Colorado Update - Days 1 and 2

photo by Samantha Brunner

So me and Sam finally left for Colorado the 21st... and like most of our adventures, even the driving is entertaining. When we hit Kansas City it started to rain and the next day we drove through several tornados on our way from Limon to Colorado Springs... one of the funnel clouds literally passed above us, directly over the truck... obviously not having touched down. It was cool to watch though. About that time we switched to the local radio stations and heard about the tornado warnings that had been issued to all the counties we had been driving through. Fun times right! With us, it seems like the adventure of traveling is just as action packed as the whitewater destinations we're striving to get to. On that note, I'd like to share the first couple days of our trip with you guys!

With the San Juans dried out, we went straight through Cottonwood Pass to the Town of Crested Butte. Our first stop was Oh Be Joyful Creek, known simply as OBJ.

Photo by Samantha B.

OBJ is an absolute gem! Dropping about 400 ft per mile and being a mile long, OBJ sports a sweet section of waterfalls and a lower section of constant, big slides. This creek is super clean and super high quality, and now one of my absolute favorites! As if the creek isn't incredible enough in itself, the personality of the paddling crowd there is like no other. These guys are motivated, relaxed, and of the nicest paddling crowd I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

The run starts out on Ankle Breaker Falls, a big drop that lands in a rocky pool. It was a bit low for Ankle Breaker so we put just above Heart Attack Falls, a super sweet 15'er...

Photo of yours truly on Heart Attack Falls, OBJ by Samantha B.

Shortly downstream, the creek slides over a cool 10 ft drop and into the most action packed section of the "waterfalls" section of OBJ. Multiple fast slides and rocky ledges come up fast just below, including 25 ft Deadzone Falls, my personal favorite on the run. Below Deadzone, a couple more great slides leading into the lower "slides" section of the run, composed entirely of slides with occasional log jam rapids. More pics to come!

I also had the pleasure of running Slate Creek. Slate is a 2 mile, class V micro creek that packs its punch in the numerous tight slot moves and constrictions on the run. It was a bit on the low end, but totally good to go! That evening we heard rumers from Marty Cronin of Big South going and the gate being opened for the weekend, so we made plans for our last day in Crested Butte and just our second day in Colorado!

The first creek on our list for Saturday was Daisy Creek, the highlight being Big Wood Falls, a 20 ft waterfall landing between 2 rock shelves and a wood pile before gliding over a short slide on the right. From there it was back to OBJ for steep slidin' Fun and Big South for Sunday!

Boyd :-)