Lake Creek- Bottom 4(2)

Lake Creek is cool. One of the neatest granite riverbeds that I have paddled in. We paddled the bottom section at low water 150-200 cfs. A bit more would be good, but not too much more.

This section starts off with a quick warm-up and then a great boof at the Brains.

The Paralyzer is about one hundred yards down from here. This drop looked huge but surprisingly good. We wimped out and did not paddle it on this particular day, but Heise did the day before and said it paddled like Class II. Kiss me is the next drop, but does not get run very often.

Top boof in the Paralyzer.

The final rapid is the Cauldron, which must be experienced to appreciate. If you are really good like me you can run this rapid without taking any paddle strokes.

Clear Creek of the Ark

I had not done this run in a couple years until this year and had forgotten how much fun it is. We paddled it at 300-350 cfs which is medium. More would be good, but it could get pretty fast. This creek is always a bit boat abusive, but fast and fun, with great scenery and water quality. The run is not that hard, with no Class V moves, but this run hands out its fair share of swims, broken boats, and lost paddles. The creek is not an ideal depth for rolling. But stay upright and its great fun.

First Gorge.

Boof.

Crusing into the crux of gorge two.

Photo credit- Kevin from the Southeast.

Numbers at 3k

The Numbers is great run to do at high water. Its not often in Colorado that you can paddle miles of stress free, big water Class IV. But you can when the Numbers is high. I was shocked not to see more people there. The run only takes about 40 minutes and is worth lapping. It is not technical with mainly big waves and a few big holes. Also, there are no rafts in the way at high water- over 2200 I think. I highly recommend it.

Stealth put-in.

Typical scenery. It all looks pretty much the same.

I don't think this run ever gets too high. It is worth the time if the water is up.