Oh-Be-Joyful

We started the day with the Upper East, warming up for Oh-Be-Joyful in Crested Butte, CO. The put-in for the East is a stream that trinkles right under a bridge, but in no time you come to your first horizon line, and the slide begins. The run is less than a mile, and it felt like we were sliding the entire run. We hike through an incredible field of purple flowers, before heading to Oh-Be-Joyful. OB is just a few minutes down a dirt road. The run is on the other side of the SLate river so we hiked the entire run, because we weren't in a 4x4 to drive across the Slate river. The entire hike we were scouting and getting excited. I was a little more than my typical nervous, but I love waterfalls, and this run had several. The put-in is just above a 15 foot waterfall, we called Oh-Be-Ready. Then big slide, another 15 foot waterfall. rapid into 28 foot waterfall and a couple more slides. I rolled above the big waterfall. caught a micro-eddy and forced Darin to lead . He had a great line, but as I turned to watch I slipped out of my eddy, bobbled my paddle and had to go for it. I had a good line, and a great landing, but I wasn't graceful. I had my fun, and took out above the Beaver Dam rapid. Darin and Dave Kloberdanz styled the beaver and made the huge slide look easy. Crested Butte is one of the most beautiful places we boated this year and OB is the funnest river I have ever done.




For more OBJ pics check out the Water Slideshow