Gunnison river info

[french erick]

Ok, I have a sneaky feeling that this river would be well outside my reach.
I find it difficult to find info on it (only commercial rubbish on CO) and I had plenty opportunity to look at it from belay stances. I was climbing on the cruise wall a week and a bit past.

It looked amazing, long and committed but that appeals, provided it would be within my ability.

I can only assume that there would be tons of other rivers to paddle around, that is if I ever were to head that way.

So, have anyone canoed down the black canyon? Would that be a a worthwhile destination (ie, other stuff to do around)? When would you go there?

Seen from the road or crags, I found CO dissapointing river wise although I'm conscious that rivers would have been at their lowest (autumn).

Cheers for any beta lads and fairer sex canoeists.

[cheajack]

There's tons of paddling in Colorado. July is arguably the best month. The Gunnison Gorge section is down stream of Black Canyon and is a C III with maybe one or two C IV rapids depending on the level. It is a trout fishing stream but fun to paddle and the scenery is spectacular. The carry in is C V.

[ezwater]

A number have done the Black Canyon. I enjoyed Ed Gertler's account-- I think it was in AW Journal many years ago. I think he did it solo, but normally one would need class 4-5 creeking and portaging skills and some others who have similar ability.

Always have wanted to do the easier Gunnison Gorge. But it takes serious off road vehicles to get down the Chukar approach, and then there's a mile carry...

[kslund]

Gunnison gorge is a great canoe run. Here's some pics from labor day 2009 of the nearby Taylor river and Gunnison gorge (starting around page 6-7 - not a lot of shots of the whitewater unfortunately). It's mostly pool-drop class III. The Taylor is also a great run, more continuous in nature. I don't think you need a serious 4x4, stock 4x4 is fine - we've done it in subarus. Just don't try to drive to the Chukar trail if it has rained - the road is impassable when wet, due to the clay.


http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/5746 ... DW?start=0


The black canyon is a serious, commiting class V run - it's been canoed - here's some info on it from mountainbuzz.com

http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f11/ ... 25352.html

Lots of info on americanwhitewater.org too:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/conte ... inGadget19


Colorado has lots of paddling by the way. As Cheajack said, july is probably the best month - peak run-off is done and the rivers are at sane levels - weather's nice (but the water is ALWAYS cold).

[ezwater]

Webshots gets more interfering and intrusive every time I visit. It seems they don't want a visitor to go through your shots without downloading.

[oopsiflipped]

if ya have to ask....

no, seriously, lots of info online. you want to go with someone who knows it, but it can change rather dramatically with floods on the side streams. there is a good write up of a near death under ground experience in whitewater of the souther rockies. the author was there for his bachelor party i believe and is a friend of my then roommate. he'd ran it before, but rocks move and things can happen. it's mostly 3++, i hear. the second '+' means if you go offline by a foot you go into a sieve and drown. phil lost some teeth there not too long ago...

[french erick]

You're right Oops.
What I saw from above looked gnarly as...but portageable.

I'm not that good at finding things on the net, mindset really. But I find it even more difficult to navigate stuff that's american...I always end up in some ads rubbish. But then I'm a computing diddy.

I think that my next US trip will be a paddling one, but I'll forget the black and only paddle the lower Gorge

is ironic seing as mine is actually not bombproof yet.

Ta all for beta

On an another line: I'll miss Louie, I found his vernacular and banter good. British climbers (with whom I have been spending the last 8 years worth of free time) have a sharp tongue that would put off those who don't like banter.

[cadster]

I boated the Gunny Gorge below the Black Canyon this month tandem. I didn't find the one mile downhill carry of the Probe 14 alone difficult and I'm no youngster. Only the last few miles of road to the trail head are rough. I'd much prefer high clearance over 4WD and even 4WD won't get you out if the road's wet. The biggest pain is waiting for the shuttle which takes close to two hours round trip. I'll stick to one vehicle trips with a hired driver to eliminate the wait. A great thing about the Gorge is that it's boatable from March into October.

I like this rim shot looking down on the run's inner gorge that contains most of the whitewater:



This shot from Kraig shows the biggest drop, Cable, from upstream:



The inner gorge lasts for only a few miles out of the 14 total so overall the Gunny Gorge is more of a scenic trip than a whitewater one.

There're more guides to both the Black and Gorge here:
http://eddyflower.com/RunDetailsTabs.aspx?RunId=155
http://eddyflower.com/RunDetailsTabs.aspx?runid=61

[Matt Fritz]

Bruce,

Nice pictures. I'll be there with you next year.

Matt

[AJ]

Here are couple more Gunni Pics.

Cable Rapid


Smith Fork, Mineral Side Creek - found tomatias growing there this year, very cool hike and refreshing swim with water caverns



Tandem



T-dyke Camp

[Smurfwarrior]

Looks fun!

[philcanoe]

Here's a hand written early copy of Milo's cheat sheet. He's the Man, and gotten more runs on the Black Canyon than anyone (supposedly). The NPS Rangers say he has done it alone on a bike shuttle. Believe he's from Crested Butte... (from: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2188 ... pids.0.jpg)



Ours was a typed version complete with descriptions, where to get out, where to portage, where to run, etc. We were with a local Colorado boater who swore by it, after having used one previously. Don't know where it came from, just online somewhere. Almost everyone does it as a overnighter, except for the chosen (and way experienced) few. You do not want to get hurt, especially without purchasing the Colorado emergency 'come-get-me' card (wherever hunting permits are sold)'. It's real cheap and covers all med-evac costs. Here's a few pics I took on-facebook while scouting the month before at really really good water. This was before breaking my only paddle and having to carry out. And yes, it's been open boated.

[AJ]

Milo (Ranger 420) is the expert on Black Canyon from everything I have heard and read. You can learn more from his and others posts on www.mountainbuzz.com.

If you do run it, don't forget your Poison Ivy protection, very serious Poison Ivy!

[french erick]

I thought the only protection against poison ivy was not to touch it

[AJ]

The PI is off the hook. It is my understanding there is no way to avoid it on the portages with dense areas of PI. I have seen pictures of paddlers in lite weight disposable body suit covers.