The Intraweb Home of Andy White

Date:  2009-06-17 5:30pm

Run:  Lower Clear Creek (abbreviated), Golden Play Park

Flow:  690 cfs

Class:  IV/III

Temperature:  not bad (?)

Buddies:  Chadwick, Fino, Fello

Description:  Met up with Fino, Fello, and Chadwick for an after-work run.   I got out of work a bit late, so we ran an abbreviated version of Lower CC from Elbow Falls down to the play park.

Carnage:  Chadwick dropped Elbow falls upside down and got a nice cut on his eyebrow.  Maybe we should rename it “Eyebrow Falls.”  Later on Cheez had a little swimming expedition a little ways up from screamin’ 1/4 mile.  Other than that, the run was a success.

Date:  2009-05-22 6:00pm

Run:  Clear Creek (Lower to Playpark)

Flow:  600 cfs

Class:  IV/III

Temperature:  60 with scattered rain

Buddies:  Chadwick Shoults, Fino, Fello

Description:  After work run down Lower Clear Creek.  I think 600 is a great level for Lower CC.  Most of the rocks are covered, so you don’t have to work as hard to avoid them than at 300 cfs.  The water flows fast through the lower section, it seems like it cuts the run time in half compared to lower flows.  Elbow Falls was good, at this flow, it sort of breaks into two distinct drops, both of which are not bad.  There’s a nice eddy on the left before you get into the main part of the falls.  For the first drop, start on the left, and paddle hard to the right to avoid the first big pour-over.  In this particular run, I ended up sitting in another eddy near the wall on the right side.  The second drop is more of a hole, but it starts to get washed-out at this flow, so it’s no big deal.  Screamin’ 1/4 mile was good too, most of the rocks were covered, so it was just a continuous run of waves and holes.  I made it through clean, except for one somewhat ugly hand brace off a rock.  For today’s run, I used my brand new IR drytop, and it was nice.  I stayed much drier and warmer.

Chadwick filmed a few sections, I’ll link to the video when he puts it up.

Carnage:  None

Date:  2009-05-07 5:45pm

Run:  Lower Clear Creek (Below Rigormortis down), Golden Play Park

Flow:  230 cfs

Class:  IV, III

Temperature:  maybe 70 deg (warm)

Buddies:  Chadwick Shoults, Randy P, Nick, Alan (last 3 guys from coloradokayakers.com)

Description:  Lower clear creek at 230 is a little pushier than 170, but still pretty bony.  I definitely bounced off a lot of rocks on the way down; luckily it wasn’t my head bouncing off rocks though.  I had a pretty clean run all the way down, although I felt like I could have done better.  Started working on a back-stroke brace, which I think might come in handy at some point – a mastery of many types of braces is so key to staying upright.  Overall, it was a nice day, I think everyone had fun, although Alan had a couple swims.  Luckily no injuries or anything like that.  We walked around the rusty metal death-trap dam and put in right below it.  I took the left line around the boulder in the middle, and it was fine.  Randy and Nick took the right line and it was fine too.  The dam hole looked pretty nasty, but possibly doable if you had some speed.

Carnage:  A few rolls at the bottom while not paying attention.  Alan took the brunt of the carnage with two swims, but they weren’t too bad.

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)