A few friends and myself will be heading over Cottonwood Pass from the Salida/Buena Vista area on Sunday to run the Taylor River. I plan on scouting the upper sections, but will probably put in at the New Generation put-in just below The Slot. Anyone interested in joining in is welcome. Anyone ran this stretch lately? I ran it at 600 from Lotus Creek down last year, interested to see what it looks like at 950.
I have been running it a lot and this is a great level, just way better than lower flows. The New Generation (Clearcut) put-in is above the Slot and highly recommended. You can scout and or portage the Slot and the rapids above the Slot are a great addition to the rest of the Taylor. The Commercial raft put-in is below the Slot.
I ran it a little over a week ago @ 865cfs. It's now down to 627cfs or so. I doubt that we will see the 8-900's again. We did the Upper Upper section also which is not in the book but listed on Eddy flowers versions of the Taylor. It adds about 3 miles & starts right off with the hardest rapid of that section which they rate IV+ but we thought it was barely class IV-..point & shoot & just miss the couple rocks/pourovers & that's it. As the water level drops the up up section gets bony more so than Taylor Canyon so you would have to take a gander at it. Anyway no real wood problems on that day & probably hasn't really changed since it's continued to drop but you never know. That was the highest I have run it at and it was definitely way more fun. Bigger & snappier, less rocks to bounch off of. A few more or bigger holes but generally easy to avoid if choosing so. Check out the playpark it was too high for any eddy returns our day. Have fun! it's a great river/creek.
Glad to hear that, when I ran it last year we put in on the upper section and had more fun on it than the stuff below the Slot. I might have to reconsider my put-in depending on what it looks like. At this point I have been on the Arkansas at high water, 3 days a week for a month and have gotten used to everything being washed out. Though I doubt the Taylor has any keeper hydraulics...
Thanks for the info!
not sure if i will make it up there tomorrow, if I do I will try to find y'all?
corner pocket (the IV just below Lottis, at the start of the Upper Upper) gets really easy at this level. It really shows its ugliness at low levels more than anything.
gauge says 604 coming out of the damn so i would imagine between 670 and 700 in the upper, should be fun.
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every time you eat a steak a hippie's hackey sack goes in the gutter
one last thing: the rapids between the New Gen and Slot are called "Holy Mirolli", after one Nick Mirolli, who is the maintenance guy @ 3 Rivers Resort in almont, and a damn good guy too. His rapids are way fun at this level!
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every time you eat a steak a hippie's hackey sack goes in the gutter
What time are you leaving on Sunday, Logan? I would love to go check out the Taylor. Haven't been on it yet, and it sounds like a fun, scenic run.
I'm not sure yet. I am running a stretch in the Bighorn Canyon with a bunch of paddlers this morning and we are going to discuss details then. I will repost when I know what time we are going to head out. It will have to be relatively early in order to get a full days paddling in.
Alright. I figured at least decently early, but I was hoping you guys wouldn't be leaving insanely early. Not going to make it out that way tonight, so if it's not too early I could drive out there in the morning.
Going to paddle Eleven Mile this morning, so I will check this later when I can.
I'm not driving, and my shuttle partner invited a couple of women who want to leave a little later. I am pushing for around 8 am, but they don't want to leave until 10. I won't know until they call me back around 8 tonight. I will repost when I have an exact departure time. My cell # is 719-229-9333 if you need to call.
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