-suckers were going to beat me to the fresh snow and I was going to be stuck working on my van one more weekend. At that point, I began to get a tad frustrated. Lack of sleep, hunger, cold, and a failed plan do not make a happy Pat. I donned my cold ski clothes, climbed under the van in the snow, and did my best to hit the starter with a hammer. Rrrrr, rrrrr, rrrrr- still no dice. Screw it, AAA will bail me out later in the day if worse comes to worst, I'm going skiing. So I spent the morning telemarking through some fantastic powder conditions. The snow wasn't particularly deep, but it was a great consistency, the mountain wasn't too crowded, and I skied really well. Loveland is a really cool place to be on a powder day, but that day can only last so long before exhaustion sets in and it's time to head home.
I wandered back to the van determined to get it started by hitting it with a hammer. I struggled from every position imaginable, but it just wasn't happening, so I did what every normal guy does when he gets stuck (actually, no I didn't drink a beer), I stood there and and just stared at it. Along comes a dude who says, "You got a Suby engine in there?" Sweet, this guy know these vans and will be able to help me some how. I tell him about the Zetec and my crappy starter, and guess what he says? That's right, "Did you hit it with a hammer?" and then he wandered off to better times on the mountain side. At that point, I knew there were only two options- some how get the van out of the parking space and moving, then pop the clutch to get it started and drive back to Boulder without shutting off the engine, or I could be a loser and have AAA tow me home. Time to find some one with a truck to yank me out of the parking space.
All of a sudden, being parked next to the maintenance shed wasn't such a bad thing. A bunch of guys were hanging out by the door, so I explained my situation to them and quickly had a few guys with a two-wheel drive dump truck trying to pull me out of the parking space. I quickly discovered that there is an inherent problem trying to pull a vehicle out of a ski area parking space. You see, these guys park as many cars a possible into the lot so the ski area can make as much money as possible. That means that there are narrow rows between the tightly packed cars and that my stuck van had to be pulled by a tow strap out into the row at an awkward angle without hitting the cars parked next to me. We tried several combinations of different trucks, different angles, and different drivers before ultimately finding success and unbeknownst to each other, every one of the drivers asked me "Did you hit it with a hammer?" regarding the starter! We finally extracted the van without damaging any other vehicles and got it moving down a hill where I popped the clutch and started the van! I felt strangely like Hurley on Lost and Greg Kinnear in Little Miss Sunshine. Apparently jump starting a VW bus is a right of passage for owning one of these vehicles, and I can now check that off of the list of odd things I have done in my life. I left the engine idling, hopped out and thanked the dump truck dude profusely with handshakes and my remaining Alaskan Ambers. An hour later, I was back in Boulder zonked out on my couch with a roaring fire. That's what I call civilized.
The Colorado Front Range had only received 2 inches of precipitation in the past 5 months and it had been balmy throughout the new year, so we all knew we were bound to get smacked with a spring blizzard. The snow came Thursday (3/26) morning and dumped a foot and a half in Boulder. CU was shut down and the governor declared a state of emergency to pull stranden folks off of US-36. To me, it was a nice opportunity to take some photos of surreal shapes in my front yard and to get out cross country skiing with Mike. Enjoy the photos!
I did my last rafting trip of the year on the Colorado River through Ruby-Horsethief and Westwater canyons from Thursday, October 16 through Sunday, October 19. I had absolutely perfect weather for mid-October with temperatures in the 60's, not a cloud in sight, and none of the brutal afternoon winds that plagued my trip down Ruby-Horsethief last year. I spent the first two days on my own through Ruby-Horsethief and had a great time slowly working my way down the river and teaching myself to flycast. I met up with the rest of the crew on Saturday and we headed down river just barely into Westwater Canyon before spending the night. On Sunday, we blasted through all the major rapids and even managed to have a little adventure while doing so. I don't remember Westwater being as big as it was, and although I ran Skull and the rest of the rapids with great lines, my heartbeat really got going! And things definitely got interesting when Jon partially dislocated his shoulder right when he entered Skull rapid! Everything turned out okay, but it was a handful to get the rafts down the next few rapids and suffice it to say, River dog wound up rafting all by himself once again! All's well that ends well!
Unfortunately, my GPS broke on the first day, so I wasn't able to record a track for this cool trip :-(
As we approached the top of the rapid, Dane said to me, “Pat, the top wave is the perfect wave to try a kick-flip. Watch me do one and then you try it.” Rather than fully describe this to you, I will 
And how can I not mention the run down the Taylor River that we did on Saturday? I think the Taylor River is my favorite river in Colorado! It is a quintessential mountain river with large boulders strewn throughout and shores that rise steeply into cliffs, pines, and aspen. The water is fun class III+ at the 400 cfs level that we experienced and I think it would be even more fun with some extra water. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be returning to the Taylor in the future! 
My kayaking season had to begin somewhere with flowing white water, and the class III Shoshone run on the Colorado River seemed like a nice way to ease back into the cold April water. Plus, it seemed fitting that the van's first long voyage away from Loveland Pass should take it Glenwood Springs 
