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Day 9: Clear Creek


Cross River Loop

Don from Confluence gave us a call and told us we should check out the Lawson hole before we left Colorado, and Woody and I hadn’t really done a ton of playboating while we were out here so we figured, Why Not? While we were at it we added in the class 3-3+ run downstream as well.


Woodys First Cartwheels in a Hole

We played in the hole for a while seeing what the CR would do in a hole for Don and Woody and then worked our way downstream on the Clear Creek run from Lawson hole to the first Idaho Springs exit. Its a little wierd to keep track of where you are on a river by the exit signs on the highway right next to you.


Woody Ducking the Tunnel

The first thing we came to was a small tunnel. We went for it it was actually pretty fun. After that the river turned into very continuous class 3 and 4. It was really fun water but there were some sharp rocks and a few sticky holes that you had to pay attention to.


One of Many Continuous Parts


Woody Surfin It Up


Last Rapid of the Day

Here is the video of the day.
Clear Creek, Click It

Later
Shane

Day 8 in Colorado: South Boulder Creek


Polk Our Leader On South Boulder Creek

So I think today Polk, Erik, and I had our tighty whiteys on. We went up to South Boulder Creek and Polk knew the lines. The water was a little high I guess. It was 550 cfs and that sounded good, but for some reason we didn’t bring our balls with us. There was some wood around and a sign at the put in talking about wood all the way across the river.


The Sign That Had Me Thinking

Or maybe it was the sign at the put in warning about the Mountain Lions that got us all off to a scared start.


It Doesn’t Look That Good To Me

We wandered around a few turns worried about wood but it all turned out fine. We got to the first drop. I think it was called the Moist Slot. It just didn’t look right. We all bailed and paddled on to the next one hoping for more courage to come from there. We crawled up to take a look at the Brain but still no courage to be found. It was a mess of water piling into rocks. Not interested. I know you hardcore Coloradoans will fire that up but all I was seeing was Shane getting to close and personal with rock.

We were all getting pretty disappointed at this point. There are only 3 main rapids on this section and we had walked two of them already. Luckily the last drop looked a lot cleaner and worth the challenge when we got there. It may have also been a bit of pride that made us step up for this one. Its called Bridge Falls. Its really a three part drop. Boof, Deal with a Pile of Rocks, and Get Through The Bottom Hole.


The First Boof in Bridge Falls


Erik Landing The First Boof

This drop is called Bridge Falls and it is a very cool drop because there are several parts to it. First is the boof onto a moving slope of water that colides with a pile of rocks but pushes up and over it. Then its a couple big waves and a drop through a pretty stompy hole. This rapid pretty much brought us back from feeling completely inadequate. Its funny how one very cool rapid can make a river run worth it. I have to say this is one of the more fun rapids that I have run in Colorado.


Polk Approaching The Final Hole


Me Boofing the Final Hole

So we were saved by the final drop. It made us all feel a lot better.
More to come soon.
Shane

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