# Colorado Boating History...



## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

deepsouthpaddler said:


> He came to a tragic end when he drowned in his bathtub in New Mexico in 1969.
> .


There's so much irony in that, I'm having trouble believing it's true. Such a legend...drowned in the bathtub?

A Floater's Guide to Colorado is a bit archaic in it's whitewater information but contains more useful information about history, geology, and biology than I have found in any other river book. I think it's out of print but isn't too hard to find these days.

COUNT


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

In addition to Wheat's "Floater's Guide to Colorado", there are some good essays in the "Western Whitewater" (also out of print) about early descents. Among the best is the tale of Samuel Adam's attempt to beat Powell down the Colorado, starting in Breckenridge and ending in Gore Canyon. The book "Westwater Lost and Found" is a treasure trove of info about that run (Westwater IS in Colorado, isn't it? :-D ).


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

deepsouthpaddler said:


> In 1959, he became the first person to run the Colorado's Cataract Canyon without portaging, and in 1960 he accomplished the same feat on the Grand Canyon.


Buzz Holmstrum ran everything from Green River, WY to Lake Mead in 1938, and he had run Separation and Lava Cliff the year before, prior to their being covered by the lake. 

Brad Dimock (a Grand Canyon guide) has done quite a bit of river history work for anyone interested in reading. "The Doing of the Thing" about Holmstrum and "The Very Hard Way" about Bert Loper are both excellent books.


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## Ken F (Jun 23, 2004)

The book "The River Chasers" by Taft includes history on Colorado boating and is pretty comprehensive. I remember descriptions on:

Kirshbaum
Slidel
Roger Paris
Paris's kayaking school
Fibark
History of Colorado Whitewater Ass.
First run on the Poudre in the late 1940's
Couple of engineers building a clear boat out of Lucite (I think) and trying to run the Poudre, among many other things.


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## Old Fart (Oct 12, 2003)

Now this is a good thread.. often wondered if there was any interest out there. Kirshbaum's son is/was an editor or publisher with Mt Gazette. He probably has some good info. Roger Paris (in his 70's) is still in the Carbondale, Marble area,I believe, and according to reliable sources was seen last winter skiing solo in the Yule Creek drainage. Ron Mason is another name to look into. I believe he did one of the early kayak descents of the Black Canyon. For fun reading, try to get a copy of Jim Stohlquist's boating in the state. It predates Wheat's book, I believe and is entertaining to look at. Anderson also put out a guide to boating in the Southwest. The sport has definitely come a long way in not very many years...keeping track of some of its history is worthwhile.


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## teletoes (Apr 16, 2005)

*Retro Video from the Ark*

Here's some retro video of Ark back in the day.....

Seidel wins the race and gets a smooch from a blond bombshell.

Shooting the Rapids Kayaks Newsreel and Stock Footage


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

Cool stuff. Thanks for the info guys. 

I'm also interested in more recent history and progression too. Steepcreeks.com has a neat site for the southeast that lists first descents, dates and who ran it etc. It would be interesting to see some of the same stuff for colorado creeking history. Who ran big south for the first time, how long have people been running it? What about the crested butte creeks? It would be fun reading over the winter while dreaming of spring runoff.


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## Old Fart (Oct 12, 2003)

Tim Kegerman was very instrumental in gettting the CB area done I haven't seen him in years Anybody know where he is?


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## WhiteLightning (Apr 21, 2004)

Where is Cottonwood Rapid on the Ark? 

Did they used to call it the Ar-Kansas River, or was that a announcer mistake?


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

Dave,

Cottonwood's about 22 miles below Salida according to Western Whitewater. They rate it as a III+, and the description states that its known for big standing waves at high water (which it looked like they had during the race). Its the biggest rapid on the FIBARK Salida to Cotapaxi stretch according to the guidebook. As for "Ar-Kansas" I just know that's how they pronounce the river's name in that flat state to the east of us.


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## dq (Apr 25, 2005)

*?*



Old Fart said:


> Tim Kegerman was very instrumental in gettting the CB area done I haven't seen him in years Anybody know where he is?


Last I saw him was on Gore. He was paddling solo the Friday before the Gore race. That was about 8 or 9 years ago.

He paddled with us starting at Gore rapid. Haven't seen him since.


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## TimWalker (Oct 25, 2003)

*keggerman*

I saw Tim Keggerman in Reno in May 2005. He was operating a little whitewater business right on the river by the playpark. Someone from Reno, like Jay Kincaid, might have better info.

Another guy who went west, whom I last saw in May 2005 in Downieville, CA, and was an absolute hard core creeker is Ed Lucero - the Soul Boater. Anyone know where Ed is now? Ed's shuttle rig -
LightLoad pictures from kayaking photos on webshots

How about Dave Pizutti? Last time I saw Dave he had just had wrist surgery and I'm wondering if that ended his paddling...hope not.


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## Gary E (Oct 27, 2003)

Keggerman is still around reno/cali border. Ed lives in BV colo, and snake(zutti) lives in aspen. 

Big South was paddled first by Landis and company. They didn't run every drop though. I believe Ken and Paul z did cool world first? Cheeseman was Zirk and I believe John Kahn from Confluence and crew. So many.

Most boulder creeks where done by the Baders, Landis and Noble. Between the 4, most 1st d's were done by them. Roaring fork valley, most were done by, Zutti, Placek, Tefft, MacAuthor and crew.

Like posted above Keggerman ran CB solo. He is also an absolute nut and classic.
Gary


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## Old Fart (Oct 12, 2003)

Time Frame: I paddled the Slate with Tim in 1990 after he had started running it. That was the first of the creeks , I believe, that he pioneered there. I think at the time he was looking at OBJ, but had yet to do it. Not sure if it was that summer or the next that he got it done.


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## Jahve (Oct 31, 2003)

Here is some Lake Creek history - true as far as I know.

Lake Creek I believe was first run by Zack Hubbard... In about 93' or so... I wish I could have sacked up for the run in 93' but I did not run Lake until 96'... I think that Zack also has the first run of Lake Creek in a raft as well... It did happen I have seen the video.

Bill Jones still has the most runs of Lake in one year - 28... That bar is set high!!!

Zack is still rippin it up here on the Ark... Not sure who ran Clear Creek of the Ark first or the year. Anyone know?


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## blutzski (Mar 31, 2004)

Teletoes, where the hell did you come up with that video? That's sweet!

Someone should come up with a list of first D's. I nominate Edgeworth. I though I saw one once but maybe that was for the southeast. I would love to know who to thank for paving the way.

Oh yeah, and the list should include what 12 foot long death trap boat they got 'er done in!


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## KSC (Oct 22, 2003)

Hmm, I propose starting a page on Wikipedia with a list of runs in Colorado and first d's, and then folks can add stories to the entries. That's something I'd read. Good idea?



blutzski said:


> Teletoes, where the hell did you come up with that video? That's sweet!
> 
> Someone should come up with a list of first D's. I nominate Edgeworth. I though I saw one once but maybe that was for the southeast. I would love to know who to thank for paving the way.
> 
> Oh yeah, and the list should include what 12 foot long death trap boat they got 'er done in!


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## Ken Vanatta (May 29, 2004)

*late '70s and early '80s*

In the late '70s and early '80s, there were about a half dozen cells of baoters scattered throughout the state. All were humble explorers. I started boating in Gunnison in 1981. Fortunately, I met and was assimilated into the CB/Almont/Gunny crew that had already been paddling the area for several years prior. The then notorious group consisted of: Tom Nofzinger, Todd Hebblewhite, Steve Morgan, Dave Beardsley, Jeff Littfin, and Tim Kegerman. Some runs by them prior to my inclusion may have been FDs. By the time I joined them in '81 we were regularly boating: The East, Lotus and Upper Taylor (enjoyable above 800 and up to 1500 cfs), Lake Fork, Cimmaron, Black Canyon, Pine Creek (up to 6000 cfs), Upper Animas/ Rockwood, Bailey, Lake Creek (not me), Black Rock/Narrows/Rigor, Upper Taos Box, Pueblo, and Red River. In 1984 Todd disappeared on a solo tour of the area and boated the UTB solo at 4000 cfs and is believed to have notched the FD of the Embudo, solo at like 4.5'. Upon his return, Todd, Tom, Dave Wiens, myself, and a team of 6 others from around the nation did the FD of the Rio Moctezuma in the Veracruz area. Later Tom, Steve and I did the FD of the Rio Mesquital (two years after their disasterous earlier attempt where a member of the team ran a ledge blind, pinned, died, was rescusitated, evac'd, and had both legs amputated). Then in the late '80s Paul Zirkelbach, Eric Keighin, and I did the FD of the Rio Urique. Paul and I had boated together on numerous occassions since my start. Finally, Paul, John Foss, and myself, (plus others, which some portaged some of the big ones) were apart of the team to run what was hoped as the FD of the Big South's big drops. Unfortuantely, we heard that Will Gad (Gant?) of WY had snuck in the day beofre the road opened and grabbed them. We still enjoyed our sweet taste of achievement, nonetheless. 

What is interesting about the early explorations is that most of what is still considered hair boating was done back then in 13 foot long glass or plastic boats. Jim Stohlquist was instrumental to the sport, both in his own early boating and is his equipment design. He deserves the kudos for the brand and much of the popularity of boating in Colorado.

Cheers!


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## Gary E (Oct 27, 2003)

Thanks Ken; I sent out some emails and will have a solid list soon.

On the Lake creek note- Zach and 4 others did first d para. Zach did go first and 28 runs in a season by billy is way low. Scott Y, Zach, Billy used to run everyday all summer.

Gary


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## Old Fart (Oct 12, 2003)

Ken, another name that should be included in that early Gunnison/CB era is Mike Morlein(sp?) He was definitely one of the early chargers along with the crew you mention. In the early to mid seventies the few of us paddlers in the area were pretty challenged by the Taylor, Lake Fork and the Ark. All the aforementioned started changing that and Stohlquist and Lindsey Craig definitely were instrumental in raising the bar. On another note, your trip on the Urique was probably the first to run it all at a real level, but the river was explored and descended in inflatables in 1971 at very low levels by a team led by John Cross. 
SYOTR
Scott G


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## Ken Vanatta (May 29, 2004)

*Cool*

Yeah, Lindsey comes to mind. Interesting about the Urique. I didn't know inflatibles existed that early. Other that army rafts. Our trip was a full on commando class V+. The banditos were on a rampage then. The boating, trying to stay away from land to avoid possible ambush by the banditos, was often running class V with barely an eddy scout. Typical of Mexico, like a mouse in a maze, not all channels provided the anticipated exists ... though we survived them all. Zerk and I partied in Eurique village on X-mas eve, danced and entered any and all home, got wasted with the Marshall and his cousins (most the town) and, with Eric, exited the Rio and carried our boats into town again on New Years day to streets littered with drunks in the gutters. Pretty amazing for being something like 6500' feet below the rim. Way cool. 

Yep, Kevin Padden, Matt Ganes, Roger Paris, John Paris, the Baders, Dave Neff, Hair Clair, Jaycox , Zerkelbach, and a small number of others all felt a pretty exclusive group back in the day. It was when things were really taking off. Small groups of Eastern, Northern, and Cali boaters all were leading the charge across the nation with the, then improvements, in neoprene sprayskirts, splash jackets, paddles, and still long but stronger boats. My first was a Preception Quest. Then the Mirage. And soon styled it in the Stohlquist Needle Rig XS (Moctezuma). Great Memories. One of my favorites was watching Kevin Padden disect No Name rapid on the Animas in '82. From then on I was addicted to the slice and dice techinique (micro-eddy hopping) of enjoying how to pick apart a river and turn them into complete playgrounds. Thankfully, I still have many of the earliest videos from the American Sportsman and some of our own footage and pictures. That was a great time to have experienced. Boaters knew and waved respectively to each other then. Sometimes we would encounter each other on high 4x4 passes getting to the next adventures. Yep, ... great times.


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

Top notch info guys! Keep it coming. It would be cool to consolidate all the info and have a page for that on the buzz. 

Ken, I read about american sportsman footage of Blackadar and others. Is that the stuff you have? That would be a hoot to see.


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## matts (Oct 29, 2003)

I think it was the summer or 98 or 99 (?), Bill ran it somewhere between 40 and 50 times...


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## Mike Hartley (May 1, 2006)

I've heard amazing things about John Paris that maybe some of you could verify. I remember seeing him in the old White Room video on Barrel Springs at flood. He put-in and ran a drop above what Padden and Gaines were willing to do. That says volumes to me considering what those guys had done. I've heard John hand paddle not only Pine Creek but also the North Fork of the Payette. Great campfire tall-tale or any truth to it?

Padden was so confident. I watched him play a long time ago at the top of Pine Creek at 3', side-surfing and endering out of the first big hole. It may have well have been class II.


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## Old Fart (Oct 12, 2003)

*More*

A little more: J Calvin Giddings, A chemistry professor, best known for his first D on the Apurimac in Peru ( mid 70's) led the first D party (kayak) through Cross Mt in 1965. Another American Sportsman classic is Cully Erdman's attempt to run Osterizer at 10 grand. Giddings also first D'd the Black Boxes of the San Rafael I believe in the early 70's. On another note, I think I have read that Blackadar was the first to run all of Gore without portaging. Don't really know if this is true or part of the myth. Also don't know what year this occurred.


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

who was the first person to run the black canyon?


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## Old Fart (Oct 12, 2003)

I think Kirschbaum was in there in the early 60's, but Ron Mason, Bill Clark, Tom Ruwitch, and Filip Sokol ran it in 1975. By the way, there was a great stretch drowned by the Crystal Dam. Rapid of note was called Crystal Creek Falls. Prior to the completion of the dam in 1977, there were two weekends when I got to paddle this stretch. The powers that controlled it basically opened it up to paddlers for a last shot before drowning it.


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## Ken Vanatta (May 29, 2004)

*So bummed ... may try again*

Ugh!!! So, the @(*@& system lost about an hour's worth of typing I did. Damn it! Maybe I'll try to recreate it another day. I would like others to know about Tom, Todd, others, and some apparently unknown origins.

Later! 
--KV


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

Kev, i dont blame you one bit for not wanting to do it all over. we've all been there and we certainly wouldnt expect you to do anything you dont want to. but if sometime you did.......well, it would be very much worth it im sure...

OF- did those same people run crystal creek itself? certain folks have eluded to crystal creek being a quality run but its access is dubious at best these days


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## Old Fart (Oct 12, 2003)

Yeti
Not sure about Crystal Creek itself. You're saying it would be a run that now ends at the lake behind Crystal dam?


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

the exact same. from co 92 down to the reservoir. a certain figure who's familiar with the black canyon reported "california esque granite" and "unlike other black canyon side streams". not sure exactly what it means. I've always wanted to hike down it but it would be pretty full on, no trails down there and then a straight climb back up without boat support. any thoughts?


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

*Cross Mt. First Attempt*

Here's a bit of history that was posted to the Grand Canyon Private Boater's email list.

Enjoy!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Roy Webb 
To: gcpba -at -yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 10:54 AM
Subject: [gcpba] Cross Mountain


If anyone is interested, the first known attempt at Cross Mountain was about 1943 by Bus Hatch and his drinking buddy, Jim Orr. Bus was the construction supervisor at Kearns Army Air Base in Salt Lake at the time; Orr was his boss. So they brought one of Bus's wooden Galloway-style boats out to try the run. They found a local rancher to haul their boats to the put-in with his wagon and team; he also warned them not to try it, but they went ahead. As they got to the first rapid, Bus said he realized they had a 50-50 chance to make it, which they did; but in the next one the boat was destroyed and they were left clinging to the side of the canyon. In the meantime, Bus's brother Bay saw the wrecked boat come out of the canyon and set off to find help. They were able to work their way upriver in water up to their necks and reach a deer trail, and finally scramble out of the canyon. They made their way, barefooted and beat up, back to the ranch where they had started, and asked to borrow horses to ride back to where their car was. The rancher reportedly said yeah, he had a couple of stiff necked old nags, named Jim and Bus.

Another Yampa adventure of Bus and Jim was a spring trip, when all they brought for food was whiskey and eggs. They ran into an ice jam and in getting around it got soaked, and were just about frozen when they got to the Mantle Ranch. Esther Campbell, who was teaching the Mantle kids at the time, saw them and with the kids were able to pry them out of the frozen boat and feed them some hot food so they could go on.


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