5.6.07

The weekend started off good, but cold. 5 fresh inches at the put-in added to the lack of temperature but also added to the beauty of the inner canyon. We could have used a bit more water, but once again the Colorado scenery and blue skies made up for what was missing.

Rounding out the weekend was a quick trip on lower Clear Creek. Flows were decent and the company was good.

^ Maria, once again showing everyone how it is done with good style





> Josh picking the meat line through Elbow Falls. Also through some good style in there for the entertainment of the rest of the group.

^ Dirk picking a good line and throwing a good boof over elbow falls for the likes of the crowd

> Christine digging deep. I think I saw a quick smile after this drop, but not completely sure.

4.7.07

As I left Denver to meet up with 3 others near Kremmling to run Gore Canyon the temperature outside my window read a balmy 25. With snow on the ground and Ice covering my boat and car I was second guessing my decision to get into the water. But I am glad I made the drive. We had perfect skies and temperatures in the 50's. The flow ended up being about 1000 cfs at the canyon, which is a perfect level.

^ This is the "sneak" at Gore Rapid. An 8 foot drop into a deep eddy that gives a great runway out into the main current to finish the rest of the rapid.

< Just after peeling out of the sneak eddy the middle part of the rapid is quite squirley and frothy. Be prepared, 100 yards to go. Then the next one!

> This is the run out of Gore Rapid. Lots of moves to make to miss some of those holes that could give you a good trashing if you weren't paying close attention.

4.28.07

This was one hell of a desert weekend! A quick mtn bike ride at the Bookcliffs in Fruita on friday, then out to southern Utah for a backpack into the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park for friday night. Good weather. Good scenery. Good company.



^ On sunday we did a short side hike to a place called "The Joint". We found out why they gave it such a name.
> There were places that you could try to fit into but it was physically impossible. Note the amount of space between the bottom of my feet to the ground. All with chest expansion!










This is the view we had from out camp. It was located in a huge meadow surrounded by rock pinnacles. It was a great campsite, but the scenery could have been a bit better ;) We had perfect temperatures and just one cloud that waited til sunset to show up.

^ This is one of the best desert sunsets that I have ever seen. Although it seems even with being in a wilderness setting you cant escape the sites of modern civilization.

> Funny thing happened while unpacking. Two veteran outdoorsman seemed to overlook packing the campware. Thanks to Paul we had brought a few drinks along and had to improvise a pot to boil water for dinner. It took a while, but we got to enjoy a warm meal shortly after sunset. Hum!