Has anyone been in Baker's Box of Animas recently?

[JonLCrain]

Passing through on the way to British Columbia from Asheville. I've always wanted to run the Box and was wondering what current rock slide/wood conditions are in the Box. Any locals willing to show some Green locals down? Has some contacts in 4Corners but they are in Washington right now...

Also, just looking to hook up to boat in general. We are looking at Gore Canyon, Bailey's, and the Crystal. I was out in May/June and ran some other shit and want to get on the stuff that is good now. What are the levels on Lake Creek right now? Any info is appreciated and will be reciprocated if you come to the SE

[deepsouthpaddler]

Hey John,

If you are coming through Denver area, Bailey is worth a stop. Its a nice medium flow now and its a fun run, especially after 100's of miles in the car. We are running it tomorrow (fri), meeting at 8:30am in Denver if you are interested.

Gore is low, but still fun. If you have the time, hit it, but I'd take bailey over gore at current flows if you are chosing between the two.

Have no clue about the box or the crystal gorge, but buzz folks posted about running the crystal gorge recently.

Big South is at the low end of low, but was still fun last week. Rocky but still nice and they are still releasing water into it. Classic rocky mountain beauty. Poudre narrows has water too and can give you a good short shot of action if you head up that way.

If you want to hit bailey with us give me a shout.

Ian (303)-907-1373

[JonLCrain]

Wish I could be out there by Friday. We're looking at leaving Asheville Sunday night with a quick stop in KY. We'll be in CO and ready to boat starting Tuesday, August 1st. Can anyone get out on the weekday?

[deepsouthpaddler]

No weekdays for me except the occassional friday.

One other suggestion is to use watertalk when you are on the road and don't have internet access.

303-831-7135 is the number

list of station codes is here...
Water Talk station codes, WaterTalk station codes, Division of Water Resources, State of Colorado

Find the guages of the rivers you want to hit and find the code. If you don't have the CRC or the new guidebook, Kayaking Information has a bunch of good online info with gauge links too.

Have fun.

[N. Wigston]

go straight to the crystal. that is, if you like clean boofs, forty footers and box canyons. she's holding out beautifully. I think it will still be running on tuesday.

[hullflyer]

Hi jon, haven't been in Bakers in a few weeks. The water came up last weekend with rain but I could'nt get away. Bakers is too low now in my opinion, but some people still go in there. Has been run super low in the old days. Lake Creek is good now. 400 cfs is about ideal. Pray for rain and Bakers and Vallecito can rise up up 3 or 4 hundred pretty quick.
Good luck and say hello to B.C. for me
Mike

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by hullflyer

Hi jon, haven't been in Bakers in a few weeks. The water came up last weekend with rain but I could'nt get away. Bakers is too low now in my opinion, but some people still go in there. Has been run super low in the old days. Lake Creek is good now. 400 cfs is about ideal. Pray for rain and Bakers and Vallecito can rise up up 3 or 4 hundred pretty quick.
Good luck and say hello to B.C. for me
Mike

So what is the minimum for the Box? When people ran it super low what was that like? Whats the lowest you can go and not get sieved out or unrunnable?

[hullflyer]

Jon, I think about 750 cfs is about as low as I would be willing to go in there. Lowest level I ran it was around 850. 1000 cfs is better. The seives actually do start to be visible at 850. Lines are much cleaner at a slightly higher level. In 1995 a group went through at 250 cfs. Some semi-epic stories and endless cartwheeling in very tight, very deep spots. Also heard about the "toilet bowls" which I have not seen, where the water was doing some very "weird stuff". Really cool run if the water level is right. Had some friends run it at some ultra high (2000 cfs)levels and said they would probably not do that again. I'd still say today lake creek is still your most solid bet, because the dam masters release water through from the Aspen side on the fryingpan river over to the arkansas side via lake creek. Also from the previous post the Crystal is super good quality and worth the trip even if it's a bit on the low side now.
Cheers!
mike