Wow...what a winter!!! Huge snowpack yielding incredible skiing, snowboarding, and alpine climbing. One of the best in years. Huge snowpack = awesome paddling and the kayaking season has definitely kicked in. Just take a quick look around Durango and you'll find a lot of excellent class IV/V/V+ paddling. One of the most committing and awe-inspiring runs is the Baker's Box section of the Animas River. Looking at the pics, you get a feeling for the run...deep gorge with no escape...Class V+ rapids stacked up - the first 5 can't be scouted...totally awesome. I've had a chance to get in there quite a bit this spring before river levels get too rowdy. Low flows are around 500 cfs and high flows around 1000 cfs. It's been run by a few at higher flows, but be careful. Here's some more pics for you.
The feeling is like no other run around Durango or Colorado for that matter. Totally immersed in an incredible whitewater setting where traffic is non-existent and walls polished smooth by time. Getting worked in here is a religious experience. Every drop is complicated by a sieve situation and swim can take forever to recover from. In some parts of the run, you'll have to swim a Class V+ drop because there's literally nowhere else to go. Hiking out...well you can see that it's going to get epic.
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