Mangles Colorado Trip Report (Arkansas River)
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:59 pm
Featuring - Justin Morris (Juggy), Wade Kinker (Mango) & Sejal Kinker (Giggles)
Giggles and I flew out of Richmond Wednesday Evening bound for Denver with a layover in Atlanta. Most of the flight was uneventful until the sighting of the “Lime Green Bag with Pink Polka Dots”.
This wasn’t a good omen and immediately transformed our airborne shuttle to a class 4. Immediately our flight out of Atlanta was delayed for an hour and upon arriving in Denver (at midnight) we found out that Alamo had canceled our car rental. Things started to turnaround at this point. They didn’t have any SUV’s, so we ended up with a Mini-van which worked much better for hauling boats and gear. We then found our hotel and crashed about 1:30am. In the morning we went to Confluence Kayak in Denver to pick up our kayak rentals. They have a good selection of Jackson and Wavesport kayaks and were great to deal with. I highly recommend them, Scott was great. Giggles rental turned out to be a brand new Purple Jackson Shooting Star. They had to unwrap it so we could take it. I got the newer version of the Jackson Super Hero (JSH). I have been wanting to try this one out and this would be a great opportunity. We then took off for Buena Vista arriving at 1:30pm (Thursday). We met up with Justin at Kodi Rafting where he has been working for the summer. Juggy had the plan worked out for our 2 day kayaking adventure, so we headed off to the Browns Canyon Section.
Browns Canyon was running low at 750cfs, gradient is 30fpm and is 10 miles long. Class III
The water was moving briskly and was cold, which was refreshing after the James. It was a steady Class 3 with great scenery. The biggest rapid was Zoom Flume which was a long wave train with the usual rocks and holes scattered about and a big pourover at the bottom left. We ran it down the left side cutting between the shore and the pourover which was a fairly tight line that required a fair amount of boat control. All of us made the run unscathed and smiling. Juggy spent a lot of the run darting between rafts and surfing in front of them just to move over at the last second. It was a fun run and a good warm up for the next section we were going to do later that day. On the way to the Numbers Section we stopped at Colorado Kayaks , where the inner Mango took over and I purchased a Sweets Strutter Helmet (Purple).
The Numbers was running low at 685cfs, gradient is 70fpm and is 5 miles long. Class IV
We got on about 6:30pm after running shuttle and road scouting Number 4. Numbers was rocking even at this low level. It was our favorite run for the trip. Number 5, looked like it was going to be the most challenging but turned out to be the most fun. It started with a 5’ drop beside a hole with 2 more ledge holes to punch in quick succession. This whole section was either named rapids or Class 3 boggie water and didn’t give you to much time to relax. I don’t think I have ever run 5 miles of river so fast. We finished well before dark. Juggy then took us to The Eddyline Restaurant and Brewry for dinner, where Juggy and I rewarded ourselves for a great day on the river with Ribeye’s and Giggles had something with veggies in it I think.
Friday we met Juggy and had breakfast at the Evergreen Café. Then drove 2 hours to Canon City to run the Royal Gorge Section.
Royal Gorge was running low at 880cfs, gradient is 45fpm & is 8.7 miles long. Class III+
We putin at Parkdale and after about a mile of flatwater we entered the Gorge. Juggy had only run this at higher water once and wasn't as clear on the lines as the other sections. This section was much different than yesterday and had a big water feel to it. The rock walls on both sides went almost straight up and there is a tourist train that runs on river left. The first named rapid is Sunshine and we got out and scouted from the old pipeline that was running down river right. The line was pretty straight forward but technical with boat munching holes spread throughout. They looked much bigger up close than they did when scouting. Following Juggy, I made it through the first two parts of the rapid fine. **Let me insert my review of the New JSH here. This is one of the most comfortable boats that I have ever paddled. It rolled easy, but luckily never had to attempt live. It felt like a cork at times just bobbing around. It wanted to turn on me (might be the handpaddles or me also) and stalled out occasionally. It punched holes well which was good because in the big water I found it a bit sluggish and found myself a little off where I had intended.** Just above the last hole I turned and stalled, but got back in control just in time to skirt the bottom hole that looked real ugly as I slid past it (I think I saw Juggy laughing at me when I got through). The next big rapid was Sledgehammer. It was an S-Turn between 2 holes. I had another interesting run through that. After carving in behind the first hole and with about 10' between the next hole I stalled out. I just sat there in between the 2 holes on top of boiling water. I wasn’t going anywhere, just sat there. Finally it released me and I could finish the move past the second hole. Felt a little iffy there for a bit. The rest of the run was rapid-pool with a noticeable gradient the whole time. The scenery was awesome.
On the way back, we stopped in Salina to check out the park and play. Nice little feature if your into that sort of thing, right in town. Then pizza and Green Chilli Beer at Amicas, Juggy knows all the good places to eat. We then parted company with Juggy and he went back to Breckinridge to check on his parents who were also visiting. We finished the ride back to BV and checked out the park and play there. They have nice parks out there. We packed up the next morning and headed back to Denver to turn in the boats and fly back to Richmond, which was another stewing adventure!
Big Thanks to Justin for showing us around and guiding us safely down the river.
Sorry for the lack of action photos, we forgot the camera on the first day and with 3 people and being unfamiliar with the run on the Gorge we opted for scenery shots and posed photo-ops.
Mango
Giggles and I flew out of Richmond Wednesday Evening bound for Denver with a layover in Atlanta. Most of the flight was uneventful until the sighting of the “Lime Green Bag with Pink Polka Dots”.
This wasn’t a good omen and immediately transformed our airborne shuttle to a class 4. Immediately our flight out of Atlanta was delayed for an hour and upon arriving in Denver (at midnight) we found out that Alamo had canceled our car rental. Things started to turnaround at this point. They didn’t have any SUV’s, so we ended up with a Mini-van which worked much better for hauling boats and gear. We then found our hotel and crashed about 1:30am. In the morning we went to Confluence Kayak in Denver to pick up our kayak rentals. They have a good selection of Jackson and Wavesport kayaks and were great to deal with. I highly recommend them, Scott was great. Giggles rental turned out to be a brand new Purple Jackson Shooting Star. They had to unwrap it so we could take it. I got the newer version of the Jackson Super Hero (JSH). I have been wanting to try this one out and this would be a great opportunity. We then took off for Buena Vista arriving at 1:30pm (Thursday). We met up with Justin at Kodi Rafting where he has been working for the summer. Juggy had the plan worked out for our 2 day kayaking adventure, so we headed off to the Browns Canyon Section.Browns Canyon was running low at 750cfs, gradient is 30fpm and is 10 miles long. Class III
The water was moving briskly and was cold, which was refreshing after the James. It was a steady Class 3 with great scenery. The biggest rapid was Zoom Flume which was a long wave train with the usual rocks and holes scattered about and a big pourover at the bottom left. We ran it down the left side cutting between the shore and the pourover which was a fairly tight line that required a fair amount of boat control. All of us made the run unscathed and smiling. Juggy spent a lot of the run darting between rafts and surfing in front of them just to move over at the last second. It was a fun run and a good warm up for the next section we were going to do later that day. On the way to the Numbers Section we stopped at Colorado Kayaks , where the inner Mango took over and I purchased a Sweets Strutter Helmet (Purple).
The Numbers was running low at 685cfs, gradient is 70fpm and is 5 miles long. Class IV
We got on about 6:30pm after running shuttle and road scouting Number 4. Numbers was rocking even at this low level. It was our favorite run for the trip. Number 5, looked like it was going to be the most challenging but turned out to be the most fun. It started with a 5’ drop beside a hole with 2 more ledge holes to punch in quick succession. This whole section was either named rapids or Class 3 boggie water and didn’t give you to much time to relax. I don’t think I have ever run 5 miles of river so fast. We finished well before dark. Juggy then took us to The Eddyline Restaurant and Brewry for dinner, where Juggy and I rewarded ourselves for a great day on the river with Ribeye’s and Giggles had something with veggies in it I think.
Friday we met Juggy and had breakfast at the Evergreen Café. Then drove 2 hours to Canon City to run the Royal Gorge Section.
Royal Gorge was running low at 880cfs, gradient is 45fpm & is 8.7 miles long. Class III+
We putin at Parkdale and after about a mile of flatwater we entered the Gorge. Juggy had only run this at higher water once and wasn't as clear on the lines as the other sections. This section was much different than yesterday and had a big water feel to it. The rock walls on both sides went almost straight up and there is a tourist train that runs on river left. The first named rapid is Sunshine and we got out and scouted from the old pipeline that was running down river right. The line was pretty straight forward but technical with boat munching holes spread throughout. They looked much bigger up close than they did when scouting. Following Juggy, I made it through the first two parts of the rapid fine. **Let me insert my review of the New JSH here. This is one of the most comfortable boats that I have ever paddled. It rolled easy, but luckily never had to attempt live. It felt like a cork at times just bobbing around. It wanted to turn on me (might be the handpaddles or me also) and stalled out occasionally. It punched holes well which was good because in the big water I found it a bit sluggish and found myself a little off where I had intended.** Just above the last hole I turned and stalled, but got back in control just in time to skirt the bottom hole that looked real ugly as I slid past it (I think I saw Juggy laughing at me when I got through). The next big rapid was Sledgehammer. It was an S-Turn between 2 holes. I had another interesting run through that. After carving in behind the first hole and with about 10' between the next hole I stalled out. I just sat there in between the 2 holes on top of boiling water. I wasn’t going anywhere, just sat there. Finally it released me and I could finish the move past the second hole. Felt a little iffy there for a bit. The rest of the run was rapid-pool with a noticeable gradient the whole time. The scenery was awesome.
On the way back, we stopped in Salina to check out the park and play. Nice little feature if your into that sort of thing, right in town. Then pizza and Green Chilli Beer at Amicas, Juggy knows all the good places to eat. We then parted company with Juggy and he went back to Breckinridge to check on his parents who were also visiting. We finished the ride back to BV and checked out the park and play there. They have nice parks out there. We packed up the next morning and headed back to Denver to turn in the boats and fly back to Richmond, which was another stewing adventure!
Big Thanks to Justin for showing us around and guiding us safely down the river.
Sorry for the lack of action photos, we forgot the camera on the first day and with 3 people and being unfamiliar with the run on the Gorge we opted for scenery shots and posed photo-ops.
Mango
>>>>>> 
