MRP Colorado Invasion - 2007

It's hard to believe that it has come and gone already. Back in March and April it seemed so far away. Then the next thing I know I'm dropping my gear at Pat's house on Wed. night for a Fri. departure. A few of us camped at Pat's Thur. night and come Fri. morning we were off. I was dreading that drive sooo much. The thought of thirty hours in the car with five other people just didn't seem all that enticing. But I knew that it would be worth it in the end. Man, I couldn't have been righter (I know, I know). Even though, about halfway through Kansas, I was beginning to wonder.

Lots of this in Kansas. BORING!!!

(photo by Robbie Siegle - i think)

I think Pat said it best, "In Kansas, you can see tomorrow's weather today."

Colorado - Day 1

Well we finally started seeing some elevation change which meant Denver wasn't too much further. When we got to the Mile High City, we headed straight to Dan's (Pat's brother) house. It sure was nice to get out of that truck for a while, and have a little couch time. But we didn't chill for too long as we all headed to the local paddling shop, Confluence Kayaks, to get some beta and check out the deals. And by local I mean it was a ten minute walk from the house. Sweet!!! We got some info on the Clear Creek Whitewater Park in Golden, CO, loaded back up in the truck and headed out. Twenty minutes and we were there.

(photo by Jenni Miehle)

After playing for a few hours, we headed back to Dan's to meet up with Angie and Mary Jo. Once they arrived, we went for some grub then back to the house to chill and plan the next day's events.

Day 2 - Buena Vista Town Run

After a nice drive up into the hills, we arrived at camp. Once we got everything set up, and met up with the rest of the crew, some of us headed to the put-in. We played around at the wave at the put-in for a while to warm up then headed down.

The town section is a fun run with IIs and IIIs (mostly IIIs) with a runnable low head dam a few miles in. This had a few of us quite nervous considering there was no scout and no portage, due to private land. Except for someone getting separated from their boat for a while, then a rather nervous search for that person ( who was found safe a little while later) it was a great way to start the Ark experience!


Day 3 - The Numbers

I'll start here by saying thanks to Ken (Winslow - I think) for showing us down this section. He knew and described the lines very well, and was instrumental in me keeping my wits about me. And this was crucial considering that as soon as we put on, I quickly realized that I might just be in over my head. The level that day was around 1600-1700cfs and the water was as pushy as any I had ever seen (except maybe for the day Angela S., Scott B. and I ran the Upper Green at around 600-700%.). The first rapid right after the stealth put-in was pretty challenging and I flipped right at the entrance, and took a pretty good shot to the head. After switching into survival mode I rolled up and assessed the situation. Still conscious, not too dazed, no time to rest. Let's keep going! At Number One Ken said that the rapid was kinda like a golf course. It has around 18 holes. I'm thinking to myself, "Great! What have I gotten myself into?" It's been quite a while since I felt that out of control in my boat. I made it through and was able to recompose myself. I don't remember much of Numbers 2 and 3, but I do remember Number 4. I was following Andy and trying to catch every eddy he caught. So I eddied out on RR and suddenly realized that I was sitting at the entrance to the diversion channel. Not where I wanted to be! Josh P. and Angela S. eddied out there too. So I got to watch Josh ferry out into the main channel, only to get hung up on a rock about eight feet out. Luckily after a little persuasion he cleared it and moved on. Then Angela peeled out, executed a perfect ferry and headed down. "THAT"S my line!", I thought. Peeled out into the ferry, blew my angle and stalled about halfway to where I wanted to be. So I'm paddling like a mofo, regain my ferry angle and head downstream. Whew! Starting to feel a little better after that. Let's go. Next is Number 5 and what would turn out to be my near demise. After coming under the bridge, I'm a little too far left and have to make a rather long ferry back to RR, to catch the eddy on far RR right after the first drop. Clean the drop but I'm a little too close to center to catch the eddy at the top, so I try to sneak in at the bottom. Well that didn't work so good and I flushed out the bottom of the eddy and flipped on the eddy line heading backwards. Through the next hole on RR and over the pourover on RR upsidedown and backwards. I'm thinkning no biggie since I'm not really hitting anything underwater. Well, I guess the waves really start to pick up through here (I'm not real sure because I was upside down, remember) because I'm having a real hard time rolling up. After around 6-7 roll attempts and inhaling a few gallons of that cold Colorado water I knew it was time to come out. I couldn't get to the surface fast enough. Once I finally came up, I was gasping for air and took in some more water. Now I'm REALLY getting scared. Can't breathe, head is barely staying above water, the water is very cold, and I'm tired as hell. The current is so pushy through there, I was having a real hard time just getting to shore. That's when I remembered something they taught me in guide school. If you can't break the eddy line by swimming through it, then ROLL across it. Foreward stroke, backstroke, forward stroke, backstroke. It was that bit of knowledge that got me to the river bank. Thanks USNWC guide school. After my boat and I were collected, I took a few minutes to rest then got back in my boat. Big mistake. I was so stiff and tense, it only took about 200 more yard to realize that my day was done. So now I'm hiking down the road. I walked for about 2 1/2 miles with my boat before Ken came around the bend to pick me up. He got out at the take-out and everyone else in our group continued on down through Fractions/Frog Rock. I've never been as scared kayaking as I was below Number 5. I seriously considered having a few cold ones back at camp just to calm my nerves. But I made it through relatively unscathed and no worse for wear. What are we doing tomorrow?!?!?!?




Well it's late, I'm tired and have to work tomorrow, so Numbers pics, Brown's Canyon, Royal Gorge, and Fractions/Frog Rock will have to wait til later....






Peace Out



Brentley

Ocoee - PFD

Well let me tell ya. It was a weekend I'll never forget. It started out with a beautiful day on Fri. I awoke early, excited about what was ahead. After finally gathering the last of my gear John and I were on the road around 1pm (only an hour later than we had planned. Sorry John, that's all on me.) The drive went pretty quickly, even with a stop off at Endless River Adventures where John picked up a sweeeet new Lendal 4-piece bent-shaft paddle, and NOC where I purchased a new Shred Ready Super Scrappy helmet. We arrived at the camp at dusk with just enough time to get our stuff set up before dark. Upon our arrival we were greeted by Sloshua, an already drunk Clinton and Curtis (didn't catch the last name). As we started to unload the firewood, that was so graciously donated by my sweetheart Angie Mattson (Thanks Babe), someone approached me with open hands and said,"Put some wood in here!" I decided to let that one slide. "Throw some wood on that fire!" quickly became the mantra for the evening , as Drunk Clinton (DC) apparently wasn't warmed enough by all the brown liquor he had consumed earlier in the evening. Eventually Mark Mckelvy showed then Matt Scruggs around midnight. Matt had said that it was snowing like a mofo in the Nantahala Gorge and I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. Didn't matter. I was here and I was going to enjoy myself regardless of how cold it was. I ended up staying up until about 4am, too anxious and nervous about the following days activities to go to sleep. Big Day tomorrow!

Day 1 - Woke up and we all went to breakfast at some little hole in the wall restaurant in some little hole in the wall town. The biscuits and gravy were off the hook. After making it back to camp, we were joined by my new hero, Mr. Andy Travis. Just a little while later the boats and gear were loaded and we were off the the river. I have to note here that on Fri. as we were driving in, we got a good look at the river without any water in it. I remember thinking to myself that it didn't look all that intimidating (except for the river bottom itself, which was very jagged). The gradient was pretty consistant and I didn't see any major drops. This goes to show how little I know. It's amazing how benign the rocks that form rapids can look and how drastically different a river can be once it has water in it. I decided to walk Grumpy's the first day. Mainly because it sits directly below the put-in, and the ferry over to the sneak on river left seemed like a difficult venture. After watching the rest of the group make the ferry and run the rapid I put on and we were on our way. As we arrived at Staging Eddy I see Angela and Robbie Siegel and Jenni there waiting. Here I decide to get out of my boat and take some pics. There was a fun little wave in the center that everyone was playing on. I can't remember exactly what order the rapids came in so I'll list them as I remember them. I believe Broken Nose was next. Andy and I ran just left of the big rock and with a little left to right move and eddied out at the bottom. After working downstream a bit farther I turn to look back up and see Josh bracing like crazy in the hole on river right. I'll let him tell ya how that worked out. Next was Moonshoot which was run to the right of the split rock. Here comes Double Suck. There a fun little boof on RR, which I ran both days. I missed the boof on the first day but nailed it on the next. I was smiling. After the boof there is a great little eddy on RR in which to chill and watch the carnage at the bottom of Double Suck. Not much was provided though. Here comes on of my favorites on the whole river. Double Trouble! You start on RL in the large eddy and ferry towards center. Then point it downstream and let 'er rip. Three very large waves in quick succession come and go so fast that you don't realize how big they are until you eddy out just below them and look back at where you just came from. BIG GRIN! Next up was Flipper, which has that name for a reason. There is an angled wave that will turn you over if you don't hit it square. I think you see where this is going. No problems, just smiles. Now you're in the Doldrums, a long stretch of flat, calm water that ends with a Surprise if you're not careful. The surprise is a three foot drop that sneaks up on you. Smooth sailing. Up next is Tablesaw. Here I recieved some of the best advice I got all day. As you enter on RL you will encounter a series of waves. It is important to keep some left boat angle to offset the series of diagonal waves. I was also told that there is a pothole at the bottom of the rapid that I needed to be aware of. It was explained to me that while it MAY be possible to swim through the pothole, it IS NOT possible to do it with a PFD on. STAY AWAY FROM THE POTHOLE!!! Well sure enough I flip and while I'm upside down all I can think of is that big hole. There is NO FRIGGIN WAY I'm swimming here. I guess I should have concentrated on my roll more instead because it took FIVE roll attempts to finally come up. Whew! Now where is that pothole? It turns out that I flipped right at it and it was never a concern. Still grinnin!!! At Diamond Splitter I have a couple options. The first is to run left of the big rock and try to catch the eddy just behind the "Diamond". Well I blow that move and have to keep on truckin'. I peel out to the right and what do ya know? Witch's Hole. I busted right through and caught an eddy on RL. Just as I turn to look back upstream I see Angela caught in the hole. She's bracing and bracing and slides her way out just like she knew what she was doing. Great job A. A little further down Andy turns to me and asks, "Do ya wanna skin the cat?" At first I thought this was some backwards ass Tennessee river ritual that ended with me being initiated into the local taxidermy union. But what the hell, WHY NOT?!?!?! I figured since Andy had gotten me down this far unscathed, I might as well trust him. I was only mildly nervous about the SEG (shit-eating grin) on his face. This was so much fun. We started left of center and with an upstream ferry, worked over to the right to turn downstream and make a quick s-turn move to finish on RR. Hell hole is next. "Meat or sneak?" I wanted to finish strong so of course I said "Meat!" and here we go. This one was also Big fun. Mostly because of the BIG waves that lead in to the hole itself. I made it through and caught the first eddy I saw on RR. I didn't do any playing in Hell Hole, because, one, I was in a Mamba and two, there was a line of about 15-20 people waiting to get in. So I took out here and broke out the camera. Snapped lots of pics while drying on the rocks. There were some great boaters playing there. Never got around to getting back in the boat and running Powerhouse, so I couldn't tell ya what that one was like. That was the end of probably (for James, "prolley")the best day of paddling in my life. The Ocoee is unlike any river I have ever been on. It is continuous and fast and a lot of fun. After leaving the river, we headed back to camp and Angela whipped up a delicious batch of sketti. After that it was drunk fest for all (except me). I want to thank everyone that was with us, especially Andy, for a great day on the river. Our group on Day 1 was: Andy Travis, Josh Parker, Clinton Koontz, Mark McKelvy, Robbie Siegel, Angela Siegel, Matt Scruggs, John Bethune and myself.

Report from Day 2 coming soon....

Peace Out

Brentley

(all photos courtesy of Jenni Miehle)

Sup Peeps?

Welcome to my new blog. I'm new to this whole bloggin thang so it will take me a while to smooth it all out.

My main goal here is to provide an account of my first full year of kayaking and to share with everyone my experiences in the sport that I love so much. I'm hoping to make it into the Over 50 Club this year ( that's boating at least once a week), and hopefully provide lots of good footy and pics along the way.

Stay Tuned. This should get interesting!!!

Later

Brentley