My Awesome Backyard

Living in Durango offers the best of Colorado.  Amazing scenery and every type of outdoor pursuit imaginable.  For a kayaker in Colorado, this place is Mecca.  I'm lucky because I live just north of town and very close to the put-in for the Middle and Bakers Boxes of the Animas River.  These 2 runs are probably the best river runs in Colorado.  Stacked with drops, the committing gorges and steep vertical granite walls with no escape make this run very committing.  Once you're in, it's hard to get out.  The sieved out nature of both runs keeps everyone on their toes and to make things even a little more challenging, the first few drops in Baker's are unscoutable. 

There's no feeling like paddling here with your best mates and seeing the sunshine after House Rock rapid.  Everyone I know has had some type of beat down in here.  Just when you think you know it...it hands you a slice of humble pie. 

Baker's consists of 2 distinct sections...the Upper Section and Lower Section.  The Upper has 4 unscoutable drops in a tight gorge.  Knowing the where to go is key here.  The Lower start with Long Rapid and as the name suggest is a half mile long rapid of boulders and holes that has significant gradient.  After Long Rapid, the river narrows a bit and is boulder choked all the way to the siphon.  The siphon is a riverwide bedrock/boulder drop that must be portaged a low - medium flows.  The significant drop in this section is Boof or Slide.  It is long and complex with multiple moves and multiple siphons everywhere.  If you don't make your move, the consequences are high.   

Heading downstream through Middle Box

Shawn Fullmer lowers his boat.  Mandatory here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shawn raps in

 

Cody Beach in Long Rapid

The boys below the put in drop

Josh Mack at the start of Boof or Slide

Josh Mack in the middle of Boof or Slide.  The siphon waits downstream...

Cody Beach dropping into Rectilian

2nd drop Upper Section

The boof in Boof or Slide. Middle of the Lower Section

Racoon...the 3rd drop in the Upper Section

In the Midst of Rectilian, the Lower Section

Shawn Fullmer loving it

About to take the Plunge!!!! 4th drop in the Upper Section

Plugging in the middle of Long Rapid, Lower Section

Shawn and I all smiles after a great run :)

Baker's is a fantastic run and when combined with the Middle Box, one of the best that Colorado has to offer.  It's not for everyone.  The commitment of the canyon and the siphons on pretty much every drop keep most interested parties out.  There's also the hike in to consider.  2.5 kilometres through private property with a land owner that's gun happy and hates paddlers!  With all that said, it's worth the effort.  Having the run 8 minutes from my door has me smiling all the time and when I'm outta town and on my way home, knowing Baker's is in makes me drive a little faster :)

Upper NF San Joaquin Video

Here's a sweet video Adrian Kiernan put together from our San Joaquin trip.  Cheers Adrian it was a beauty!!!!

Upper NF San Joaquin

After 2 long weeks of kayak teaching and a 12 hr drive south from the Cal Salmon, I finally made it to Oakhurst, the gateway to the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin.  I was suppose to meet the Team consisting of Josh Nielson, Tyler Fox, Adrian Kiernan, Riley Best, and Jamie Garrod.  When I rolled into Oakhurst, it was midnight.  The map showed single lane roads heading east towards the mountains and we were to meet at a campground somewhere up there....

I drove for hours and I mean hours and I finally made it to camp as I was about to give up the hunt.  A light sprinkle with snow in the high country meant cool temps.  Waking up in the morning, classic Sierra landscape pervailed.

Awesome Cali camping

We had an early breakfast and then set out to the trailhead to organize and get going.

Adrian psyched for the mission ahead

From our camp spot, it was a short drive on a dirt road to get to the Isberg Trailhead.  Interestingly enough, the two trail heads are only 1 mile apart which gave us an easy shuttle.  Dropping off the rigs, we got to Isberg and began the prep work.

The Team looking at the trail map

The hike is somewhere around 16 kilometres and the hike out around 4.5 kilometres so it was going to be a mission no matter what.  We had no guage, no one had been down before, it had only been run twice, and the hike in was long.  Sooooo...we went for it in the best of styles...too much fooling around at the trialhead and a late start.  Perfect!!!

Sorting out the stuff

Time was running out and it was late.  We knew the hike was burly and long so we got on with it.  There's something to be said about lugging a 45kg kayak for 16 km.  It feels oh so good to get it off your back.

Haggard (photo: Kiernan)

After hours of lugging the boats uphill, we made it to the overlook.  It's an amazing place that looks over of the entire NF San Joaquin valley.  We could see where we were headed and where we needed to take out.  Whew...it was a long way down there!

Somewhere down there lies the San Joaquin

A much needed break

We left the lookout and headed uphill.  Always uphill and with little light remaining and no chance of getting to the putin, we decided to camp for the night at the top of the climb.  We knew the next day was all downhill to the put in so we found a sweet camp spot in between snow drifts and settled in for the night.

I love Cali overnights!!!!

 

Getting up in the morning, spirits were high and an hour and a half later we were at the put in.

Tyler Fox lifestylin it (p. Garrod)

A pretty spectacular place with some put in drops, a sweet bridge and a killer campground.  We rested for 2 hrs before heading out and paddling downstream.  The run was 6 miles and we were trying to get past a drainage that came in from the east.  That was our marker.

Josh Nielson - Put In 20'

Continuous Goods!! (p.Nielson)

Getting ready to launch (p. Garrod)

There was 2 miles of continuous, runnable, amazing whitewater to camp.

Josh loving the triple

One of my favorite High Sierra camps ever.  (p. Garrod)

Day one was epic.  I wonder how day 2 was going to be?  With a mini-gorge to start the day and then more amazing whitewater, the Upper NF did not disappoint.  I was super psyched with our Team because we worked really well together.  No run goes without it's mishaps and ours did for sure, but there was anything really to worry about.  No major hiccups in a stellar descent.  Paddling for a few more hours brought us to the big one...the 60 footer we had heard and seen pics of.  I'm going to leave this one for you to figure out.  Here's a few pics to wet your appetite.

Tyler Fox in good style

After the 60' there was miles of awesome continuous whitewater all the way to the take out bridge.

The Team drying out gear

After we dried out our stuff, we ate lunch, packed up and headed uphill for the long 4.5 kilometre hike out.  Wow...did those PBR's taste good at the top!!!

The Upper NF San Joaquin is definitely a run that I will do again.  It's one of the best High Sierra runs I've done.  It's not Upper Cherry, it's totally different.  What Cherry has in smooth granite and drops, this run has in boulder gardens, steep long sections, and complex problems.  It also has a burly hike in and out and no gauge which keeps the masses out. 

Linking it All Together

I've had some technical issues over the past year and I've decided to delete some accounts and web pages and keep it all as one here under Horizon Line Adventures.  It's been whack trying to keep up with all the cyber world, internet craziness...so...this is the only one I'm using. 

I've got a lot to add to this blog so stay in touch for pics and vids.

Cheers!!!!