Left Hand is Running

[Schizzle]

A buddy and I ran it last night and it was pretty fun. Kind of low, but not too scrapy and pretty entertaining. The section 2/10ths mile above the takeout was fun, low-volume bee boppin'. If I had to guess the CFS I would say about a 80-100. We only ran the lower mile due to time constraints. Couple of logs in there, but nothing that actually made you get out of your boat. At higher water it would be different if they didn't get flushed. Doesn't take long to scout the whole section of note.

[twitch]

As those of you who have been up there this season know, there are 2 newspaper (DENVER POST) vending machines towards the bottom of the last drop about 125 yards downstream of the drainage pipe coming in from river right. I contacted the Denver Post approximately 6 weeks ago to alert them of this hazard while the flows were still low and recovery of them would be easier. After describing their location to them numerous times I drove up the canyon to meet one of their circulation employees and show him exactly where they lay in the river. The following day I recieved a phone call from the Denver Post to let me know that they had been removed and that the hazard no longer existed for us. (and I got a nice thank you from them for letting them know about it and preventing any injury and bad press for them)

Well, here's the bad press for the Denver Post. I went up there today with a friend to paddle the creek. During the drive up we car scouted the last drop looking for any new wood, but we made the mistake of not looking for the aforementioned vending machines assuming that the word of the Denver Post was the truth. My bad, I'll admit that. But since the water's come up a bit & they're not above the water line anymore, we really wouldn't have seen them anyhow. What am I getting at here? The 6" long - 1 1/2" gash in my buddies forearm courtesy of the rusted metal vending machine.

I contacted the Denver Post again and was told that after they inspected the site it was deemed too diffucult to remove the machines from the river at the time I had contacted them back in early May. When I inquired why I had been told they had been removed, I was told it was a sad & unfortunate case of miscommunication.

At this time I have emphasized to them that this is a SERIOUS hazard that they could be held liable for should something tragic happen (I don't really know if that's true, but I'm trying to get those things out of there).

Feel free to disturb Mr. Dennis Morse, Circulation Director for the Denver Post, at work about this matter. His phone # is 3/892-5289 & his email is dmorse@denvernewspaperagency.com

Go Buzzards!!