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SSV is in Come and get it

5K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  KSC 
#1 ·
SSV facebook will be started back up next year.
For now look here
 
#5 ·
Awesome! Can't wait to get on it for the first time after the flood.

For those of you playing along at home... Matt and I got some significant improvements made to SSV during the whole highway reconstruction process as I first stated many moons ago. While we didn't get a perfect outcome, we GOT IT DONE. Won't got into details here since I have a gentelmens agreement with some of the folks we worked with. I should also mention that the negative nancy, nay-saying, shit talking, unoriginal, visionless, piss on your wheaties, mountainbuzz professional d-bags that said it couldn't be done were 100% wrong... so SUCK IT!

I'd be happy to share more over beers at the SSV takeout if folks that actually paddle the run want to know more.
 
#7 ·
Spill it Ian!

Since I'm not going to be able to reap the SSV goods this year you've got to fill me in here dudes. Please tell me jihad is still there... I would love to see some photos. SSV is (was?) one of my favorite front-range runs and I'd be keen to hear how she has changed since I can't buy you boys take-out beers this year!
 
#10 ·
Well, I thought I was uploading three pics, but only the ugly one posted. It's drop 2 in the Narrows and is a fast mank cascade. The good is 1 in 5 which has a nice center line. The bad is a super tight s turn move with a high probability of hitting rock. The whole run is completely different, and not for the better. Now, I don't know how it looked after the flood and before cdot rebuilt the road, but now it is pinched tight making the run artificially fast with no eddies for long stretches through tough drops. Maybe some will boat easier than they look. Some are really cool. But a lot of them have some sort of issue. Gone are the days of swims where you quickly run out of the creek. Now you'll get brutalized in many spots. But 1 in 5 looks great!
 
#13 ·
I fail to see what exactly folks are congratulating themselves for. The entire run has changed drastically, and 80% of the run is worse than it was. Sure, the run below the Narrows is greatly improved. And the short section at the very top looks slightly improved. However, Cascades 2-5 and all of the Narrows are worse, and the construction drainage control measures are a blatant part of those changes. It's artificially tight, artificially fast, artificially lacking eddies, with ugly holes, and ugly rock. Arguably what it's always been, but the affects of the road are now amplified. I'm sure that all of it goes (abusively), and some key drops don't look that awesome.

I think now is the time to ask the City of Lyons to build an artificial creeking park at the Narrows section. It would be hard to make it worse, so bust out the backhoe and add some rocks, pools, eddies, and boofs back in.

If you don't want to hear my opinion, suck it, or something. :rolleyes:
 
#14 ·
This is awesome!
You are right Kyle
Much more work needs to be done. Likely needs more effort than just two enthusiastic kayaker
Anyone willing to really put some time and money into this?
Let's chat at LOG

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#15 ·
I would be keen to put more time into a project to improve the creek. The LOG event might be a great time to get feedback from the traveling pros that have come to the creek race event for many years, to show the recreational value of what once was, and that if rebuilt correctly, what could be in the future. It seems that there is an opportunity to stack rocks wherever we please, given that they drove and moved rocks all over the shoreline, rerouted the creek at will, etc.

No disrespect to those that are working to make it better. Pats on the back seem a bit premature. Let's fix it and not pretend that it's done and all good.
 
#16 ·
I heard Cutch has gone soft so not sure we can trust his opinion. Not saying it's true, just some rumors being thrown around - too many low water runs or something like that. Unfortunately I've long ago gone soft, so this is a bummer to hear. I rather enjoyed the old SSV.
 
#17 ·
I heard Cutch has gone soft so not sure we can trust his opinion.
So true. On that note, if you are between the ages of 18-20, live on the front range, have a half-broken creek boat in the backyard, full face helmet, occasional lack of judgment, elbow pads, and perhaps kneepads, have been paddling class V for years, never flip, and think pitoning is rad, and want to go get your brown on, please go fire up the Narrows for us and let us know how the rock cascade goes, and what you would rate it. I'm thinking enter center and keep your bow up...

The rest of the Narrows looks totally good to go. I would think someone will run it this year.
 
#19 ·
The current Google Earth imagery shows SSV post flood and during the rebuilding. It seems like there was a lot of boulders and debris in the streamed making many sections unrunnable. If they could have not pinched it so tight it would be much better but at least it seems like they removed a lot of crap from the streamed. Exstensive scouting of the whole run is mandatory and a bike would be useful.
 
#20 ·
Cutch, I'll fill you in over a beer sometime, but SSV after the highway was rebuilt was significantly worse than it is now. To shore up the embankment of the highway, CDOT had to get big trackhoes into the creek. To move the trackhoes up the creek to where the embankment needed repair, they needed to get the rocks (which make kayaking awesome) out of the way. CDOT was jackhammering huge rocks and splitting them into pieces. There were logs strewn across the river that were likely too big to chainsaw easily, and there were large sections of the river that had no rocks in them.

By the time we were able to get to CDOT, a lot of the damage had been done, but we did accomplish getting CDOT to stop jackhammering big rocks, take out some of the huge wood hazards to make the run safer, and the big deal (to me) was getting them to put rocks back in the river per our recommendation.

The creek as it stands is temporary. There will be permanent road work next year where the highway will be rebuilt with a permanent road bed, not the temp road bed that is currently there. There is another opportunity window that we are working aggressively on to get permanent streambed restoration done after the final highway repair, and thats where the big opportunity lies. What we did was just a first and temporary step. Demonstrating that we can work for positive solutions with multiple agencies and contruction contractors with no sanction and no budget shows Boulder County, CDOT etc that we mean business and we can get it done.

My rant earlier was really just an admonishment to the non-believers who use the internet to crap on folks who take an active stake in improving our rivers. Any a-hole with a keyboard can talk shit. Only a few have had the success in getting real tangible improvements done. And thats something the kayaking community should rally around, and its not just a self congradulatory thing. Its showcasing that we can make positive change if we try.

As for failing to see... perhaps you didn't go up to SSV dozens of times over the winter like some of us did to see how far we have come.
 
#21 ·
For sure about the beer Ian. My post wasn't meant to be a personal attack on you, since you do make shit happen. The stance of "suck it ... because it's better" kind of annoyed me, because I think it sucks compared to what it used to be (naturally due to natural causes, unnaturally due to the road). True that I didn't go up the canyon while they were rebuilding, since the message I got was to stay out of the flood areas until things were rebuilt. Regretting not checking it out earlier.

The creek as it stands is temporary. There will be permanent road work next year where the highway will be rebuilt with a permanent road bed, not the temp road bed that is currently there.
I tend to view the creek as permanent (regardless of where it flows) and the road temporary (regardless of how well it's built). I realize that societies demand to rebuild as quickly and aggressively as possible has much greater backing than societies desire to protect our rivers and streams, thus this situation.

Fantastic news if CDOT is willing to rebuild the road in a less detrimental way to the creek. The sooner the better from an environmental standpoint for the canyon, so does anyone know how much time we have to get in on the pre-construction phase of the rebuild?
 
#23 ·
WOOD ALERTS

There is a very large, river-wide, pine tree over the section near the old Box Springs drop. Will need chainsaw work at some point.

One-in-Five has a smaller branch sticking up vertically in the landing of the pool, sticking out of the water a few feet. Less of an issue, and worth a glance.

Water was pumping last night. Wondering if any of the pros at LOG fired it up this week?
 
#24 ·
Thanks for the heads up.
There were discussions about running ssv but to my knowledge everyone had passed.
We are considering do confluence to after work
Did you go up that high?

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#25 ·
Didn't kayak last night, was just driving by after a hike and pulled over to scout a few times. It's running large.

The drops above the Confluence didn't look too good, and the Confluence drop itself is kind of gone. From the Confluence down looked the best, taking out near the outhouse pull off.

Bottom of the Narrows, down through 1in5, and all the way to town looked great as well.

Narrows cascades itself didn't clean up much with the extra water. And two of the holes are rather large. Not many eddies anywhere.

Some of the upper upper SSV stuff looked more promising than I remember in years past, maybe due to the vegetation getting cleared out.
 
#26 ·
Did part of it today. Not what I expected based on descriptions. We ran from the confluence down to above reach-around. Confluence to the main run was kind of novel but not great whitewater, except those 2 drops at the put-in. The 1/2 mi of the main run we did was sweeet. There's new wood in bed springs, but I really think it's not a big factor, but the reach-around through bed springs combo looks doable but stout at these flows. The old overhanging rock drops looks good but it has a fallen tree all the way across it and is a no go. The random drop below that, which usually wasn't a big deal, has what looks like a mandatory mystery move into it. It goes, but I wouldn't mind someone else going first. I didn't explore below that but wish I had time to.

I would say SSV is still a run, but maybe with a longer portage or little shuttle in the middle unless you're ready to run a few questionable drops. It seems like the eroded banks are causing trees to fall in, so will probably have to deal with that for a couple years.
 
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