Independance Pass opened up so we headed over to the Arkansas Valley for some boatin'. Friday we got to Buena Vista and checked out that play park. That evening we got a session in the Salida hole and ran into our friends Dave and Lisa. We had a great cook out and the next day went with Dave to check out Clear Creek. The gorges were good, but it was low at 140 CFS. We still had a boofin' blast and I met up with Lisa for a twighlight Numbers run. We camped at a great spot and spent Sunday in Salida at the hole. We headed back over the pass and spent Sunday night on a beautiful stream near Lake Creek. Happy Memorial Day!

Back Yard Fun

About 12 miles from our place the Crystal Narrows is the perfect after work run. The run drops 95 fpm and the chilly water is an after-work energy boost. These pictures are at about 1300 cfs. The bottom photo is Darin's macho man at the take-out.

Union Street Wave

Darin and I headed to the Denver area to check out a play wave we heard was fun at high levels. We did some metro ghetto camping and enjoyed a full day on Union Chutes. There are like 5-6 or six man-made drops that make some waves and holes. This was not a Colorado man made play park though. Story goes the city or somebody put slabs in the river to aerate the water. Turns out they were low head dams and were dangerous. So they came back and bombed out some chutes creating some play features, but not on purpose. Not bad for an accident.

Grizzly Creek

We went and checked out Grizzly Creek, a small tributary that flows into the Colorado. Darin and Jonathan were suited up and ready to go. I was hiking with two video cameras and a still camera. We came to the first river wide tree- and would pick out a takeout above it. By the third change in takeouts due to wood and some concern with the eddy situation- it became more of a hike than a scout. It ws fun to look at but needs some cleaning...

Gillman Gorge

Darin and I camped eight feet from the Eagle River right outside of Minturn, Colorado. Gillman Gorge is the Eagle River flowing through a gorge that used to be home to an old mining town called Gillman. The river bed is narrow and at 300ish cfs it was a little manky with disturbing railroad trash littered throughout. Nevertheless,the camping was great and we had a good run so can check Gillman off the "list".