** This is an old post that I just took the time to finish**
- Put in/ Takeout: Bradfield boat launch/ Bedrock Bridge
- Mileage: 47 miles
- Date: May 16-19, 2023
After my ski mountaineering plans fell through, Noel, Mac and I rallied for a trip to the Dolores: a true gem of Western Colorado that boasts only a short season most years due to high water demands from the upstream reservoir for agriculture in the area. Mac had been hoping to run the popular stretch while it was up, and had gear and boats ready when the opportunity arose. He and his wife Sarah kindly let me borrow her boat, and Mac brought along nearly all the overnight gear. Noel had a break from graduate work that worked out perfectly for our timeline so we convened for a three night trip on the river.
Mac and I drove in from Salida, meeting a surprising amount of construction on our drive, making the haul over Monarch and Lizard Head pass with Mac’s fully loaded truck even longer. We arrived at the put-in a little later than expected, and Mac rallied to get the boats rigged while I set the shuttle with Noel. Noel met me at the takeout and we drove back to the put-in under the looming clouds of a low pressure system that had continued to drop rain and snow throughout Colorado through the early spring.
We finished “rigging” our boats (since we were only planning on floating three miles or so to the nearest camp, we didn’t bother getting our gear perfectly strapped down) and set off.
We got on the river and found the high water to be pushy, we quickly made it to a spot to camp, but I struggled to catch the eddy, and we ended up floating a little further to the next spot.
We cooked and spent the evening around the fire before turning in early, tired from the day of traveling.
The next day we quickly floated down to our next camp, covering 24 miles in just a matter of hours. There were no real rapid, and anything that was marked in the guidebook was totally washed out. Mac took point and picked clean lines to avoid any might be holes. We only found one real eddy to pull over in and break, and we were at camp before we knew it.
We made camp and Noel and I walked up the side of the canyon to enjoy some views. After, Noel turned in for an afternoon nap, Mac and I enjoyed the afternoon, watching a snake try to eat a duck egg that was too big for its mouth.
The next morning, we strapped our gear down ready for a day of rapids. The high water washed out many of the technical rapids, but left the infamous snaggletooth bigger and meaner looking.
We spent a long scout watching other boaters and debating how our little boats would fare. I rowed a less than perfect line, popping an oar near the bottom, but caught the lower eddy without any problem where another boater offered to help pull me through the trees to tie up.
After much tribulation, we decided to portage Mac’s smaller boat. Given some health risks he was managing, he decided even a small risk of swimming was not worth it.
After unloading and reloading the boat, we moved on downstream into a long series of rapids that ended in a series of camps, nearly all of which were taken. When we stumbled upon an open eddy, we decided to take it, since our small group didn’t need much space.
Since the sun was still out when we got to camp, I attempted to bathe, but found even the smallest cloud cover rolling in made the icy water nearly intolerable. I was smelly from spending the day in my dry suit, and didn’t find much success in changing that as I daintily dipped into the water.
Noel went on a hike and Mac and I sat on the boats laughing and telling stories, enjoying the luxury of being able to make a two boat eddy work so well on an overnight trip.
When morning rolled in the next day, we headed off to our takeout. Like the days prior, we moved quickly on the river and arrived at the takeout, which was busy with other boaters putting in and getting off the river.
We repacked Mac’s truck and ran back shuttle finding the put in to be now overwhelmed (on a Friday) with other boaters. It was truly astounding the number of trailers and cars rooms inhabiting the large parking lot, and we were glad we didn’t have to linger there for very long.
We stopped for dinner with Noel before Mac and I headed back to Salida and Noel back to New Mexico.
The drive went quicker than it had on the way in, but we were still back in the dark and ready to be out of the car by the time we got to Mac’s house in Salida.
We saved unpacking for the next day, and then the next day, finally getting around to cleaning out coolers and drying and putting away gear.
It was a fun trip, and I feel really lucky that I have the friends to make trips like this happen!
-Nic