[mvhyde]

cold, rainy, windy,...... but pretty awesome down there this past weekend. For all those of you deterred by distance and weather, you should get down there and run it. The level was probably at about 900 to 1,000 cfs and very runnable. Dead Car was ok, Powerline was really fun (pronounced tongue on the bottom right will tag you if lay you right edge down) No real bad consequences at the bottom. Pinball has a few surprises if you run the centerline. Last Rapid is worse in look than in reality, run it left to center and skirt the sharp big black rock thing.

No swims by all who went, a banged knee or two, all in all, cold wet fun..

 

[teach]

Are all the major rapids scoutable?

 

[mvhyde]

yup.....

everything is scoutable

 

[PhillyBoop]

About 8 of us are going down a week from Thursday. So the LTB is sitll good to go at about 800 cfs? Did you hit Pilar? Good play? With the length of LTB, playboat or river/creek boat? Thanks, Jamie

 

[badkins]

screw the playboat, paddle the biggest most comfortable cadillac sized creek boat you can manage. I thought that it would have been a lot of fun drinking beer on a raft, but smooshed into a little playboat I was in such intense pain by the time we got to the continuous rapids at the end that I was sprinting for the takeout as fast as I could. Ol' Chunder was on that trip and he loudly proclaimed it to be the worst river he has ever been down. It wasn't that bad, but you are definately there much more for the scenery than the whitewater.

 

[PhillyBoop]

SOLD, the Y it is! Thanks Brian. Everyone is heming and hawing over what boat to take down. More room for beer, lunch and water. Was the Craw with you on LTB?

 

[badkins]

kinda sorta yes, Marty was technically in a different group but we were crossing paths all day long.

 

[rivermanryan]

I squeezed into my sub 7 for the trip. I do agree that a larger boat would have been more comfortable for most of the trip. There are a few scattered play spots, but the length of the trip does make it difficult to find the energy for the last 3 miles where there is some play.

I disagree about the quality of the whitewater. The scenery is spectacular, but I thought it is worth paddling the long, flat pools for the good drops that are in there. The last three miles are sort of a reward at the end of the day.

Many of the drops look more difficult than they are from kayak level. We scouted many of the Class III's due to poor vision only to find a straight forward lines from the bank. I still recommend scouting until you know the lines because there are some spots you might not want to be at lower water (going around the wrong side of a boulder and into a semi-sieve, low water pin kind of situation).

We ran Pilar on Sunday. Kind of Low and technically easy, but there were a couple great play waves in there.

 

[PhillyBoop]

Thanks! If any one is going down March 15, 16, 17 we will be down there. Look for a couple of Ford Rangers with racks. Thanks again for the beta. Maybe we can share a shuttle. :shock:

 

[mvhyde]

the whitewater was great

Scenery was spectacular....I could have done without the wind, but after powerline, it was rockin'.....pinball is appropriately named, by the time you get there, you're so tired you are just like one of those little pinballs, bouncing from hole to hole and rock to rock.


As a footnote warning: This still isn't a place for a beginner. Though a newbie/intermediate could run it with a guide, once you're in the canyon, you're committed, going for help and getting out of there would be a dubious affair at best, there are few places along the way that might afford a way up.

 

[PhillyBoop]

Re: the whitewater was great

As a footnote warning: This still isn't a place for a beginner. Though a newbie/intermediate could run it with a guide, once you're in the canyon, you're committed, going for help and getting out of there would be a dubious affair at best, there are few places along the way that might afford a way up.[/quote]

mvhyde. thanks for the disclammer. The folks we are going down with have min of 4-5 years experience kayaking and are solid IV boaters with some V experience. Most of us have run Cross Mtn. Is this any more challenging than Cross? Cross has the same comittment or worse since the nearest medical help is pretty far evethough the run is a lot shorter.

 

[badkins]

My impression, at 800cfs, it was all class III with Powerline as a III+. Powerline is a very steep, if short, drop. You cannot see over the horizon line until you are committed, there are some ugly rocks on the sides but the center is flushy. Chunderboy ran the whole rapid upside down, as usual... :wink: It is interesting that the canyon walls are much steeper in the lower box than the upper box. If you lost your boat in the upper you could get creative and probably manage to scramble out, but the cliffs in the lower box are bigger and continuous for miles. I guess that's why the lower box attracts all the suicides, you can really launch your car and probably get like 5 to 10 seconds of air time. It was wild seeing the mangled remains of cars here and there.

 

[mvhyde]

hmmmm

maybe we can settle the presidential election if it's close by having the candidates tube LTB

 

[teach]

PhillyBoop, do you mean April on the dates you will be going down there?

 

[PhillyBoop]

Ooops! Yeah, April 15 -18. Are you headed down?

 

[Jethro]

Try Upper Box...

Hmmm...I'd say theat this was many 3 + rapids with a few class IVs this past Saturday. For some good V action, try the Upper Box.

Of course it can depend upon your boat...always good for 1/2 class.

Jethro

 

[teach]

I'm playing it by ear, but I would sure like to. I might be in contact if you wouldn't mind a tag along.

 

[mvhyde]

hmmm upside down

Chunderboy ran it upside down, eh? did he collect his pay from New Mexico Wildlife for counting fish? or did he lose count and have to start all over again?

R. and I both got flipped in the last wave-trough at the bottom of powerline. It had a wicked back-curling tongue on it. It was cool though, the outrun from the drop is deep. I wasn't totally sure I had the right line on it, I just got tired of standing there cold while everyone studied it. So I picked a line and ran it, pretty clean until the end.

 

[syore]

In defense of chunder, the boy had at least 6 Tecates in him.

 

[teach]

Mvhyde, do you have anymore pictures of the run?