Southern Boof: June 2008

This was about the most nervous I got

time to charge

Lined up right in the sweet spot

Melting down

Gone

Busting Free

One of the best feelings I ever had was at this moment

Sunset over Crested Butte

Whitewater of the Southern Rockies says, "Passing the IQ doesn't always mean to portage, but only with ample flow to pad out the rock landing of the first 25'. Sans good flow and this drop could severely hurt. On second thought, this drop could Severely hurt with good flow, so do whatever you want, stupid." So I did.

Thoughts of running this drop started about a week before the trip, after talking to a my good friend Nate. Nate told me how big/ sketch that rapid was and I told him I thought I'd run it. I believe my exact words were, "Yeah it's big, but it can't be much bigger than Stairway on the Bear." (note to self: BOY WAS I WRONG) Nate responded to that comment, "I hope you do." So from that the tone was set. Run it or eat my words.

When myself, Adam, and Ryan finally found Stupid on the Upper East it was getting close to dark and getting cold. We took a quick look, and right then I knew it was gonna go. So I asked what they thought. They said they didn't really want to run it and gear back up. I said, "Cool I am gonna go."

After gearing up, I wasn't nervous at all. I just knew it was gonna go good. So I launched in, charged, and celebrated at the bottom. Enjoy the pics. Big thanks to Adam Goshorn and Ryan Moore for shooting pics and video. Until Next time... Matt

Colorado 2008 looked to be an awesome time this year, epic snow pack, high water levels, and summer time creeking had myself, Ben, and Adam stoked to start our trip out west. So Thursday, June 12, we loaded up the truck and started the 22 hour drive out to Colorado. With 3 people driving straight through isn’t that bad, until you hit Kansas.

Don't you just love the view in Kansas

GIANTS!

Friday we finally made it to Salida. Tired from the drive and everyone a litle on edge we had a big decision to make. We could either watch the Freestyle Competition at FIBARK or we could go kayaking. Making all the right kind of decision we elected to go Kayaking at the Clear Creek of the Arkansas where we met up with Ryan Moore.
After 2 Laps of mad bombing down Clear Creek we set up camp and ate some Chef and called it a Night.

Adam Mapping out the way to Clear Creek

The Next Day we were all pumped up to Head over to Crested Butte for a couple of days. Taking the Cottonwood Pass over the Mountain we decided to hang out a bit at the top of the pass. Upon arrival to Crested Butte we found a Juicin’ River and immediately Geared up for some late afternoon Oh Be Joyful. The 1st lap went super smooth, then the trouble started. On the second lap we lost the car keys, broke a helmet, and Big Davis crashed the first boat by plugging it deep on the big one.

Driving up the Pass

Ben being Ben

The view was pretty muched Sucked I wish I was in Kansas

Finally What we Came For

Ben Charging Deep off the Big one

My Turn

1st Broken Boat of the Trip

Adam Charging down a Slide

Me Finishing Avalanche

Ben on Avalanche

Adam after a quick Scout

Adam Finishing it Off

Day 3 had us instore for a little variety so we opted to take a day off OBJ and hit up Daisy, Slate, and Upper East. Our Plan was to head to Daisy paddle down it and the Slate back to camp eat Lunch and then head to Upper East. Upon our arrival we Found the Slate at a pretty high level with jeep flooded right in the middle of the river. So instead of driving shuttle we started hiking shuttle. After a fun trip down Daisy we moved on down the Slate. We had no local beta on whether the Slate Gorge and Wicked Wanda were clear. So as the walls closed in we had to decide bomb in blind or scout. I opted to scout the gorge and then we bombed on down. Arrival at camp was a little later than expected and everyone was pretty tired so Upper East was looking bleak. But with a little coaxing I talked Ryan and Adam into heading up there with me to check out Stupid Falls, while Ben opted to stay for some high water OBJ laps. When we Found Stupid Falls I immediately decided to giver a go, so I geared up and Ryan and Adam set up cameras

What were they thinking?

Me with a Big Boof Off Big Wood Falls

Adam Stomping Big Wood

Ben with Suns out Guns out on Daisy

Ben Charging out Rip Your Face Off

Me on Rip Your Face Off

Adam Boof Rip Your Face Off

The Day 4 Shoulder. This had to be the most disappointing day of the Trip. We woke up to find a Really High OBJ day. We elected to hike the shuttle and and not cross with the truck since the Slate had been rising all morning. Putting on the river we found the level to be significantly higher than expected, but we put on expecting fast, pushy laps. Bombing down one of the early slides on the run we all meet up with a pretty munchy hole. Everybody took a surf, but Ben took the brunt of the punishment. Ben flipped in the hole and hit a rock dislocating his shoulder. This had to be a really Scary moment. Knowing that he was 2 rapids above the big falls and there was wood in the next rapid. A swim here, especially at high water, would have been ugly. But Ben manned up and rolled and paddled Class V rapids with one paddle blade and a dislocated shoulder and caught an eddy. Amazing. From here Adam reset Ben’s shoulder and we roped him and his boat across to safety. Adam and Nick finished out the lap on the High Side of Good, while me and Ryan helped Ben hike out.

Big Boofin Adam G