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!!!!

Weminuche Wilderness & the West San Juan

Another superb spring day in southern Colorado. The weather has been typical Colorado...cold, rainy, warm, sunny...if you don't like it wait 5 minutes. It'll change. The past few days have been actually really nice. High's the past 2 days in the 70's which means the snow is melting faster and the rivers are a rising.

After a quick call, the plan was set - West Fork of the San Juan. I packed up the ride and picked up Joel Cameron, a good friend and regular session attendee and we headed east to Wolf Creek pass. At the pass we turned north and headed up a dirt road to the West Fork of the San Juan River put in. The West Fork is a beautiful narrow, gorged out run choked with boulders. Because of the warm days, we were guaranteed good flows and my guess was that it was still going to come up while we hiked then paddled...I wasn't wrong about that one.

Like a lot of CO runs, we got our yakpaks out and carried 3 miles upstream on a good trail. This part of CO is unbelievably beautiful. Remote, untouched, densely wooded.










Looking down into the canyon and hearing the sound of whitewater is such an awesome feeling. Seeing those boulder gardens really lifted our spirits and we got an instant energy boost.



It's hard to tell exactly where to put on this run. You could hike for many more miles than we did and I bet still get great kayaking. We decided to call it quits after 3 or so miles.

We arrived at the put in and a nice class V rapid. One thing about these remote runs...wood. It's all over the place. It's hard to read and run because every slot could have wood in it. Because this run doesn't get see paddlers often, no ones cleans it out.

We did have a blast though reading and running through the easy class IV/V rapids although maintaining an edge due to the abundance of wood. Joel ended up surfing a log which resulted in a premature exit from his kayak. I helped him get out of the log only to watch his gear flush downstream and disappear into a boulder garden. Springing to action, I ditched my yak and we gave chase down the creek only to lose site of it. After searching through 2 really nice boulder drops, we were able to locate it pinned under water in the middle of the first drop. With no way to access it and having only my throw bag, our options were getting limited. We finally decided on the Draconian method...finding large rocks and throwing them at the bow and stern in hopes of dislodging it. Incredibly...it worked. His boat flushed out and cruised downstream through the next drop and into an eddy where Joel lept into the river, clipped my throw rope to it, and ushered it ashore. Unfortunately, the bow and stern were totaled - caved in and cracked. We sussed out the damage, got back in our yaks and headed down stream making good progress through the remaining rapids. At the take out, we celebrated anther good run although there was some carnage and lost gear...but all in all a good day. I'd like to get back up there. Possibly hike another 2-3 miles making the run around 6 miles long. With the scenery so spectacular and the whitewater really good, this run should see a lot more descents than it does. I guess the hiking weeds folks out.

Spring Has Finally Kicked In!!

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.

Lazy Days of Fall

It's September and the river's at a pathetically low volume...it's been this way for far too long. The only local paddling has been gate training and upstream paddling north of town. There's been a little precipitation in the mountains but the cold temps have been turning it to ice and snow. Yeehaa for the upcoming ski season but what about paddling? I'm staying tuned to the weather down south. AZ has a great paddling season once the rain starts falling. Also, I'm headed to Mexico for a little adventure and hopefully some first descents so that's got me smiling. Gosh I love it down there. The freedom I feel, the incredible whitewater, food, etc. Can't wait to road trip. Until then, it's mountain biking and flat water training trying to keep in shape. Durango's a mtb mecca so the riding is rediculous.

Great news!!! Looks like I'll be joining the family at Fluid Kayaks and I'm super stoked to be paddling their awesome kayaks. Great designs, great plastic, and even greater people. Stay tuned for pics from the steep.

My friend Ben Jackson from NZ is hanging out at my house. He just got off a 15-day Grand Canyon trip and is chilling in Durango. Ben and I work together at Otter Bar Kayak Lodge in California and are trying to figure out the next adventure together. After Durango, he's headed back to NZ for a short while then off to Uganda, Africa to paddle the White Nile...Lucky guy.

For me, I think a NZ trip is in store for Xmas. Keep checking in.

Cheers,