Spencer Heights Beta

badkins · 05-06-2004

What's good flow for a 1st timer? Anyone done it yet this year? Beta on wood etc... Thanks!

-Brian

JJH · 05-06-2004

I think a good level is around 2.5 (pine view) for a first time. A fun level especially after poudre falls. You wouldn't want to be on much lower and much higher is pretty pushy in some spots. The water just got to that level today, so I doubt anyone has run it. So there is a lack of wood knowledge.
I heard that the water guys are letting a lot of water down from the high reservoirs for the next two weeks, to make room for the runoff, so we should see some steady flows for awhile.
JJ

jonny water · 05-06-2004

Put in up on Joe Wright Creek...I put in below Carnito Canyon and really enjoyed it. That was 2 years ago so no wood info to speak of this year.

Cutch · 05-06-2004

Joe Wright is a step above Spencer heights in technical difficulty. A guide is helpful, but not required if you pre-scout on the shuttle. Scout Carnito Canyon regardless. It might be too low still (my guess), but last year everything was free of wood. It is a small rocky creek though with manageable wood present, so be heads up.

stubby · 05-07-2004

Anybody runnin spencer and/or joe wright on sat/sun...lookin' for a break from finals studyin'!

ian

DeLiSh · 05-07-2004

what up

frenchy · 05-09-2004

Yesterday Joe Wright was running a medium flow. Spencer Heights was medium/low (2.6ft at the Sportsman Gauge). Big South gauge was reading 1.3ft. Badkins, I think this is a good level for a first time down. The majority of the run is read and run, with the exeption of a few horizon lines that you will want to scout.

Beware, there is some new wood in Joe Wright below Carnito, all easily avoided. There is also some new wood in Spencer Heights - a new log in the far left channel in lower Cyclotron (easily avoided), and the log in the lower gorge (a couple rapids down from boneyard) has shifted and forced a walk for our group.

Dave Frank · 05-10-2004

We put on just above Carnito and ran it to the Spencer Heights takeout. It was 2.75 at Pineview. Where is the Sprortsman gauge Frenchy writes about? I thought it was a perfect level for a first time run. More would be better, but this felt good, not knowing any of the rapids.

Not quite class 5 at this level I thought, but good intro to the creeking season. I was very glad to be here and not on the Embudo at 3.6' for my season opener.

Great to be back in the boat. Really liking the new M3; thanks Eric. (The dent in the bow came right out.)

frenchy · 05-10-2004

Dave, Sportsman's gauge is opposite the road from Sportsman's Lodge, just downstream from the Trading Post cabins, and a couple miles downstream from the Spencer Heights take out. It is a more accurate gauge for the Spencer Heights run, though there is still inflow above the gauge at the tunnel. There is no gauge for Joe Wright that I know of. Glad you had fun and sorry to have missed you while you were up here.

badkins · 05-10-2004

thanks for the Beta guys, got both Joe Wright and Spencer in this weekend and I loved them both. Carnitas, carnitos, whatever was the shit, if only there were a couple more of those in Joe Wright! Loved the ski jump boof at the entrance. Definately felt there could be more water, but at the same time it was nice to get in there and not have too much push. On Sunday one of our crew pinned his boat in Joe Wright and 3 of us with a z-drag could not get it to budge an inch. We worked on it for a couple of hours pulling from different angles with the same result. You could probably paddle right over it and not know it was there.