Whitewater

Whitewater
A Raft Trip Down the Mighty Colorado
Is the Ultimate Thrill!

By Chris Tracy

Paddle in hand and life jacket cinched, I stand on the banks of the Colorado River with my raft mates and wait for our guide to cover safety issues and paddling lessons.

Out of the blue (literally), a dazed kayaker in a wetsuit asks me for duct tape for his paddle which is broken in half.

“No,” I tell him. “I didn't think to bring duct tape.”

He moves on.

No one in my group seems to worry about the dangers that may have caused his mishap upstream in the infamous Big Gore Canyon, one of the most challenging stretches of whitewater in the USA. We're just happy to be heading out on the day's adventure: A four-hour, 11-mile trip down the gentler Little Gore Canyon, of the mighty Colorado River.

I'm riding with my new friends from Hawaii who are working for the summer in Winter Park at the east end of the county. There's Mike, Zane, Leah, Micah, Laura and our Mad Adventures guide, Mike Utley.

There are families with small children, a couple from Denver on a weekend holiday and other vacationers from around the country.

Today, Mad Adventures is taking five rafts down the river, which is running relatively low at 1,000 cfs (cubic feet per second). Mike, the guide on our raft, notes this stretch of the river is always family friendly, offering a Class II to III adventure. Class II means meandering, Huck Finn type action. Class III means the rapids aren't as forgiving, so be ready to get wet.
Our raft floats effortlessly and we guide it down with commands from Mike to steer, do 360s, and speed up enough to drench the raft in front of us. All great fun, especially for us.

The long stretches wind through steep-walled canyons, split into forks, then meet again in rolling rapids. Mike tells the history of the area, including fascinating tales about the infamous Lord George Gore, who came from Europe in the 1800s to hunt with large, extravagant expeditions. He notes Gore floated the Blue River to the Big Gore Canyon but didn't make it too far.

Mike teaches us how to thread through the Needle's Eye — a landmark formed by two boulders with a fast roll of river in between. We have to steer away so we don't hit Mary's Wall — a threatening canyon wall with fast moving water heading straight toward it. The scenery is breathtaking.
We stop to soak in the Radium Springs — natural "healing" springs used by Native Americans and tourists for over 200 years. We then proceed to Jump Rock, a 27-foot cliff hanging. As the name implies, this is a favorite spot for rafts to stop so some of the braver passengers can climb off and leap into the water from high above.

A smaller rock just underneath dubbed “Punk Rock” offers a six foot thrill for the kids into the icy waters below.

We proceed past Mary's Cabin, an old log structure that housed workers long ago. A train passes on a hill above on its journey west. A Canada goose watches us from the shore. Mike notes that moose, kingfishers, foxes and even a mountain lion have been seen on shore.

On the longer stretches, my Hawaiian friends enjoy jumping ship and cooling down, suspended in the water by their life jackets.

There's lots of laughing and joking among these old friends who, though used to surfing ocean waves, have never experienced a river trip until now. I get the feeling this group has fun no matter what they do.

We stop for a hearty buffet lunch and restroom break at a picnic area near the shore and I talk, over a salami sandwich, with a lady from Chicago who is attending a workshop in Winter Park.

We're back in the water for the home stretch and float past the town of Radium and over the Yarmony rapids before we get out at Rancho Del Rio, a tiny town with a few places to get snacks and supplies. The bus is waiting and we head back on the winding Trough Road.

Tired. Tanned. Happy. And no broken paddles.