Spring

Yampa…2023

May 21, 2023 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

With a short season and your odds stacked as high as a piece of paper, the Yampa is a coveted stretch of desert multi-day bliss. As the snow piled up in January and the final days were upon us to make our lottery elections, I held out hope.

Hope was dashed…obviously. While my luck is on par with most mortals, I can click on shit really fast. Cancellation day was a glorious day, and I screamed to my wife who quickly reminded me the date I got was over Mother’s Day. Spoiler alert: I went anyway, and she’s still with me.

Projections were calling for 22K plus flows but we ended up with 17.5k at launch. The river was close to the banks, but remained within them. The fleet was slowly assembled.

We amassed 18 people and 11 boats, anticipating, actually hoping for, some big water Yampa action. Were we disappointed to only get 17.5k? At the time yes, but that would change in short order. As soon as we entered the canyon our speed picked up and stayed above 6mph for the duration.

Uneventful day one. Day two began with a solid plan, though there were some that deviated immediately from that plan. If you notice below, Tepee hole/wave was huge. Guess what, someone hit it. Then they went swimming, for awhile. Cold and exhausted we retrieved our companions though they were to never recover their shoes again. The wave was that big ↓.

When we did make it down to Harding, the group was divided. Half were with the fun captain, while the other half went to the Wagon Wheel Overlook and took some photos.

The Yampa mystique is based upon not only its short and fleeting season, but it’s gently kneaded sandstone walls that carry on for miles. Soft swooping overhangs streaked in desert varnish are around every corner. While not characterized by it’s continuous rapids or requiring technical expertise, she does have a few teeth. Notably Tepee (at least for our swimmers) Big Joe, and the one that everyone remembers. Warm Springs. Marvel at the Grand Overhang before arriving at Tiger Wall where you pay homage. Hoping it brings you fortune as you hear the thunderous roar not far below…

One flip and recovery later (well executed and only a footnote of this trip) we continued on. As we rode a wave of historic snowmelt towards Lake Powell we were afforded the time to stop and admire the sites and beauty.

Split Mountain was fun, but too much fun was had by this guy. Happy to report that I was able to flip the fully loaded 16ft raft on an unnamed or otherwise unnotably feature, and with the help of the team, chased that boat for nearly 4 miles before flipping back mid river.

Overall a great success and a trip that had all the attributes you look for. Good people, athletic pursuits (hiking), good food, costumes, calculated carnage, and amazing desert sunsets.

The Long Drive: Upper Salt

April 30, 2023 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

The Long Drive as it was called, began at 5am.

Actually it began before that, when the cancellation day came I logged in, and to my dismay there were no dates available for pickup. Not to be deterred, I continued to check throughout the day and suddenly, around 1PM, the dates became available. Lots of them, more than a dozen to choose from. I picked a date in April, typically after the peak of the runoff when the hopes of running a full oar rig are slim. We began to wait, hoping that the snow and rains would continue to prolong the season until our launch.

The snows continued to come, and we were looking at a prime opportunity to experience Arizona’s other “Grand Canyon”. Thus we now get back to The Long Drive.

Most surprising part of this drive is Show Low Arizona which is a beautiful town in an alpine forest. Emerging from the desert southwest the place feels like an oasis in an otherwise desolate landscape.

We stop at the Sinclair station, grab our Apache permits and head to the river, dining on some brisket we pulled off the smoker earlier that day and left in a cooler for the drive.

The water was perfect, flowing just over 3,000 when we set the boats up for launch the next morning. No ranger in site, no check in to think about, and we pushed off just after 9am.

By 10:50PM we had our first flip. The small cat became victim to a large hole in Grumman rapid with the passenger going for a swim downriver and the oarsman staying with the boat. After a 30 minute delay we righted the craft, retrieved the passenger and continued on our path. Humbled by the power of the river, or so we thought.

At 2:30PM we approached Mescal Falls. 30 seconds later I had run the most exciting rapid of my life, running through the hole and just barely smashing through the wave at the bottom. We paused for a second and thought we were going end over as we stared up at a wave that felt 13 feet tall in that moment. We emerged triumphant and just in time to see a second boat in our group become flipped boat number two, on day one.

Spirits had never been higher as we rolled into camp 12 miles in to enjoy the view of some ancestral Puebloan ruins across the river. Oh and the Saguaro forest we were floating through.

As morning came, discussions were underway amongst the crew to ensure rigging was secure so as to avoid any calamity on day two. Despite additional preparedness, we had our third, and thankfully our final flip of the trip. While at this point you might assume this was pure carnage, I’m happy to report that this group was a quick study, and we improved as time went on. Even the inner gorge below wouldn’t slow us down in the days to come.

The Inner Gorge

The home of the infamous Quartzite Falls, Corkscrew and Maze rapids this section has the canyon walls constrict the flow of water, increasing the velocity as well as the size of the rapids. Coupled with the fact there are limited camping options through this section it is often run in one day and can lead to some uneasy sleeping the night before (particularly if you’re already on flip #3 of your trip).

We stopped to scout The Maze and reassess our lives. Despite losing our port side propulsion momentarily, I would self rate the recovery as an “A”.

Followed by a fairly uneventful excursion through Quartzite and Corkscrew.

Camping became scarce, but the sun was not. Fortunately we had perfected the Cucumber Gimlet for river travel. The secret is English Cucumber and citric acid. The pickles were for something else.

We finished the trip by doing the long drive, part deux and driving through a blizzard as we crossed the Colorado state line. Stark comparison to the 85 degrees we had left near Phoenix 14 hours earlier. Was it worth it? Yeah, the Salt is absolutely worth it.

The San Juan

June 6, 2022 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

From the headwaters near Pagosa Springs it cuts its way through limestone and sandstone until it reaches the leftover sludge of Lake Powell. Boasting one of the largest gradients of any river in the United States (8ft/mile), it was this velocity and erosive power that helped the San Juan River carve one of the most famous entrenched meanders on earth, The Goosenecks. Few entrenched meanders are not only as tightly bound, but also as deep as the ones carved by the San Juan as the Laramide Orogeny lifted the ancestral headwaters of the San Juan. This event gave the San Juan velocity and gradient, allowing it to carve the deep canyons that had been established prior to the mountain building event.

All that being said the river now runs into what was formerly a full pool at Lake Powell. Which creates some sediment/sand bar issues, as well as some slow moving water so the more you have, the better your life will be.

Before any of that, we begin in Mexican Hat Utah. A bustling metropolis that is centered around a 7-11. Across the street you will find the boat ramp, a place to leave your vehicle for shuttle, a hotel, and the Swinging Steak. Most of these places are family operations and have been for years. There also is most likely meth.

This water is notoriously turbid (read dirty). I learned they say, “too thin to plow, too thick to drink”. Bring your own water. When you’re on the water, you’ll find a few things.

The food game is critical. Taking it up a notch involved making ice cream not once, but twice. Including the second time on day 4.

Much of the upper reaches of the Juan through the Goosenecks lend itself to rapid river travel. The Honaker trail allows you to hike out of the river corridor and get up on top of the canyon which otherwise constrains you to within its walls. The geology itself is also very unique, lots of limestone and rock formations in the upper section that I hadn’t seen before.

So before we take this journey through the mud flats, it is also important to note the size of all the side canyons and what some of the flash floods that run through this area must be like. Telling you, biggest I’ve ever seen with huge streaks of mineral deposits that are indicative of…enormous flash floods. Also scorpions, probably Black Hairy Scorpion’s but I’ll leave that to your google search.

There was the rapid pictured above, which deserves the mention it just received. More importantly however, is the slug from Steer Gulch to Clay Hills. The river actually stops moving about 400 yards downstream of Steer Gulch. It is also exactly 1″ deep in random places. Prepare your mind, this is your reality for the next 1.5 days.

Hey, at least there was enough water we could float the rafts onto the ramp. Pretty neat area, and floating into what used to be the upper reaches of Lake Powell is surreal. 7/10, recommend.