Colorado Wooden Boat Float

August 13th-14th on The Upper Colorado River.  Pumphouse to State Bridge, camping overnight below Yarmony Rapid. 

 

I will be running my Rapid Robert and should have the wife running a raft for support and will have another drift boat or two along also.  I plan on trying to float on Friday to set up camp and meet others at the Pumphouse put in at 9:30 for a 10:00 am launch.  I will have burgers and brats for grilling on Saturday evening and hope to see other wooden boaters there to talk shop, get ideas for my next build, and admire others craftsmanship.

 

Water is coming down fast right now and should be at a great level by the 13th.  Fishing is picking up and we had a great weekend fishing up there this past week.

 

Contact me and I can forward any necessary information regarding location, shuttle service or fishing reports.  Hope to see a few others out there.

 

Mark Hilbert

hilbert_mark@yahoo.com

 

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Permalink Reply by Russell Turpin on August 2, 2011 at 5:42pm

Greg,

Thanks for that input...It is much more informative to hear a description first hand...or follow someone's run

Permalink Reply by Greg Max on August 4, 2011 at 7:22am

Alright Russell, I managed to get those videos for you.  They're no Greg Hatten productions, but they should help (love your work Greg)

Here is Needle Eye:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbSYHf4AOdg

 

This rapid is on a slight right hand bend.  There are two rocks at the top of this rapid that you need to thread.  After you go through these two rocks, there is a rock near the middle of the line, but slightly to your right.  The move is typically to hug the top left rock and use the eddy behind it to pull your boat to the left, thereby helping your efforts to avoid the lower center rock.  Normally the water does most of the work, but my line here was bad as I entered this one too far right to get the eddy to suck me toward it.  I also thought that the lower center rock was buried under high water until the last minute when I realized it was exposed and had to do some last minute maneuvering.  It's a short rapid though, so once you're through, that's it.

 

Here is the video from Yarmony:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwpapLMOysQ

 

For this one, the river also sweeps to the right and this rapid is on the bend.  It's a longer rapid that is three parts in my mind.  First, you have a large rock at the very top of the rapid on the right hand side of the river.  This is really easy to avoid, but it does kick up a lot of water behind it.  I went a little closer to this than I normally would because I wanted to give they guys I was with a little excitement.  After the top rock, there is just a wave train to the bottom of the rapid, which I consider part two.  There really isn't anything in this section to worry about unless the flows are less than 1,500 because all of the rocks are buried.  The third part is at the end of the rapid where the real "meat and potatoes" lie.  For this part, you'll want to enter on the left side of the river.  There is a large rock to the far left and as long as you stay just right of that, you'll be fine.  The large hole in Yarmony will be to your right and you'll sail right by it and there will be a bit of white water to your left from that rock over there.  Between the two you'll see what I call the "bridge" which is just a boat width tongue that you can cruise on without hitting much.  In the line that I took, I was about 1 foot too far left for the completely smooth ride and again, I was trying to give the guys I was with a bit of a thrill

 

Finally, here is just a wave train that is just up-stream of Yarmony.  This is more along the lines of the "rapids" that you'll encounter on the rest of the trip.  I included it because it includes some side shots of the boat that give you an idea of how full it was with gear.  I was running a very loaded boat on this trip, so a lighter boat would certainly be easier to bring through.  

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4plX3NtN4ic 

 

I hope this helps you with your decision making and like I said earlier, this is all at 3,000 cfs.  I expect that the river will fall before the CO river trip which will really bring all of this down quite a bit.  

 

Permalink Reply by Russell Turpin on August 4, 2011 at 8:41am

Very cool videos Greg...looks like a lot of fun

Permalink Reply by mark hilbert on August 7, 2011 at 9:06am

ROLL CALL-Colorado Wooden Boat Float  Launch 10:00 am Saturday August 13th.

 

I'll try to be at the put-in by 9:00 after floating out from camp the night before (Island or Benches site-I hope)

I'm bringing burgers/brats, baked beans, potatoes and some beer for camp.

 

The Hanna Platte

Permalink Reply by Brant Jaouen on August 7, 2011 at 8:28pm
We are in.  My brother and I will be joining the float, along with a buddy.  Mark, I sent you an email with a few questions.
Permalink Reply by Greg Max on August 10, 2011 at 2:11pm
Yeah, I'll be on the water, though I can't really guarantee any specific launch time.  We'll just have one boat and three people.  Cheers!
Permalink Reply by Jeff Peak on August 11, 2011 at 5:24pm
sorry for the flaky factor, but I'm 75% in...still need to juggle some stuff.  I may also have a friend pushing rubber to support my wife and 19 month old.  hope this isn't too late that you don't see, Mark...hope to see you all Sat AM, and again, sorry to be a B!&(#, but thats how I roll.
Permalink Reply by mark hilbert on August 12, 2011 at 5:15am

I'm headed on up to float and fish today and hopefully find a camp down below Yarmony.  I'll see all that show up tomorrow.  Not sure if I'll be at Put-In #1 or #3 but look for the green Rapid Robert.  See you all there.

 

Mark

Permalink Reply by mark hilbert on August 15, 2011 at 6:33am

The Colorado Wooden Boat Float saw 5 wooden crafts float the Colorado through Lower Gore and Red Canyons.  Thanks to Marc Tittle, Greg Max, Jeff Peak and Brant Jaouen for joining myself on the float.  Also thanks to Owen, Mike and Tracey for running support via NRS rafts and a Hog Island Dory.  Camp was enjoyable, beer was cold, wildlife viewing was great, scenery pretty, flows were at 1800 cfs, trout were caught, trains were loud and the river was crowded.  Here's a few pics from our float.

 

CAT 0 NINE TAILS

 

BEAR EATING BERRIES ON RIVERBANKGREG AT CAMPJEFF PEAK AND FAMILYRIVER RAMBLERRIO VINO

21" BROWN

CAMP BELOW YARMONYBOATED A BROWNIEBRANT AND CREWTHE HANNA PLATTE SCORES ANOTHER TROUTADAM ROWS WHILE DAD FISHESOWEN RUNNING SUPPORTTRACEY,WENDY AND HANNA GETTING WET RUNNING THE FOOD AND KEG THROUGH YARMONYNOT ALL DRIFT BOATS SURVIVE THIS RUNJEFF AND MARC AND FAMILIES TAKING A BREAKBRANT AND MARC MAKING THE RUN PAST THE HOT SPRINGS TO RADIUM

Thanks again to all especially to Marc for arranging my shuttle and your invaluable help in times of need.

 

Mark Hilbert

see ya at the 2012 Colorado Wooden Boat Float

Permalink Reply by Greg Max on August 15, 2011 at 7:07am

Great Shots Mark!  Thanks again for putting everything together.  For all who may not know, Mark put our whole float together.  He went down the river a whole day early to secure a group camp site for all to enjoy.  As if that weren't enough, he also showed up with a keg, 24 burgers, 12 bratwurst, potatoes, a grill, and all of the fixin's needed for a rip-roaring good time.  Thanks for everything Mark and I'll try to get some of my photos up this evening, if possible.  It was great to meet you all and I'm already looking forward to next year!

 

Greg

Permalink Reply by Brant Jaouen on August 15, 2011 at 1:04pm

Thanks again for everyone's help.  I wish we would have been able to finish the float with ya'll.  Thanks for organizing Mark.

 

Brant

Permalink Reply by Marc Tittle on August 15, 2011 at 6:33pm
Hey, thanks for all your time and effort to put this together. It was great meeting everyone and seeing some new boats. Marc

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