[Devin Bear]

I am going on the Dolores next week, and I was wondering what a good boat would be for that kind of trip. I want to take something that is a hybrid of a river runner and a playboat. Like the kingpin 6.3 or something of that sort. Any recommendations would be wonderful. Another thing I was wondering is should I just go for the ATX and skip the AT. (Those are paddles) The ATX is $100 more but it feels better and it is more suited to what I want. The AT would work but I have no idea on what I should do. I have the money for the other one but I dunno. Recommendations would be very much appreciated. Thanks. And stay safe on those rivers.

 

[Ture]

Devin,
I rafted the Slickrock to Bedrock section last week. I don't know which section you are talking about, but here is what it was like:

water was high, I think about 4000 cfs. Not many eddies for large rafts, the river is bank full and running through the brush on the sides. It was hard to find camp sites that had enough good eddy space for our 5 rafts.

Normally a class II run with a few class III rapids, I would now call the entire thing class III because the current is moving fast and it is a very cold river for its size. We took our 2 1/2 year old kid and it was definitely at the limit of what I would want to do with a kid. If a kid wandered into the river from camp without someone seeing they would be gone. It was definitely not a class II river last week.

I'm not a playboater so I didn't really pay attention to the play potential. I suppose that most of the waves were probably 1-shot kinds of things. Lots of flat water and most of the rapids were washed out. The "one hole" rapid, which the ranger told us is usually a big hole, was non-existent.

By the way, the creek along the road above Gateway was smoking. I saw a few fun looking drops from the road but I was on a mission to a family float so I didn't get in. Looked like class V- with no eddies.

 

[Devin Bear]

Thanks Bro, that helps a ton. I appreciate your posting that response.