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- May 19, 2012
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'He who hears the rippling of rivers in these degenerate days will not utterly despair.'
Thoreau was right.
So my 10th journey down this stretch of water begins. Our 1st trip in Sept. 2006 ( https://backcountrypost.com/threads/colorado-river-2006.4854/#post-57303 )
2006:
My cousin from San Diego had mentioned he wanted to go on a river trip, so I had a partner on this trip. Mike had never been on a river so I thought it would be fun to show him my favorite place.
I knew I would have to work out some "canoe control" issues on this trip, as Mike is 220lbs. I am 155, and we had a ton of stuff, none of which we would do without. I would use a 60lb sandbag I had placing it under my seat in the stern, so the weight on my end would match his weight in the bow. With either end balanced, I got most of the weight on my side of center of the boat. With all of the light stuff strapped to the top, I was satisfied that It was not top heavy, and the boat would be balanced. My boat has excellent secondary stability (how the boat behaves when it is tilted) which means it's very good on a more choppy surface with wind. So I felt good about that.
We met at my house in Carbondale a day early, bought everything we would need for the next 5 days. It rained all day, complicating the loading. We left at 4am, floating at 10.
I forgot the sand bag of course.
We could not rearrange anything, as all of our stuff fit just right. Some rocks helped. So the stern was going to be 40lbs heavier than the bow. I was not very happy at that moment.
I had gone over with Mike how being in a canoe works, and what needed to happen to get down the river, in wind particularly. His biggest issue over the course of the trip was his difficulty in not being in control. It is a simple concept: he is the motor and I drive. You can't have 2 people driving, that's a fact.
The immediate problem encountered on the water was the boat, as expected, behaved poorly in the wind, in both head and tail wind. This was going to be a nerve wracking few days. The last thing I wanted was to get blown out into the middle of the river in 30 mph winds. In wind I like to hug the edge, in the eddy where there are fewer waves. Route finding was going to be tough due to lower water levels. Getting out of the boat and standing in cold water pulling on a rope sucks.
We were on the river! It was fun watching Mike take the whole thing in, grinning from ear to ear. Slowing way down, leave the rat race behind. We don't have to be anywhere, at any time. A beautiful concept that is hard to accept sometimes.
I loved my Jolly Rodger/Sea Shepard flag. I think I will retire it though.
We made it 17 miles the first day, which we were happy with. Because the water was so low (3000 cfs) we could camp on sand bars. And we found a beautiful one:
We only needed to go 3 miles the second day, as we wanted to camp at Little Bridge Canyon, which I had stayed at in October (https://backcountrypost.com/threads/mosey-down-the-colorado.7142/ ). I had shown Mike some pictures of the camp spot and he said without doubt we were to camp there. Perfect, 3 easy morning miles and we would be there by noon at the latest. Good afternoon hike up Little Bridge. We had no idea it would take us all day to get that 3 miles. I won't bore you with the details, suffice it to say we had a lot of down time.
Wind:
Little Bridge Canyon:
Some places make me just sit down and think, not about how messed up everything is, but how we can revel in what is good. This place was good.
Mike and I had agreed to not talk politics. He is a Trump supporter. I am not (Any Functioning Adult 2020). But we were true to our word and did not talk politics once.
We had a couple of hours the next morning for a quick hike up the canyon, I went a little farther than last year, but not by much.
We left around 11am, spectacular weather, little wind, and ended up staying in a pretty boring camp, it was getting late so we had to stop. Did not get out my camera.
The other thing Mike said he definitely wanted to do was camp at the confluence with the Green, about 13 miles away.
On our way to the confluence, a rest stop around the first bend of the loop. The trail that crosses the loop is at that notch in the distance:
Looking upriver:
Our camp at the confluence. When we reached it I knew we would not be able to get picked up there, very shallow approach. We packed up the next morning and floated down to Spanish Bottom, and waited for the jet boat. My cousin went back to San Diego, me back to Carbondale. We spent a whole canoe trip together, and did not talk politics. Unthinkable.
As an aside, we saw no one after the first day.
The Green (entering on the left) joining the Colorado:
Thoreau was right.
So my 10th journey down this stretch of water begins. Our 1st trip in Sept. 2006 ( https://backcountrypost.com/threads/colorado-river-2006.4854/#post-57303 )
2006:
My cousin from San Diego had mentioned he wanted to go on a river trip, so I had a partner on this trip. Mike had never been on a river so I thought it would be fun to show him my favorite place.
I knew I would have to work out some "canoe control" issues on this trip, as Mike is 220lbs. I am 155, and we had a ton of stuff, none of which we would do without. I would use a 60lb sandbag I had placing it under my seat in the stern, so the weight on my end would match his weight in the bow. With either end balanced, I got most of the weight on my side of center of the boat. With all of the light stuff strapped to the top, I was satisfied that It was not top heavy, and the boat would be balanced. My boat has excellent secondary stability (how the boat behaves when it is tilted) which means it's very good on a more choppy surface with wind. So I felt good about that.
We met at my house in Carbondale a day early, bought everything we would need for the next 5 days. It rained all day, complicating the loading. We left at 4am, floating at 10.
I forgot the sand bag of course.
We could not rearrange anything, as all of our stuff fit just right. Some rocks helped. So the stern was going to be 40lbs heavier than the bow. I was not very happy at that moment.
I had gone over with Mike how being in a canoe works, and what needed to happen to get down the river, in wind particularly. His biggest issue over the course of the trip was his difficulty in not being in control. It is a simple concept: he is the motor and I drive. You can't have 2 people driving, that's a fact.
The immediate problem encountered on the water was the boat, as expected, behaved poorly in the wind, in both head and tail wind. This was going to be a nerve wracking few days. The last thing I wanted was to get blown out into the middle of the river in 30 mph winds. In wind I like to hug the edge, in the eddy where there are fewer waves. Route finding was going to be tough due to lower water levels. Getting out of the boat and standing in cold water pulling on a rope sucks.
We were on the river! It was fun watching Mike take the whole thing in, grinning from ear to ear. Slowing way down, leave the rat race behind. We don't have to be anywhere, at any time. A beautiful concept that is hard to accept sometimes.
I loved my Jolly Rodger/Sea Shepard flag. I think I will retire it though.
We made it 17 miles the first day, which we were happy with. Because the water was so low (3000 cfs) we could camp on sand bars. And we found a beautiful one:
We only needed to go 3 miles the second day, as we wanted to camp at Little Bridge Canyon, which I had stayed at in October (https://backcountrypost.com/threads/mosey-down-the-colorado.7142/ ). I had shown Mike some pictures of the camp spot and he said without doubt we were to camp there. Perfect, 3 easy morning miles and we would be there by noon at the latest. Good afternoon hike up Little Bridge. We had no idea it would take us all day to get that 3 miles. I won't bore you with the details, suffice it to say we had a lot of down time.
Wind:
Little Bridge Canyon:
Some places make me just sit down and think, not about how messed up everything is, but how we can revel in what is good. This place was good.
Mike and I had agreed to not talk politics. He is a Trump supporter. I am not (Any Functioning Adult 2020). But we were true to our word and did not talk politics once.
We had a couple of hours the next morning for a quick hike up the canyon, I went a little farther than last year, but not by much.
We left around 11am, spectacular weather, little wind, and ended up staying in a pretty boring camp, it was getting late so we had to stop. Did not get out my camera.
The other thing Mike said he definitely wanted to do was camp at the confluence with the Green, about 13 miles away.
On our way to the confluence, a rest stop around the first bend of the loop. The trail that crosses the loop is at that notch in the distance:
Looking upriver:
Our camp at the confluence. When we reached it I knew we would not be able to get picked up there, very shallow approach. We packed up the next morning and floated down to Spanish Bottom, and waited for the jet boat. My cousin went back to San Diego, me back to Carbondale. We spent a whole canoe trip together, and did not talk politics. Unthinkable.
As an aside, we saw no one after the first day.
The Green (entering on the left) joining the Colorado:
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