CO(2)

2006 Colorado Trip (2)

Day 6: After a short night's sleep, we get some laundry and other errands done around town in the morning and make plans to meet Kyle, Tracy, John and Diane for a run down the Numbers. This time we make sure we are all on the same page for the meeting place and time.

Met Kyle in town and we headed up to meet John and Diane after lunch. About half-way up, the Explorer started choking again. So sent Kyle and Tracy to meet the Barton's and turned the truck around and barely made it to the shop. The mechanic quickly hooked the scanner up, but nothing showed up on results despite the sputtering and lack of ignition. Lets try the air-flow sensor... a quick trip to the parts store and eureka, she starts. After making my wallet lighter, we head back toward the river in hopes to catch them on a second run. But Wait!

About a mile down the road, choke and sputter once again! Really had to limp back this time, coasting the last 200-yards with a dead engine. Finally after some more checking and pondering, he brought out a used distributor from another Ford engine. Two minutes later, the truck ran like a champ. Finally we had the fix! Made it to the take-out just as they were finishing their first run, so we loaded up and went to the top for a victory lap down the river.

Day 7: Friday June 23 - Carnage continues....

Slept in late as we found a nice shady secluded campsite above BV, but I must have still been sleepy when I backed out. I knew what I did the moment I heard the screech and pop. A glance at the mirror showed a sawed branch on a tree stump disappearing to the back of the truck. Paul's luck from a couple days ago must have transferred to me. At least my truck is 14-yrs old instead of 2.

Meet Kyle and Tracy in town and we head up for a run on the Pine Creek and Numbers section of the Arkansas. We stop at the Pine Creek rapid overlook for a scout when I notice that Kyle's river shoes are in the basket on top of the truck being held down only by their funk. As soon as I make a comment about them, the look of despair comes over his face and he quickly dives into the back and riffles through his gear. Seems that his gear bag with 2 PFDs, a sprayskirt, river shoes and poggies was left unsecured and blew off. Kyle and Tracy head back toward town to see if they could find sign of the gear. After a long wait at the river, they return empty handed and totally bummed.

We all head back to town and they do some more checking around, I head over for a session on the wave at the Buena Vista river park.

After dinner, Lara and I head up to Clear Creek and find a nice spot next to the water. After a quiet night, we head over the pass at Climax. It was our first trip over this pass and were surprised by the massive amount of destruction from the mine. Truly something to get your attention. On a whim, we head to the lower Blue River (Green Mtn Gorge) in hopes of finding other boaters for a shuttle on this sunny Saturday afternoon. We were in luck!

It was good run with some fun class II-III rapids and beautiful scenery. But beware of at least 3 things if you venture here. 1) Mosquitoes (not so much on the river, but the takeout was thick), 2) the put-in hill (steep and slippery), 3) unhappy fishermen.

Here are some photos: