# Lodore TR- Hell Freezes Over or



## TakemetotheRiver (Oct 4, 2007)

Rowing Against the Wind- take your pick.

Last week I joined Randaddy for the first leg of his re-creation of the Powell Green/Colorado river descents. It was snowy, freezing, and absolutely beautiful. Not another soul for 7 days. The quiet that always settles in when the clouds are thick and the snow is falling was magnified by the remoteness of the river and the towering canyon walls- the solitude was exactly what I needed after a long school year. 6 people on 3 boats floated from Brown's Park to Split Mountain. The wind blew constantly, but the upside is that it was almost always a tailwind.

We took a layover day at Jones Hole on Thursday because the boats had a half inch of snow on them when we woke up that morning. We put up a slack line, did some hiking, did some drinking, and hung out by the fire. We tried to talk Randaddy into letting us cut off one of his arms so he could do the trip right. A Big Horn visited our camp and hung out for several minutes just watching us from a few feet away, even stopping to sniff at a dry bag that sat on the ground near him. We were definitely the strangest creatures he had ever seen.

We also saw river otters daily, large herds of elk and deer and laughed at the nesting Canada Geese trying to either hide behind single reeds or trying to lead us away by squawking and swimming in front of the boats. Sadly, we saw a young elk dying next to the river- his herd had obviously left him behind- so it goes... It made me feel very much a part of the "real" world to witness the daily routines of so much wildlife on this trip.

The rapids were splashy and fun though we tried to stay dry because it was so cold out. Due to the cold, Hell's Half Mile was too intimidating to me and I had someone else row it and I got to ride through with a paddle for support- something I haven't done in a while. The sun finally showed itself on the last day and made it harder to want to get off the river. 

At the end, Randaddy continued into the Uintah basin with two others for the next leg of the epic journey, and I was sad to have to get in my truck and drive home even though we were frozen most of the time. Special thanks to Mania for the drysuit "rentals," they were lifesaving!


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

come tmttr. you talk about its beauty wheres the pics.


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## spankey (Jul 22, 2008)

*Updates, keep em coming*



TakemetotheRiver said:


> Rowing Against the Wind- take your pick.
> drysuit "rentals," they were lifesaving!


 I have been awaiting in wild anticipation the hear about the epic journey of Randaddy Powell. Thanks for the update, hopefully others that join him will remark on their sections.


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## DurangoSteve (Jun 2, 2006)

Sounds wonderful... especially with a drysuit. One of my favorite places. Sounds like the wildlife was more abundant than usual.

I bet Hell's Half Mile was kinda technical at 800ish. I've only done it at 1400, and I was paddling a duck, not rowing. Hanging up on Lucifer would really suck in the cold.


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## TakemetotheRiver (Oct 4, 2007)

Yeah- the biggest worry on HHM was the likelihood of wrapping the boat around Lucifer- fortunately everyone had fairly clean runs- upright is alright... there were a lot of rocks in every rapid at this level and Randy's "Huge Bitch" as he called her got caught up in almost every one considering he's carrying gear for 50+ days.


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## asleep.at.the.oars (May 6, 2006)

I was wondering about you guys way up north like that. I found this skating rink in my wash bucket one morning last week, and we were on the San Juan.


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## Chip (Apr 7, 2007)

*GODZILLA'S CONTACT LENS*

Asleep— shocking cool! Let's hope he doesn't come looking for it. 

Kjirsten— thinking about you and ol' Rum Doddy (whatever his name is). I reckoned it'd be a frostbite trip. Glad you've still got fingers. 

Hell's Half-Mile has made fools of quite a few of us. Here's graphic evidence of my humiliation: 









_(photo by Nancy Hess)
_
For the rest of the story, check out the oar-wrapping thread in Gear Spew. 

Chip


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

Chip.....Are you trying to boof off that rock.......or just stopped for lunch?

Thanks for the report TMTTR. Wish I could have hooked up with the crew for Deso/gray. Hope them the best of luck or their never ending journey.


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

Gee, that kind of makes me think that another one of the things Chip CAN'T do, is row a boat? :grin: How did that thing track up there on the 'ole rock?


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

Love the trip report, sorry to hear that Randaddy refused to give up one of his arms, I thought that he was committed, but apparently he is only going halfway.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

halfway? wtf?


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## Riparian (Feb 7, 2009)

Powell lost an arm in the Civil War.


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

caspermike said:


> halfway? wtf?


If he was going all the way he would have agreed to TMTTR's request to cut off one of his arms. Real men make sacrifices, or at least sacrifice others to appease the gods.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

alright. i was going to call weak sauce on randy part. what arm you trying to make him give up?


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## TakemetotheRiver (Oct 4, 2007)

We wanted to cut off his left arm which we considered reasonable and more than fair since he's right handed, but he wouldn't go for it. It's totally weak to do 800 miles in 56 days on those rivers with 2 arms. Sissy.

I have some pics from Lodore but can't seem to get them to upload. What's the best way to upload them to a thread (not the gallery) from Picasa or my desktop?


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## Jensjustduckie (Jun 29, 2007)

Did you go to "Go Advanced" for your post? You can attach pics from there to your post


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## DurangoSteve (Jun 2, 2006)

I just use the paperclip thingy in the "advanced" mode. From your desktop would probably be best, but I'm a Mac guy and not well-versed in PC stuff.


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## TakemetotheRiver (Oct 4, 2007)

I did. I think it's because of the firewall on my work computer. I'll go ahead and upload them. Let me know if you guys can see them, because I won't be able to. In order: Upper Disaster backwards; Randy in Hell's Half Mile; watching the storm move in;confluence party;Sunshine at last.


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## Jensjustduckie (Jun 29, 2007)

If you uploaded them on the above post they are not visible, keep trying or post tonight. I'm stoked to see them!


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## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

I can see the pics.


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## freexbiker (Jul 18, 2005)

As Can I... Looks like it was fun.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

Yeah is that first one suppose to be lucifer or something? show some of the goodies


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## DurangoSteve (Jun 2, 2006)

Man, the rapids were bony! Love that Green/Yampa confluence beach. We got into some serious bathing in the relatively clean Yampa waters... which wasn't an option for youse guys! (When we did it, Red Creek had blown out and the Yampa was Green.)

Looks like an awesome trip. Thanks for the report and pix.


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## Snowhere (Feb 21, 2008)

*Frankinrandaddy*

Man, Randy could of cut his arm off and packed it on ice in the cooler! Then a few stiches at the end of the trip and he would be frankinrandaddy!


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## TakemetotheRiver (Oct 4, 2007)

Lucifer is the rock behind the boat in this pic. The first one above is me doing Upper Disaster Falls backwards. The second one is Randy in the slot above Lucifer and here's Randy getting around it.


Nice pic Steve- that is a very cool place on the river- we didn't see it from above though. Did you take that picture or get it from somewhere else?


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## shelbdad (Apr 6, 2005)

*Green River Diverted to Front Range*

get used to low water Lodore trips....
I just received a notice (via snail mail) of public meetings regarding the EIS being prepared for Mr. Million's project to divert the Green River to serve water consumers on the front range (Pueblo and points north).
see March 20th document updates and meeting day/locations at the links under "*Regional Watershed Supply Project" *accessed via the USACE website: 
https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/html/od-tl/eis-info.htm

"whiskey's for drinkin', water's for fightin"


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

Hey, get offa our cloud! No TR buzz-kill with stories of loss of water.

I suppose this is one time those water-sucking critters in AZ, NV, and CA will be good for something, keeping the water in the Colorado watershed.

Thanks for the Photos K! We're just waiting for the crazy camp photos next.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

kick ass. looks like you had more than your share of fun.

would have been way cooler if randy was missing an arm for those pics though. at least tuck it away. or hold a beer.


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## DurangoSteve (Jun 2, 2006)

TakemetotheRiver said:


> Lucifer is the rock behind the boat in this pic. The first one above is me doing Upper Disaster Falls backwards. The second one is Randy in the slot above Lucifer and here's Randy getting around it.
> 
> 
> Nice pic Steve- that is a very cool place on the river- we didn't see it from above though. Did you take that picture or get it from somewhere else?


I took it from the now-defunct air shuttle. The pilot basically flew us up river from Vernal, then did a little loop around Steamboat Rock and back up-canyon to the put-in. It was pretty cool to "scout" the rapids and campsites from above!


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

damn how much does that cost. i always though it would be bad ass to get some royal gorge above footage with the help of the crazy helicopter pilot. sweet pic steven.


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## DurangoSteve (Jun 2, 2006)

caspermike said:


> damn how much does that cost. i always though it would be bad ass to get some royal gorge above footage with the help of the crazy helicopter pilot. sweet pic steven.


Mike - I forget what the cost was. The trip leader just built it into the shared expenses. That was in 2005. Apparently the air shuttle has since folded. Too bad. It was a huge time saver and the views of Lodore Canyon from a small plane were pretty darned wonderful.


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## JennMiko (Dec 30, 2007)

caspermike said:


> damn how much does that cost. i always though it would be bad ass to get some royal gorge above footage with the help of the crazy helicopter pilot. sweet pic steven.


hasn't the royal gorge crazy heli pilot crashed like 4 times? is he still alive?


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## GoodTimes (Mar 9, 2006)

JennMiko said:


> hasn't the royal gorge crazy heli pilot crashed like 4 times? is he still alive?


Oh he's still alive...crazy bastard!! Love watching that dude make tourists puke as I paddle below.

BEAUTIFUL pics TMTTR........I have yet to do a nice "winter" trip.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

When has he crashed?


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## xena13 (Mar 21, 2007)

Have you seen the guy? He has crashed at some point in time, maybe before he started his business at RG. However, his trips are a blast!


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## Bornwithatail (Mar 2, 2008)

*Sweet story*

KJ! Sounds like an awesome trip. Layover @ Jones not a luxury you get in the later months. And that ram has seen some wierder shit there for sure. Didn't see pictures? But that Lucifer shot--I guess I was just lucky when I did that, there was enough water to keep pushing me sideways right over; luckier still to not flip--Yay, cats! Must get to Dgo soon, can feel the east sucking the life out; when I do, let's drink & tell lies, always fun. K


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