2006
Colorado Trip
Had a fun and adventurous trip to Colorado this summer. The snow melted fast, but still managed to catch some old favorites and some new runs as well.
After a quick stop in NWA friday night, we left early Saturday morning for the long drive to Buena Vista (Day 1). Arrived just after dark and found a spot to camp and get some sleep.
Awoke in the morning and made a stop at the store to stock up on food and met up with Kyle and Tracy and made arrangements to meet John and Diane for an afternoon Numbers run. On the way to the river the old Explorer started choking and barely made it to the take-out. We let it sit and headed up to the put-in. Arrived and no John & Diane and no cell service. Waited for a while then decided to launch. Nice to finally be running a cool river under the warm Colorado sun! A few minutes after arriving at the take-out, John finishes a trip with another crew. We make our appologies for the mix-up on the meeting place and time and turn focus to the truck. She starts and I limp back to town as it dies on main street on a Sunday afternoon.
We find a mechanic shop, close of course, but the owner is there working on his personal project hot-rod. Talk for a little while and find out that he and the other full mechanic shop in town are booked for a month! Symptoms sound like a potential case of bad fuel and he offers some advice and other shops to contact. After dinner, we limp it over to Kyle's friends house and leave it for the night giving the fuel treatment additive some time to work.
After a nights rest, the truck starts, but after warming up it chokes again. Find a tune-up shop to take it to, then we load up in Kyle's truck and head to Vail. It was the birthday of one of Kyle's other friends and he wanted to run something new, Gore Creek and Dowd Chute were the destination.
We put-in by parking in the deck at Vail and walking past all the ritzy shops down to the creek and launching at the spot were the competition for the Teva Mountain Games were held just a week or so before. It was tricky getting to the creek bank as workers had most of the sidewalks blocked due to the installation of heating coils under the paver stones (Only in Vail!). Fun run down the creek and Das Chute in the kayaks, then back tot he top of the Chute for a R2 run down in the raft. Then it was back to BV after a stop at The Grill in Leadville.
Day 4: Checked with the shop in the morning, they were checking it out and said to contact back in the afternoon. We load up with Kyle and Tracy again and head to Crested Butte to catch to last surge on the creeks. Arrived at Oh-Be-Joyful mid-afternoon and set up camp, then headed up to check out the creek. We had good runs down through the 25-footer, then the carnage started. The long slide below the 25-footer has a notable rock that had been getting a lot of hits lately so I exited at the drop. The others went down to the top of Avalanche and tried thier luck. All four hit the rock, with Paul taking a hard hit that dented the side of his Gus and Jim taking a harder hit that cracked the side of his Blunt.
Here are some photos:
In the slot above the 25-footer (me on the left, Kyle and Tracy on the right). Photos by Lara Jones
One of the fun slides (me on the left, Tracy on the right). Photos by Lara Jones
After the run, we arrive at the Slate River crossing to watch not 1, not 2, but 3 trucks flood out in the creek! (Tip, drive slow to prevent the water from splashing up and over the hood and into the intake!)
Victims above, spectators below (from a the top of a sucessful vehicle)
Spent the next day relaxing around camp
and waiting for the creek to rise for another afternoon run.
Called the shop and had good news, they purged the fuel system
and it was running fine and ready to go. This time, everyone
took-out above the carnage inflicting slide, but that didn't stop the
carnage.... Paul clips fenders with another truck while backing
up causing some minor scuffing to both vehicles. We load up and
head back to BV and pick up the Explorer.
Oh-Be-Joyful and the Slate River valley is such a beautiful place, no boating needed to enjoy this place, here are a couple of sunset photos.
Home | Rivers Page | Photos | Links
Send Comments to me at lajones@aristotle.net