Wolf Creek Waterfall

I have stopped to check out the "Tunnel of Love" waterfall on Wolf Creek Pass many times usually finding it too low or too high. The tunnel itself was sketchy when we stopped to check it out a few weeks ago. There was a log across the entrance of the tunnel that would have required a very sketchy seal launch, we had questions about the depth of the landing, and perhaps most importantly, I did not see how to stop without being flushed into the manky mank below the drop. However, there is a clean 20 footer about 50 yards downstream that we decided looked good. We roped boats down and ran a couple laps each.


Living in Colorado, I am no expert at running larger waterfalls, but I have learned that landing flat from 20 feet hurts. So, my new strategy is the controlled pencil-in, which does not look or feel as cool as boofing, but at least my back feels good. This waterfall has a bit of a tricky lead-in that makes setting up difficult, but I managed to plug it without much style on both runs.

Heise ran the best line of the day with a nice semi-boof:



And Donnie prepares to land flatter than he planned:

Wolf Creek runs very high during peak runoff due to the huge average snowpack on the pass. The 20 footer could be run pretty high and be okay. The Tunnel of Love requires a lower flow and will have a smaller window. This section is definitely alot of work for not many paddle strokes, but given the lack of clean waterfalls in Colorado, it might be worth it as a nice novelty falls.