The plan: Escape from New Mexico for three days, taking advantage of the second warm spell of the season to packraft the meltwater pulse down several fickle mountain creeks. Timing would be everything. Fortunately there are several live stream gauges to give us up to the minute reports on flow rate. Jeff and I packed up and left Durango, headed for the box of the Upper Animas River and Mineral Creek near Silverton. By the time we arrived at the bridge over Mineral Creek at 3p, the waters were still looking low. While waiting for the waters to rise, Jeff and I started off up the upper Animas valley to have a look at The Box which also needed a bit more water. We continued up past an incredibly vast network of beaver ponds to Eureka. Here we scouted Eureka and Niagara creeks for possible canyoning descents later in the season. Eureka looked straightforward, Niagara looked terrifying. We had great views of the valley from the top of Eureka. I could not believe all the old mining roads and mill sites slowly weathering away from their boom days.
The day was starting to get on so we set up the car shuttle and drove to the confluence of the two branches of Mineral Creek. As we were readying I spotted a very weathered 1+ year old can of Coors in the creek and tossed it to Jeff. Amazingly still intact and fully drinkable. It felt like a Coors commercial...rafters floating down a river, reaching into the river and pulling out a Coors, popping the top and going "ahh the taste of the Rockies." Mineral Creek was barely raftable at the current flow which meant much maneuvering and lifting my butt off the floor in the shallows. One steeper section of 400ft or so was particularly fun; continuous positioning the whole stretch gave us both a little workout. After the river eased up again. Near the end of the run we had to slide under the very low railroad bridge which would have swept us if the creek was much higher. We made better time than anticipated, reaching the shuttle car in about an hour. With daylight to spare and the creeks still rising, we decided to do a run through the upper box of the Animas River with the same takeout below Silverton.
Wow what a great run the box was! Just the right amount of technical, with sustained rapid fire read-and-run obstacles on a steep mountain creek hemmed in by rocks on both sides. There were several fun little drops (frontispiece) and some great little waves. Just fun! Once through the box the river opened up into braids. The rest of the way past Silverton was a straightforward and easy paddle, though cold now that the day was getting on.
The next day Jeff and I started with a float down the section of the Animas running through Durango. It was a warm day with the river in good shape. I was impressed by how many people were out rafting or kayaking with family or friends. Not too surprisingly we were the only two packrafts around. We both stuffed our cargoflys with ballast to see whether we could perform better in the two rapids of consequence, Smelter and Corner Pocket. The first half of the run was pretty mild, with only a couple decent hydraulics through town. The grand finale however was the two big waves in Smelter, which was almost immediately followed by a bigger and more menacing wave in Corner Pocket. The view from a packraft was impressive. I slid down the steep tongue of Smelter, paddling hard for momentum, past through the trough and blasted up the frothy crest, even getting a bit of air. Bystanding kayakers cheered us on as we blasted through all the subsequent waves- a great ride with a hint of adrenaline. If we did not have other places to be I could have happily lapped these two rapids over and over. Jeff's housemate Nija kindly completed our shuttle and would later join us for a second run down the upper box of the Animas.
For this second run we decided to start higher up above Howardsville and to finish just below the box section. The stretch to the Howardsville bridge had a few moments of fun but mostly just stressed me out every time my boat scraped over a shallow rock. Despite higher flow, the box was somehow less fun than our run the previous day. The flow seemed to obscure more rocks such the the run was bumpier and less clean than our previous lap. A strong upcanyon wind numbed our cold hands. We earned our beer and pizza at the local brewery.
For the last day Jeff had his eye on a San Juan River run near Pagosa Springs from the confluence of its two branches to the highway bridge 6 miles downstream. This one rated as a solid Class III with a couple rapids requiring scouting. The aerial photos looked impressive. Once we arrived, the river also looked impressive. This run was easily the highlight of the weekend. The action started immediately and continued sustained the whole first half (unfortunately the most photogenic part is also the hardest to have a camera ready to capture the action). It was fast, sustained and often required quick decisions and equally quick maneuvers. There was even a few good sized waves and holes that I almost couldn't escape from. In the brief moments where I was not focused on the whitewater, I appreciated the great scenery of the densely wooded shores. The run was just pure liquid fun. After sneaking the biggest obstacle (where the river pours over a manmade falls, below), the river became tamer but still very enjoyable. After a filling meal in Pagosa Springs after Jeff and I parted ways. Really excited about getting more packrafting in soon!
Photos of me by Jeff. Thanks to Jeff for a great weekend away!
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