Funny/Scary Story from a Class V Canoe run in CO

[Dooleyoc-1]

(Warning: this is a long trip report...)

I just got back from a great long weekend of boating in CO. I was paddling with Matt and Tom (a kayaker). They drove from Knoxville and we met up and paddled the Poudre, Cross Mountain Gorge of the Yampa, the Encampment and Joe Wright Creek. All 4 runs are great runs but the interesting story comes from Joe Wright Creek.

Matt and I made what was probably the first open canoe descent of Joe Wright Creek a Class V tributary in the headwaters of the Poudre watershed (it's hard to say for sure but I have boated extensively in CO for the past 6 years and I have a good feel for what's been canoed in CO from talking to locals and other canoers that have travelled there in the past and this is one of a handful of runs in the state that I don't think has been done in a canoe) The reason being is that it is one 3 mile long rapid. There are probably only 4 or 5 decent eddies on the whole run and it is pretty much non-stop class IV-IV+ with one 1/2 mile long class V section called Carnito Canyon. There was also 1 other big class V called Cornholio.

I've canoed Fish Creek and Boulder Creek in CO (both are known for being fast and continuous) and this run was much faster with even fewer eddies. I would compare the run to the West Prong in TN at high water but without the eddies. It was an extremely committing run. Wood could be a killer on this run even for deck boats.

The funny story comes from the first rapid. The beta I'd gotten was that the first big class V cornholio was just upstream of a bridge. I'd heard you should scout it and then put in up-stream to get some warm-up. There was supposedly nothing to speak of up-stream. We found the bridge and sure enough there was a big manky rapid just upstream. It didn't look too hard but it looked more dangerous than the rest of the run because of some jagged road blasted rocks in the runout. If you swam you would have gotten hurt.

Matt decided the risk wasn't worth the reward and that he would put-in below the rapid. Tom decided to sit the run out and take pictures. Also, we had just met up with Roy who wasn't boating that day but he volunteered to set safety.

At that point, Matt dropped me off about a 1/4 mile upstream to get some warm-up before the first big rapid. I felt good knowing that I had strong safety at the bottom. After putting on I went around the second bend in the creek and I found probably the biggest surprise of my boating career.... a 15 ft horizon line! We had scouted the wrong rapid and I was coming into a massive Class V blind. I completely panicked for about 1 second then looked for a micro eddy. There were no eddies. At that point I thought "Oh the irony if I get hurt on this and all of my buddies are around the corner with safety at the wrong rapid..." This was a run with manky road blasted rock, big holes and potentially wood and I had no idea was was waiting for me at the bottom of the drop.

I decided to go for it and picked up some speed and took a massive boof stroke. By luck (or the grace of God), I took off in the exact right place. The drop had a very narrow landing zone about 8 ft down then you drop off about another 5 footer. If I had taken off anywhere else I would have landed on rocks and pitoned my brains out. I can honestly say that was the most adrenaline I've ever gotten from running a drop. In retrospect, I would run it again and it wouldn't be that big of a deal but it's hard to describe the feeling of rounding the corner, seeing the horizon line, realizing that there were no eddies and that I had to commit to running the drop blind.

The rest of the run went fine and the guys got a good laugh when I told them the story at the bottom of the next rapid and they hiked up to see the real cornholio. Ironically, we had spent the previous 2 hours scouting what we thought was cornholio and Carnito Canyon to be sure that there was no wood since it would be nearly impossible to stop in the mini canyon.

It just goes to show that when you are doing a new run you can think you've taken all the right precautions (getting beta from locals, reading the guidebook, being with a strong group, scouting the run, setting safety at the wrong rapid lol) but you never really know what the river is going to throw at you...

Fortunately we had a great day. Matt styled the run and I didn't have any trouble either. I think our boats would have gone all the way to Ft. Collins if either of us had swam lol Matt, Roy and Tom are still out there. I will post pics when Tom sends them to me after they get back to TN.

[iRolled]

Great report Dooley, I felt like I was there while I read this.
Jeff was talking about a road trip to CO in a few weeks. Maybe we'll get us a first decent while we're there.

[Louie]

SEE i TOLD YOU SCOUTIN WAS OVER RATED

[Mike W.]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing.

[scott curtis]

did the goat faint or no?

[cheajack]

I hear ya, Dooley. I get that same feeling above Nantahala Falls.

[Wendy]

Glad it went well

[Craig Smerda]

Roy took a day off?

[Dooleyoc-1]

Craig, roy had been out there for 3 weeks and that was only his second day off from boating. He went mountain biking the other day. The guy is a machine! That's about like EJ's boating schedule.

[Craig Smerda]

Well... there's something you probably need to know about Roy...






Wish I could have made it out there...

[Todhunter]

That is some FAST moving water:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhN8XqqXtsU

[Dooleyoc-1]

Yeah, it was about the fastest water I've been on. I don't think I've ever run anything that committing before. I've been on runs that were more boxed in but you could run eddy to eddy. On that creek you just had to get out there and hold on. There were very few eddies and the ones that were there were small and difficult to catch full of water. Fortunately we had scouted the carnito canyon section and knew that it was free of wood.

[Mikey B]

Dang, that puts my sphincter factor way high on the old sphincter test!
Awesome Dooley!

[oc ender]

Ok,new poll on toughest ever run in an oc!!But...this post ain't no good without some pics!!!

[Dale Barton]

Doolley, I actually ran Joe Wright with a kayaker in 2000, but we were from the bridge down to the junction of the Big South, didn't run Carnito, congrats. Dale