Barrel Springs 4-22-07

After the disapointing Escalante flow on Saturday, we decided to paddle on some water Sunday. We could see that Barrel had water from the road on the drive out so we headed back that way. Normally, you have to subtract 1000-1300 from the Shoshone flow to get the Barrel Springs flow because of the hydro diversion. Right now though, they are hardly taking any water out. The Shoshone flow was 1700 and for whatever reason, most of that was being released through the dam.

Upper Death is a rarely run rapid just above where most people put in. This photo makes it look much better than it really is because you cannot see the size of the rapid, all the rock flakes just under the surface waiting to knock you off line, or the terrible seive on the left. Its runnable but...



The whole reason for the run is Barrel Springs rapid. At this level, it was long and fun IV+. Tom somewhere in the middle of the rapid:



We had a good time on the first run, so we did another lap before heading home. It was a fun run and I highly recommend it.