Jody and Thai paddled a bunch of the runs on the Arkansas during their last visit, we decided to head west this time around. We ran the Taylor Canyon on Friday, then headed out towards Delta.
The Gunnison Gorge run goes through 13.5 miles of the tail end of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. You can read more about it on the American Whitewater site. It's a beautiful run that I haven't done since the first year I started paddling. This run is notorious for the put-in, which involves a mile long hike to the put-in, and a 4-5 hour car shuttle.
We simplified the shuttle by hiring a driver at the Pleasure Park. For $75 Lynn drove with us the 16 miles to the put-in at the Chukar Trail, and then sat in the driver's seat and took the truck back to the Pleasure Park, one of the possible take-outs. It was definitely worth the money. By 10:30 or so we were already on the river.The hike to the actual put-in is on the infamous Chukar Trail. This trail is negotiated by horses and mules, lots of people, and used by the outfitters to drag in all the equipment for overnight runs. We had only our kayaks, and dragged them all the way down.
The trail is pretty steep in places, and a few times I lost control of my kayak, letting it slide it over the precipice. Fortunately none of my gear fell out, as it would have been a pain (and bad for the trail) for me to slide down to retrieve it.
Finally we got the put-in. Some rangers showed up for their trip down, and we talked about kayaks and portable human waste systems. The ranger gave us a few sample WAG bags, part of a program to help private boaters maintain the canyon clean. The bags are good for up to five uses (presumably all on the same trip, I wouldn't want to keep those bags in my freezer in between trips).
The water wasn't very high, so most of the rapids were pretty mellow. We played it up wherever we could, took our time on each rapid by hitting every eddy possible, attaining in some of them and surfing across holes to catch other eddies. Running slots, small drops, super fun stuff. There wasn't anything with huge consequences, just fun stuff.
We saw some wildlife as well, from big-horn sheep to deer, some birds. There weren't too many people on the river, besides a half dozen of vessels with fishermen. So most of the time we had the water all to ourselves. A lunch of bagels with cream cheese, a powerbar, and a small nap in the afternoon shade broke up the pace nicely.
Nothing good lasts forever, and so eventually we got to the take-out at Pleasure Park. Laika was still tied up in the shade, but Moki was running free, presumably chasing rabbits. She is relentless when it comes to rabbits and squirrels :) Laika was entangled with Moki's tie-up, and ended up without much mobility. I hope it wasn't that way all day, as she couldn't reach her water from there.
We drove back towards Salida that night, hitting the Olathe Corn Festival on the way back. Unfortunately the free food portion was over, and they were just about to start the Credence Clearwater Revival concert. At $25 each, with just a possibility of finding any leftover food, we decided to keep on going and eat elsewhere. That night we camped near the Blue Mesa Reservoir, had crepes for breakfast in Gunnison the following morning, and drove back to Salida over Cottonwood Pass.
Brian arrived from Alaska around 2pm, met us in Canyon City, and we paddled the Royal Gorge. What a great weekend!
