How the West was Done: The Final Post from Colorado

Me Charging off La Plata Falls

For the final leg of our trip we hit the Durango area. This stop led us to the seldom run La Plata Falls. Like most everything else we ran into on this trip it was on the high side with a river wide strainer blocking the run out. This falls was definitely the most difficult scout of the trip. Myself, Adam, and Boyd all had differing opinions of how to run this drop. After much discussion I decided to go ahead and fire it up. On may way to my boat we were met by a Ranger who told us we weren't to run the drop. To which Adam responded, "Yeah we can." So off I went.

My Final Scout


The Drop went super smooth for myself. I was pleasantly surprisedat how easy it boated. Here are a few pics Boyd took.



Me about to drop in

Getting Ready to tuck the walls were pretty narrow
Tucking
Holding on for the Ride

Riding that Lightening
Adam about to Drop in

Adam G. Just firing it up
Uh oh



Ouch

Adam taking a beat Down. Pretty scary moment for all of us. Adam was getting slammered in the pocket with a strainer right down stream. That's one tough ol' boy from Bama.
As they say on LVM "Grab that B***H!" Me crawling across the log to attach a rope to the pinned boat.
Pulling it off
Boyd was Next, but we all Knew his line would be smouth because dropping a 25 foot falls is a little bit easier than jumping out of airplanes.

Boyd doing what he does best Falling



Boyd Dropping in and Adam Filming

Where did he go
Falling just falling
Lined up perfect for a landing
Me at the bottom of the drop





Hitting the Kicker

Just riding out the run out

The next day we hit the South Fork of the Rio Grande. This river looked big from the road, but not as near as big as it looked from down in it. We got a super fast run through the gorge during a thunder storm then headed back to Salida.

Me firing off a Drop on the South Fork of the Rio Grande
The last day of the trip we decided to get a super high water run on the Clear Creek of the Arkansas. So basically our trip ended where it started.

If this was in the Southeast It would be a Zoo: part 5

South Mineral Creek has got to be one of the most fun creeks I have ever ran. Myself, Adam, and Boyd spent a day lapping it up. The only downside of South Mineral Creek is you have to hike the shuttle. We awoke to find South Mineral at a perfect, highish level. To my surprise we had a perfect level, perfect weather, and absolutely no other boaters. Not many creeks of the quality of South Mineral would be empty in the southeast. A perfect 20 footer followed but a series of fun boofs, a bouncing 12 footer, and the cauldron. The cauldron had to be one of the most fun drops we ran. It was a 8 foot drop into a completely walled in micro gorge with a four foot exit drop. Not much to say about South Mineral other than it was fun. Enjoy.

Adam shooting video as I go downstream

Boyd Boofing the 20 footer
Boyd Boofing his way down

Me on the Bouncing 12footer

Boof!
Cool Shot
Hiking the Shuttle wasn't fun , but atleast you had a breath taking view Adam Filming (you should check out the video Adam did great on it)


Dropping in the Cauldron

Boyd dropping in

Adam Boofing theBig one

Ice Lake Creek and Solo South Mineral: Keep it Rolling on the High Side of Good ! part 4

After getting shutdown in the Crystal drainage, we decided to head towards South Mineral Creek and the Durango Area. This area had to be my favorite of the entire trip. The drive from the Crystal towards Durango was spectacular.

Some Pics from the Drive:

On the drive over to South Mineral, the possibility of being able to run the falls at Ice Lake Creek was brought up. I wasn’t real sure what it was, but from what I could gather from Boyd and Adam was that it was steep and burly. Needless to say I was pretty excited to check it out. When we got there we found Ice Lake Creek pretty swollen. Boyd and Adam both said the water was way higher than they’d ever seen it on pictures or video. They briefly mentioned heading on to South Mineral and letting Ice Lake drop and hitting it early in the morning. I was not having that. It looked good to me, so I suited up while they scouted. Once everybody was geared up, we set up cameras and hiked the boats up. This is where we encountered the first problem of the day. The pool where you put in was good to go, but the entrance rapid was blocked with wood. This might have shut us down on a regular day, but I was determined. So I found a nice place to seal launch below the wood on the entrance rapid. By nice place I mean super sketchy and probably not a good idea.

Me Getting Ready to Seal Launch

Me About to Go

This rapid brought different opinions on how it should be run. With the high water the second drop made a huge hole with a large boil against the wall. Adam and Boyd were of the opinion to skirt it to the left, but I wanted to charge it head on. So with one last scout I was ready to go. On the hike up, I met a couple of hikers and they asked if I was going to run this. I told them yeah. Then they asked if my mother knew I was doing this. To that I replied, “Of course!” and got ready to ride the lightening. I was pretty nervous about the seal launch, but Boyd helped me get in and off I went. Entrance drop, check. First Drop, boof right and charge hard towards second drop, check. Second drop charge hard and boof the meat. This was going great until, the hole grabbed my stern. This shot me up in a back ender and the boil started to flip me. I knew I didn’t want to be upside down going into the third drop; instincts then took control. I immediately went to my back deck and started to roll even before I flipped. This was a really good decision, because I was up so quick I was able to stay on line and style the next two drops. One quick Fist pump and it was time for Adam and Boyd to fire it up.

Entrance Drop

Boofing the 1st Drop

I am at the very top you can barely see me. You gotta click on the pic to find me

Me boofing the second drop

Better Roll Quick
Hell Yeah! I am up.
Right on line.
Coasting in

Both Boyd and Adam decided to stick with their plans of skirting the hole to the left. It didn’t really work out that much better than my line. Both of them ended up getting surfed and flipping. But all in all, good lines were had and it made for a great day. Since it was late in the afternoon, and the water was pretty high we decided to go ahead and scout South Mineral and set up camp.

Adam Went too Far Left up top

Adam G Rodeo Star Cartwheels in the hole
Perfect Line (almost) lol
Cleaning the last drop



When we found South Mineral it was thumping. So we scouted and talked about how great tomorrow was going to be. While scouting the cauldron, the very last rapid on the run, I asked what they thought. Both Adam and Boyd agreed that it would go, but it probably wasn’t good to go for our first time. I really wanted to run it, but was a little worried about soloing a new run at high water. But I went with my gut and ran it. Good lines were had as I rode it out on the high side of good. Back at camp I couldn’t wait to get back on South Mineral Creek.

Hiking down for the Solo Mission

1st drop

me on 1st drop again





I just like this shot

me on the second drop
way up top in the gorge again you gotta click to find me
charging the cauldron Adam and Sam on video and pics in the background
me in the cauldron you can see Boyd's shadow



the cauldron





After a good day of paddling you can always use a good view