I’m going to keep a log of all the kayak trips I’ve gone on this summer.  I wish I would have done this the past few years, because now I don’t have any idea about which runs I did when, and at what flows…  Here is the first entry:

Date:  2009-04-25 9:00am

Run:  Lower Clear Creek, Golden Play Park

Flow:  170 cfs

Class:  IV, III

Temperature:  40 deg (cloudy and cold)

Buddies:  Fino (James Orofino), Fello (Rafaello Sacerdoti)

Description:  It was a pretty cold day, but I managed to stay dry and mostly warm (except for my hands).  Lower CC at 170 cfs is pretty low, but it’s actually pretty doable.  I ended up bouncing off of a lot of rocks, but I felt pretty comfortable for the first run of the year – I guess all the work last year has paid off!  Elbow falls was good, and screamin’ 1/4 mile was good, but bony.  Portaged around the gnarly diversion dam, just to be safe.  When we got down to the playpark, the School of Mines were doing a cardboard boat race for a freshman projects class, which was pretty funny to watch.  The Golden playpark has changed a lot since last year, they’ve done a lot of work trying to make better surfing holes.  It looks pretty promising, can’t wait for the flows to come up some more.

Carnage:  Stayed upright, except for one stupid roll in the play park (laziness)