Winter paddling in northern Colorado? Well, skiing or snowshoeing are for sure more popular winter sports here, but if you love paddling or if you are training for paddle races you can find paddling opportunities in northern Colorado year around. Actually, finding a liquid water in Fort Collins requires shorter driving than reaching skiing areas …
Launching 2024 paddling and rowing season in northern Colorado Read More »
2019 Racing Season My last paddle racing season was 2019. Missouri River 340 race was canceled in its regular format due to flooding. However, I paddled in other long races on the Missouri River: South Dakota Kayak Challenge, 72 miles from Yankton, SD to South Sioux City, NE, and Fort to Field Paddle Battle, 50 …
Paddling Against Time: My 2023 Challenge – Back to River Racing Read More »
This is my imaginary window showing some of my paddling activities. To display all my boats I would need a bigger window. This year I am paddling mostly Sea Wind canoe alternating with a SUP – Bark Expedition right now, and inflatable Badfish for early spring river runs. I had also some photo paddling sessions …
This year I had a longer break in paddling during winter than usual. I finished my 2013 season in late November with Badfish SUP on the Poudre River in Fort Collins and restarted in late January on the South Platte River with Sea Wind canoe. So far, my paddling is more oriented to photography than …
Wintertime Canoe, Packraft and SUP Paddling in northern Colorado Read More »
Here is a short summary of my paddling with Rob Bean using two Kruger canoes in Canyonlands from the town of Green River down the Green River to the confluence and upstream the Colorado River to Potash near Moab.
May 2-5, 2012. 4 days of paddling with some downwind sailing. 168 miles. These were 4 long paddling days up to 15 hours per day. 53:18 hours total on the water including short stops during day, but without camping time. Green River flow: 5000-6000cfs, Colorado River flow 4000-5000cfs.
We had a great weather, but with a lot of strong wind – more headwind in the downriver section, then downwind when going upstream. Nevertheless, the wind was very helpful when paddling up the Colorado River. Our downwind sails were a good idea. Calm mornings and nights. A great paddling at the full moon every night. No flash lights needed.
Typical paddling speed in the upstream section: ~2.5 mph. No problems with the Slide (a narrow spot just above the confluence), but, further upstream, there were two more difficult wider fast sections or “rapids” from our perspective. First, we managed to paddle through with the aid of our sails. We ended up walking the second after a good paddling fight with a jet boat audience. These two sections could be easier with higher and deeper water, but the Slide would be more challenging.
I will post more pictures soon, but I didn’t have too much time for shooting except around sunrise. I did some shooting around Moab before paddling and in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado (9 Mile Canyon, Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam at Brown Park). Rob produced some nice video clips for the MooCanoe.com: day 0, day 1, day 3, day 4.
Yesterday, I paddled the Colorado River Race in the Glenwood Canyon – 10 miles on the Colorado River from Dotsero to Hanging Lake Area. The race is organized by Jerry Nyre from Canoe Colorado. At the same time it was also Regional Open Canoe Downriver Championships and Wildwater Race setup by Nate Lord.
I missed a couple of previous races. Last year at that time I was paddling in postponed Missouri River 340 race. This year the MR340 was canceled due to flooding. So, I took my Sea Wind canoe to the Colorado River instead.
The weather was beautiful and water level pretty high at 2400 cfs. The race was dominated by stand-up paddlers (SUP). There were about dozen of them. Certainly SUP is getting popular in Colorado. There were also two tandem canoes, two solo canoes (including my Sea Wind), a wild water racing kayak (Jeremy Rodgers), Huki surfski and one recreational kayak. I could miss somebody.
I took some pictures with Pentax Optio W30 at the start and a few at the finish. It was the staggered start. SUPs went first.
I finished the race in 1:21h more than 1 minute behind Nate. It was a great workout for me. I managed to keep a pretty even heart rate (142-146) over the entire race. See the race results below pictures.
Do I need to switch to SUP if I want to do some paddle racing in Colorado?