West Fork of Clear Creek Trip Report

[will rawstron]

Coors falls and Z gorge good to go, no new hazards from last year and the level is good right now. Below the Z gorge, in the class 5 boogie water, some small random wood has cropped up - but its no big deal.
Gunbarrel rapid has a large strainer just above the crux section. It is definately a hazard and must be portaged; this log could be removed with a saw and z drag. The rest of the run is clean and good to go as of 6/9 in the pm (excluding the known portages and hazards as of last season).

catch it now, before the flow runs out!! Enjoy and bring the 'bow pads.

[shawnh]

Will, thanks for the trip report. I have run West Fork once last year (low water) down to Z gorge before we ran out of light. I was hoping you could give some beta on Z, Gunbarrel, and Powerline??
Aso, what level did you just run it at and which West Guage is the right one (06715000 CLEAR CREEK ABV WEST FORK CLEAR CREEK NR EMPIRE CO or 06716100 WEST FORK CLEAR CREEK ABV MOUTH NR EMPIRE, CO )?
Details: In Z gorge there looks like most of the water flows directly into a pin rock right blow the rock outcropping scout point. Is this move as hard as it looks or can you drive left with some margin of comfort?
The stainer you mention on Gunbarrel at the crux move, do you have time to grab an eddy above or do you need to portage much earlier?

Thanks and I agree this is an awesome creek!

[badkins]

(06715000 CLEAR CREEK ABV WEST FORK CLEAR CREEK NR EMPIRE CO or 06716100 WEST FORK CLEAR CREEK ABV MOUTH NR EMPIRE, CO )?

The second gauge is the correct one, the first is the gauge for the silverplume to georgetown hair run. If you access the gauge off aw the lat/lon of the gauge is listed at the bottom of the page. Take that and plug it into topozone.com to find out exactly where it is.

In Z gorge there looks like most of the water flows directly into a pin rock right blow the rock outcropping scout point. Is this move as hard as it looks or can you drive left with some margin of comfort?

I've only ran it once at 200cfs, but I beleive you are talking about the second half of z-gorge where there is a big midstream rock with water washing over it? THere is a line to either side of it, the line to the left is easier.

Also, FWIW the last big rapid is called Gunshot not Gunbarrel.

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/rivers/id/1796/

[shawnh]

Thanks for the update...that is the rock I am talking about. From up on the cliff, it's difficult to see the line. Also, that website on the creek is really cool and helpful.
Any other input on GunShot would be helpful.
thanks

[brandf]

Little more info on the Gunbarrel portage. You can catch an eddie on river left about 10-15 yards above the strainer, but know where it is BEFORE you get there. It comes up fast and if you miss it, you'll be fighting for your life with a face full of puji-stick tree limbs.

Definitely some other portages in there. Didn't run that far down last year so no reference point. Our group today deemed the beaver ponds the logical takeout...after we ran down farther and dealt with many more logs/strainers/obstacles and finally said "F#ck it."

Level today was 150, which is definitely scrapey, but still fun.

The left line in Z gorge was good to go.

F

[shawnh]

Thanks for the beta guys. A buddy and I ran it on sunday and had a great, carnage free time. Scrapy and bumpy but still a lot of fun. The falls were clean and fun. Z Gorge left lines were good to go. The Gunshot portage (right above Gunshot) was a bit of pain in the ass. Even with scouting, it snuck up on us fast. I was leading and shot by the eddy river left (10 yards up stream) before seeing it. My buddy grabbed it and I jammed on the breaks and grabbed a tight little eddy/rocks just above the log. The rest of Gunshot was really fun and the run out into the beaver ponds was scenic. 50 more cfs would be perfect for this run. :P