Category Archives: White water Rafting

Ashland Oregon

Holly Doyne Posted on by 1

A friend assures me is a lovely town, well worth a visit in non-Covid times. There is a Shakespeare Festival, historic inns. It might be lovely, it might be industrial, I have no clue. When arriving off I-5 around 1900 in the evening it was impossible to tell. Most certainly it is not a town that is spending significant resources on street lighting. Located 16 miles north of the California border, the sign for Ashland was a welcome sight.

The sun is setting earlier and I do not enjoy driving in the dark. Not in the dark, not up and down hills (mountains?), nor around curves. We will not speak of the fact that more than 50% of the vehicles sharing the road with me had twelve wheels or more. They sail down hills before gradually slowing as they grind their way up the next. Their head lights provide an unwanted glare in my rear view mirrors. The few other cars dart past, between the trucks sometimes managing a speed only marginally faster than required for overtaking.

This kind of excitement and stress do not bring me joy. I really, really no longer enjoy driving at night and have decided that I will not blow this particular popsicle stand prior to decent light in the morning.

In case you are wondering, I am currently headed to Portland. There is a knitting friend there who is also a weaver. He is a brother to a much longer known friend, indie.dyer and yarn shop owner in the San Juans. I have “toys” that have been occupying space in my life, our garage prior to our most recent move to Germany if that gives you an idea on the age. I am never going to use them again. Selling them is just too much of a pain. So why not give them to an engineer? Neither he nor his son have a clue as to what fills the back of our  VW Golf. But I was reassured that there was plenty of space in his great room.

We shall see….

Rail and Raft

Holly Doyne Posted on by 1

Just to entertain myself – I went looking for rafting in the Colorado Springs area.

Hello! The Arkansas River is just up the road and there are more than a few rafting companies out of Canon City. Did I want to do Class IV & V rapids? I don’t think so. Class II to III are much more to my liking. Plus there is always the chance (extremely high as it turns out) of being in a raft with a load of people having their first experience on a river.  Class II & III are one thing – higher difficulty rapids increases my chance of taking an unwanted swim…

So I emailed off to several firms and Raft Masters replied – so that is where I booked. Canon City isn’t that far and turned out to be not difficult at all to find. In the morning I took a ride on the Royal Gorge Railway.

We started at the Station –

and headed up the Gorge. I thought that I could see something from the Dome Car. Turned out that really was the location for food and it wasn’t like I was looking to eat. Instead – I did the entire 12 miles out and 12 back in the open air car.

which looks like this

which looks like this

the morning picture gallery

There are a number of raft companies on the Arkansas River as you can see.

After lunch, we headed out to the Big Horn Sheep Canyon. There were six of us – a couple from outside Austin, a family of three from Austin (just random assignments – go figure) and me. I was the only one of us six who had rafted before. Our guide was a Noah in his third year of guiding.

Funny thing – I was tired when I returned to Ft Carson

Upper Trinity

Holly Doyne Posted on by 7

Our trip started out today with another episode of “its a small world.”  We met our guide/raft/etc at the Big Flat take out point and  were joined by a father/son duo on an adult male walk-about. Where are they from?  Eden Prairie, MN.

The put in was at Pigeon Point.

where we were able to start right away with brisk water

where we were able to start right away with brisk water

 

This section of the river has a number of Class I rapids, some lovely sections of Class II and then there are some Class III rapids (which is my limit as you might have guessed). I have this thing about staying in the freaking raft. If I wanted to go swimming – I would go swimming. I am going rafting. That involves rafts, paddles and forward motion, not bobbing around like a cork, hitting rocks and finding out that river water is not breathable.

Again, left the good camera in favor of risking the cell phone inside our water proof bag inside the guide’s waterproof bag. His seventh year on this river, Teamo’s family has apple orchards where he spends most of the rest of the year. As it turns out, there is an extremely high demand for some one good at pruning commercial apple trees.

raft, guide protected from the sun and a bit of gear

raft, guide protected from the sun and a bit of gear

Part way down the river we stopped to make a climb up to a small water fall:

Then there was the Class III rapid referred to as Hell’s Hole.  The photos were taken from the road bed above after the fact. We were a bit too busy at the time to even think about risking cameras…..

 

which doesn’t do it justice

that drop is about 2 meters

that drop is about 2 meters

which means that there is a lot of air below the raft at the “tipping downwards point.” With lots of enthusiasm nowhere near as much skill we brushed the left side as we launched down. The front two guys went for a swim and George landed over on my right side of the raft attempting to add me to the water as well. I managed to stay in, shoving him back. He lost his paddle. Past the eddies, we pulled to the side and reboarded the two guys and three paddles….

Lunch after that was anti-climatic.

lovely rollups, fresh fruit

lovely rollups, fresh fruit

 

I think we were all pretty tired once back at the pull-out point having only a few Class II and one good Class III after that on the journey.

Our evening was quiet – a stop at Bigfoot Books where an incredible number of books are crammed and piled into what I think was once a house and dinner at the local Bigfoot Dinner.

 

China Creek Cottages

FYI – my preferred method of camping…

Lower Trinity

Holly Doyne Posted on by 4

It was a lovely day out on the Lower Trinity.

We met Ashley and Bree from Six Rivers Rafting at the takeout point middle of the morning. There were two groups of us. George, I and Bree in one raft and a family with two energetic but well behaved young boys with parents and uncle in the other.

This is primarily a Class I run with sections of Class II

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The wild blackberry bushes were pretty well loaded which is surprising due to the number of bears in the area, but obviously they can’t eat them all. I picked a lot and shared. Might have something to do with being the only person in the group wearing long pants and long sleeves. Both are quick drying, light weight and did a wonderful job of protecting me from sunburn. Even SPF 60 water proof applied multiple times can’t guarantee against a burn when out on the river for five hours.

We had a lunch stop partway down the run (again with the berries).

With multiple stops along the way for anyone who wanted to take a jump, leap or dunk in the river. George took his cell phone along in a waterproof bag. I’m not quite so brave with either my phone or camera having lost a couple of phones in the last year. Not including the camera stolen in South America.

The pull out point was easy to find.

smooth water at the takeout point

smooth water at the takeout point

altho hauling everything up the hill was less than completely enjoyable at the end of the trip.

If you make it to the bridge –

you can travel some lovely rapids

you can travel some lovely rapids

prior to being shot down the gorge with a series of really technical Class V rapids. Apparently this run is loved by the guiding community and a few thrill seekers. Definitely not my idea of a good time.

We headed back to the cabin for a well earned nap prior to venturing out for supper. Willow Creek is only about 1500….

And yes – as I have heard, the interruption thing isn’t restricted to male partners. Although it can be annoying, it is both endearing and missed when one’s spouse is no longer there….