Slide Rock, Oak Creek 3-1-2009

Slide Rock is a very scenic, very full of tourists run up Oak Creek Canyon from Sedona that usually does not have enough water. We paddled it when there was about 200 cfs on the Sedona gauge. I would recommend a minimum of 400.

Put in drop

The first part of the fun is granite boulder gardens. Actually, the geology of this creek is very unusual. The bedrock is all sandstone, but at the beginning and end of the run, granite boulder are piled on top. The only clean slides are in the middle of the run, in the state park.

Boulder garden

Sliding


More sliding

Bottom of the slides


And more boulder gardens

Neat run, beautiful place, needs more water.

Fossil Creek deathmarch 2-28-2009

I met Josh and Donnie in Arizona on the last weekend in February. Early in the week, flows had looked promising but dropped fast as soon as we showed up. After getting very skunked on the Upper Tonto and East Verde, we headed to Fossil Creek. We figured with the little bit of extra runnoff, we could try to do Upper Fossil plus the regular section. This section needs more water than the regular run, requires a four mile hike in, and is not done very often.

First, we hiked.


Then we reached an idyllic put-in with maybe 70-80 cfs of cold water.



We bumped our ways downstream, and we were really excited when we saw this- the springs- more water!



The Upper Section was still too low to be good. We pushed our way over shallow travertine ledges and logs for the next 4 miles. We portaged 5 times including the dam, which is in the process of being removed, and is not currently runnable.



Finally, we got the the "classic section", which was fun with the estimated 100-150 cfs in the creek. I could see it being pretty boring with the base flow, and great with more water.

20 footer



clean ledges





Fun powerhouse drop.



I won't be doing the Upper Fossil Creek run again. It would be better with more water but still not worth it because the pain-free classic section downstream would be great. The Upper Section would be terrifying at really high flows because of the massive amount of wood in the creek. The lower section is a good fallback if (when) you get skunked on other nearby runs. The current "closure" does not really seem to be enforced on weekends, but don't quote me on that.

Ecuador- February 2009

I went to Ecuador in February for a week of creekboating with Small World Expeditions. As advertised, the county is beautiful and the whitewater is plentiful. I would highly recommend it. Coming from the desert that is Colorado, it is simply amazing how much water there is in Ecuador.



Typical scenery

The first day we paddled the Cosanga, which was nice Class IV, but really just a warm up for the week to come. The next day, we paddled the Oyacachi, which was a simply amazing river. 6 miles of pushy IV+ with great scenery.






The next day, we headed over the divide, through the cloud forest, to the famous Upper Hondachi.


Given the Jondachi's reputation for quickly getting too high with rain, it was a little concerning when it poured throughout the entire hike in. However, when we got to the put-in, the water was low, giving us plenty of leeway if the river rose. The hike to the put-in was easily the slipperiest walk I have ever done with a kayak. Actually, it was probably the hardest thing we did all week. And completely worth it.

Landslide portage early on.

People claim the Jondachi has over eighty distinct rapids. I'm not sure about that, but it is a long six miles, with a significant rapid every 30 yards or so the whole way.

The water level about doubled as we ate lunch and we finished out the run with a nice medium flow.

After the Hondachi, we went to Tena, where we paddled the Mishualli when it was flooding.

And then when it was not flooding.

We also paddled the Piatua, in the Tena area before we headed back to the Quijos. Our last day, we paddled various sections of the Quijos. The water was kinda highish. Some of us put on part way through the Cheesehouse section and experienced some powerful whitewater.

Our put-in: Piggly Wiggly

Slackwater on the Quijos.

I can't say enough about Ecuador and SWA and can't wait to go back.

North Fork Crystal

The North Fork Crystal is high elevation Colorado 4X4 and huck, with the emphasis on 4X4 (your Suby will not make it). The water is clean and the drops are too. We only ran the first 4 drops due to wood in the short gorge. This short section is very steep (loses about 100 feet over 4 drops) and high quality. We had about 500 cfs on the downstream Crystal gauge (about 1/3 of that is in the creek). This seemed like a nice medium-low level.

The first drop is a long, low angle slide.



There is one eddy between drops one and two. Two of us caught the eddy, one missed it. Luckily, missing the eddy sets you up fine for drop 2. This drop has a twisting entry ledge follows by a large slide falls with a kicker. This year there was a tree in the eddy river right below this drop, so you need to run it under control.





Drops 3 and 4 are smaller, with drop 4 being the cleanest ten footer in Colorado.

Summer '08 photo dump

I didn't take a whole lot of photos this summer but here is a handful of the good ones from my various kayaking travels.

Josh Heise melts the big one on Oh Be Joyful Creek.



Top half of the last slide on OBJ. This slide goes for another 60 feet around the corner and ends in a 12 foot almost vertical falls. So cool.



Huck the System- South Mineral Creek. One of the cleanest runnable waterfalls in Colorado.



Al with a good line at Dragon's Back- Lime Creek.



New No Name at 3800 on the town gauge. Very burly rapid at this level, but much easier as the water drops.



Crystal Narrows at 1300- no pictures with paddlers when you paddle solo.



Glenwood wave at 15k- Skook in Colorado.



Russ on Eye of the Needle- Piedra

RIP Corner Pocket

After a glorious spring, the high water pretty much blew it out. Time to break out the concrete. A few shots from our dearly departed friend:

Escalante- Spring 08

It has been an epic Escalante season. The levels have not dipped below medium for a month, being higher most of the time than the peak of a normal year. I'm not sure how much longer it will last but it could go for a week or two more (still running high as of 5/18). All photos here are from medium to high levels.

Uh- where's the fin?


George at Leap of Faith.


Link to quick Leap of Faith video:

http://www.vimeo.com/1008222


Waterslide is the most consequential drop on the run. The low water right line does not go if the level is above medium-high. At these levels, you have to boof down the center, being careful not to get pushed into the seived-out left channel. Kevin runs a good line at Waterslide at high water.


Craig in Double Drop.


Rib ripper- great high water boof.


Neat view of Corkscrew.


Inner Gorge late in the day.