# Colorado's Big Drops



## JCKeck1 (Oct 28, 2003)

I just finished reading about Lucero's 118fter and started to realize that there aren't really any huge (runnable) drops in colorado. There's stupid falls on the east (60ft?) and Zoot Shoot (40?). What else is big? Anyone know of the level to run Stupid? I'm not that stupid, but it's fun to talk about before the season.


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## sward (Dec 14, 2003)

We took a look at a couple of 50+ footers this last season. One was in the middle of a couple of treacherous (multiple move) 30'ers in the gorge below the CRC write up of South Mineral Creek. I guess it has been run.

Also we did a 1st decent of Falls Creek (drainage into Vallecito on hike). There was at least a 50'er in there. We didn't run it. It was tough to tell how deep the landing was. I'vd been off Zute and this looked a lot bigger. Might be 60'. That Wayne Chorter guy has some pics of it on his web site. not sure the link.

Steve.


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## GDalton (Nov 4, 2003)

*big drops*



sward said:


> We took a look at a couple of 50+ footers this last season. One was in the middle of a couple of treacherous (multiple move) 30'ers in the gorge below the CRC write up of South Mineral Creek. I guess it has been run.
> .


Yup, my friend Josh ran that last 30'er on South Mineral last summer (i'd guess this was not the first time it's been dropped). This is the one last bug drop above the campground I think. We ran most of the sketchy little drops leading up to it, through the meadow, as well. Got some decent pics too. So beautiful back in there. There are several nice, runnable biguns near Pagosa Spgs too, that someone has cleaned out but we didn't jump on those.

Gordon


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## jonny water (Oct 28, 2003)

Yule creek has some pretty big drops. That run doesn't get too many boaters per year, but some big falls.


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## Cutch (Nov 4, 2003)

Yule. Unlike most of the big CO drops the main (bottom 4) drops are surprisingly easy to run. You just line up and go, a lot like the obj stuff. Consequences are big though, but it is a quality run that I am surprised isn't run more often. 

Upper Yule also has a huge drop that I have looked at from the road. Access looks sketch, and I heard that some guys looked at it and there was a log in the landing. 

Brent Toepper ran the big one on upper south fork crystal. I remember the video from a few years back. 

There is a massive vert on the south side of the pass from Copper mtn to Leadville. I don't think the landing would be good to go unless it was at full on flood though. Even then it might not be possible. 

Colorado's rock just isn't made for big drops. I can count numerous 10 footers in CO that are harder than most 50's that I have seen else where. The mank in this state makes for some very skilled creek boaters, whereas the skill needed to run big drops in other states is much less. Personally, I feel that it is usually easier to run a straight 50 footer than it is to run a quadrouple step 30 footer. If you want to run big drops then learn the skills here in CO, and then travel out of state to run the big verts. Just pack your balls in your gear bag.


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## ToddG (Nov 29, 2003)

kyle -- 

"easy to run" is relative terms. maybe "easy" once you get over the feeling of having lower intestine tangled up with your adam's apple when you actually have your first (or tenth) visual on the bottom four. plus number 3 is more "pray, line up, and pray as you go" than "line up and go". 

my guess is that the bottom 4 is the biggest totally clean section of water in colorado ... but that's just my guess, and is only considering what's currently being run .... and the reason that it's not run more often has everything to do with commiting to the bottom 4 & the sketchy private land access issues -- you know, attack dogs, shotguns and whatnot ...
that said, i'm looking forward to this year's runs on yule. 

here's a cool quote from jeff galbraith that has nothing to do with this topic: "baseball is the new punk sport for kids who don't care what their jock skateboarder friends say"

bye,
tg


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## JCKeck1 (Oct 28, 2003)

how big are these drops on Yule? Doesn't quite sound like my cup of tea, but it'd be fun to watch. Any place I could find more beta - access and such.


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## Cutch (Nov 4, 2003)

TG, I agree. I was thinking that someone would respond to this after I posted. Like you said though, 



> my guess is that the bottom 4 is the biggest totally clean section of water in colorado ... but that's just my guess, and is only considering what's currently being run .... and the reason that it's not run more often has everything to do with commiting to the bottom 4


Granted there are only a select few boaters in CO that have the skill (no room for error), are willing, or want to run those bottom drops. The drops are very very scary, and the consequences can be huge and are real because of the lack of control at the speed you drop. Still, for those that are very solid class V or V+ boaters and are willing to take the risk of running those big of drops the bottom 4 of Yule are the best of the big that CO has to offer... in my opinion. 

I want to go back in there with you TG. That day may have been the highlight of last season. That place was amazing, and I was stoked to be with the crew that we had in there. Talk to you soon...


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## Cutch (Nov 4, 2003)

JC,

The bottom 4 drop are actually more like three drops. The first one is about a 30 foot vert into a small pool, then immediately into a 40-50 foot (vert drop) slide that leads you into a cliff wall. You have to turn side ways and bank off the cliff wall with the bottom of your boat. You cannot stop in the middle of the two drops. If you screw up the first one, you have to self recover before the slide. It is impossible to set safety so the first person that goes has to clean the drop. There is a huge pool at the end of the slide after the wall check. 

The third drop is a big almost two tiered slide. It drops about 80 feet total. Most of us actually bounced off a rock in the center. I hit the bottom pool with so much speed that it tore my foam helmit liner. I had to undo my chin strap in the bottom pool because it was choking me. Again, first person has zero safety at the bottom. 

The last drop is a wierd 20 footer. Good to go, kind of the celebration icing on the cake. 

There are numerous good drops up stream, but access in and out is difficult due to landowners. 

back to class


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## marko (Feb 25, 2004)

Kyle
Isn't there video of you guys running Yule last summer? And if I'm correct isn't ithis footage coming out in the new LVM? I saw the preview this winter in Salida. It was awesome footage. Can't wait to see it again if its coming out in the upcoming LVM...its about to hit a kayak store near you. Good to see some CO boaters representin'


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## Cutch (Nov 4, 2003)

Mark, your right. The winter LVM (#11 I think, about to come out) has a section on a few of us in the Crystal river valley. It has North Fork Crystal, one shot of South Fork Crystal, upper Yule (hike too, mini creeking), and main Yule (the highlight). Huge thanks to Brook Aitken for helping up with the editing and for letting us use his equipment.


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## JCKeck1 (Oct 28, 2003)

As a related point, I'm just interested to know how CO got rated the sickest whitewater state in Kayak magazine. I just got back from WA and they have some absolutely awesome stuff. We only spent three days paddling, but managed to find bigwater class V and easier class V creeks. One point to mention is that they don't have very many class IV runs. It seems to be a few easier Vs, tons of full on V and class III- stuff. Their season is year round, unlike our three+ month season. I'm no expert and I haven't really boated in many states, but I was really suprised that CO is the sickest whitewater state.


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## badkins (Oct 30, 2003)

That is weird, judging from what I've seen California would most likely be considered the sickest whitewater state, Colorado would probably round out the top five. Is Kayak magazine online, I would like to read what their justification is, mankiest strainer infested whitewater?

As far as the biggest drops in Colorado, Miller's falls at the end of Crystal Gorge is sure fun to look at. As far as I know no-one has ever run it, but it does kinda look marginally runnable considering the incredibly sick shit you see being run by the pro's.


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## N. Wigston (Nov 5, 2003)

there is a section of gore creek coming into vail that has three large waterfalls. you can check them out from a bridge on I-70. it looks like a 20 footer, 30 footer, and a forty footer with no eddies inbetween. pretty narrow gorge too. they have been run several times. 

nick


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## jonny water (Oct 28, 2003)

I thought I remembered reading that West Virginia got the sickest whitewater state. I think you might have read that wrong. Colorado, California, and Idaho were next but not in that order.


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## HINDS (Oct 14, 2003)

West Virginia won the online poll for Kayak Mag!
This was not an "out of thin air proclamation" but rather a poll that was taken online by our visitors and readers. The results were as follows.
26% voted West Virginia
22% voted California
20% for Colorado
16% for Idaho
14% North Carolina

My personal opinion is that is right on the money! Never really boated in Cali but I think people got the right idea overall, maybe Cali should be #1. It all has to do with boating style and the type of runs you want to do and enjoy most. Colorado might not have a long season but if you boated every damn day of it, you still could not even come close to hitting all of the class V in the state! That is why it ranks, but I am as pissed off as the next jonesn' boater about the short season.
Nick Hinds


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## RiverWrangler (Oct 14, 2003)

> there is a section of gore creek coming into vail that has three large waterfalls.


Nick,
I've checked this section out and it was definitley at a HIGH flow when I scoped it (last summer, the weekend when the flooding Eagle created a fat sink hole in I-70)...but it looked challenging to say the least. Do know who has run this section? The stretch from the 30 to the 40 footer looks to me to be the gnarliest. If it goes, i'd be interested in taking a second look...maybe at a lower flow.
Evan


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## Cutch (Nov 4, 2003)

Are you guys talking about the drops under the I-70 east bound lanes? Those are only two 20 footers and a 4 footer inbetween, at least the ones I scouted at river level. The first you drive hard left, the second is a small sticky hole in a boat width slot. The third is a straight forward ledge drop with a narrow landing. Hobie ran the bottom two. Or are you talking about something else?


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## Hartje (Oct 16, 2003)

*Alberta Falls in RMNP...*

There is a line on Alberta Falls in RMNP - a very fine line, though, and a fast slide above it that has the potential to skip you out so far you would land on shore. But there is a narrow pool and I know a schoolteacher from Boulder who accidentally swam this falls at peak runnoff and was more or less fine afterwards. This doesn't mean it's safely droppable but suggests a boater could paddle away from it without bodily damage if he or she were to treat it like any other sketchy drop. 

The hardest part would be controlling your speed from above and airing out the bottom drop of 25-feet and taking something of a calculated hit, though if you were totally flat and the water was up it could even be fluffy. 25-feet doesn't sound like much but there is 50-feet (aprox) of slick-rock granite slide above this that is, IMO, part of the same falls as it's fast all the way to the lip. So that makes it a pretty big drop and a crown jewel descent of micro creek boating IMO. The other CO. boaters who scouted this with me were not as enthusiastic about its runnability as I was but it was low then. Do a google search and you will find numerous pictures of this drop at all water levels. There is also Ribbon Falls in the park which is a 150-foot, 20 degree slide that is worth hiking up to with a boogie board.


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## ToddG (Nov 29, 2003)

hartje ... we hiked to ribbon & above hoping that something on that creek would materialize and make it worth all the effort ... to no avail. ribbon falls isn't so rad (hence your boogie board comment!). there's one drop above it coming outta the lake that could be fun, but there's nothing worth being in your boat for in the mile of water between the two drops ... and the hike was pretty rediculous. you guys already did the worthy stuff on glacier downstream, but from what i recall, the only waterfall on that landed on rubble (?) .... anyway, where you are now is heaven on earth compared to colorado for big clean drops .... you should link up with joey mosquera to hit bridge creek -- he said its running now. you'd like that one ... hope you're doing well!!!

tg


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## badkins (Oct 30, 2003)

Jesus Christ! is there anything you guys haven't run in this state!?!? :shock: Frickin Ribbon Falls has got to be at like 11,000 foot! I saw some pics of it and thought it looked pretty cool, but dismissed it as soon as I figured how far up the trail it was. :roll: Have you paddled Cascade or North Inlet Creeks?


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## ToddG (Nov 29, 2003)

We're pretty freakin' OLD, man! Been paddling around here for too long. Hartje made his escape years ago, but after a year and a half away, I got sucked back in ... Re, cascade & n. inlet : NO ...


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## JCKeck1 (Oct 28, 2003)

What's N. inlet creek look like? Is it worth hiking? I heard a rumor that there might be some decent creeking there.


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## badkins (Oct 30, 2003)

It's been several years since I've hiked up it, but it's one of those "looks good on topo" creeks. Lots of gradient and a big watershed.


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## matts (Oct 29, 2003)

as far as gore creek under i-70 goes: hobie and struth got the first d of those a few years ago...can't say more...

as far as other big drops that haven't been run...they are still around, but have to be found...won't say more...


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## addicted to liquid (Nov 18, 2003)

*colorado gnar*

ive been creeking for 4 seasons in the majestic colorado rockies and by far creeking has become my choice i love the feling of a free fall just as much as the next guy( i hope to get the jr world record) but i can stay the running a gnarly line technical line gets my adreline going like nothing else if i wanted to run clean drp after clean drp with little tech id move some were else but a tech 10 20 footer will always be better than a 50 wit that a dog in a boat could run


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## overlyworked (Oct 14, 2003)

hey conor remember that drop in lc? what about that one this year. or good ole whitmore falls?


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## N. Wigston (Nov 5, 2003)

kyle,
you have to look downstream a bit on gore creek. there is another bigger drop than the top two. 
nick


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## steven (Apr 2, 2004)

what about canyon and cascade near durango--there are some big ones on those----also 2nd gorge of lime


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## RiverWrangler (Oct 14, 2003)

In response to the talk about Black Gore Creek


> you have to look downstream a bit on gore creek. there is another bigger drop than the top two.


 These are the drops I was referring to in the post above. The top drop looks to be around thirty feet and is directly under I-70. This falls drops directly into a stomping, narrow cascade, rages around a hard right turn and then drops of another 30-40 footer. Like I said above, the level was pretty high when I looked at it, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone has run it, but it looks very challenging...
Evan


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## RiverWrangler (Oct 14, 2003)

Has anybody ever run or thought of going into Forest Canyon? ToddG maybe? I've hiked in there with very low flows and there are some BIG drops in there. Very manky and wood filled (hence the "forest" canyon title) but there maybe some runnable drops and with some discreet wood relocations it could turn into quite an adventure.

Evan


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## steven (Apr 2, 2004)

where is forest canyon?


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## Hartje (Oct 16, 2003)

*Forest Canyon -*

Forest Canyon is a unique place. There are no trails in Forest Canyon and the park service discourages people from entering it. I hiked in from the BOTTOM and saw some majestic boulder cascades with some serious vertical. I guess my rantings of this place were inspiring enough to other boaters who did the first descent less than a week later, which my hat goes off to - no matter what the outcome. Forest Canyon is wild and scary and it required, I imagine, a serious commitment to exploratory paddling to shoulder your boat and walk 2,000 feet straight down from the high alpine environs of Trail Ridge Road into an unknown, innaccessible canyon. 

During my solo hike into this canyon was the first time my neck hair stood on end from a feeling that I was being stalked. I never saw anything, and it was probably nothing, but I was a long way back in there and suddenly wanted out. Remember, there are no ******** firing off guns in the Park to keep the wildlife running scared from humans and this was not long after a boy had been dragged off and eaten by a mountain lion near the west entrance. This is a great thing, though, that a place such as this can exist so close to Denver. 

With all this exciting talk of big, manky Colorado drops I wish I knew how to post a picture because I found some high water shots of Alberta Falls on Glacier Creek that reveal its potential as a big, manky Colorado drop.


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## ebaker (Oct 14, 2003)

Hartje - To upload a picture to one of the Buzz galleries, you need to:

1 - Mouse-over the Photo Galleries link in the top navigation menu and click on the gallery you would like to upload to.

2 - When the gallery loads, you will see a graphic button in the upper left hand corner of the screen that says "Upload Pic".

3 - Then it's all laid out for you on the next screen. You will need to browse for your picture from your machine. Basically, the Buzz makes a copy of your image.

Hope that helps 'cause I really want to see it!


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## Hartje (Oct 16, 2003)

*Thanks ebaker*

Thanks - I had no idea it was that easy to upload photos. I put three pix up taken at peak melt last year.


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## blutzski (Mar 31, 2004)

RiverWrangler said:


> These are the drops I was referring to in the post above. The top drop looks to be around thirty feet and is directly under I-70. This falls drops directly into a stomping, narrow cascade, rages around a hard right turn and then drops of another 30-40 footer. Evan


These are some fun drops if you get them at the right level. The first one under I-70 isn't runnable. It lands in about 2 feet of water with no chance for a boof. The next three are good to go. Unfortunately, that makes the put-in the scariest part of the whole run. We had to anchor our boats on a 45 degree slope 8 feet above the river, climb into the boat, have someone tie our rescue vest quick release to the anchor and release the boat, wait till that person could run down to the first drop to watch for any carange, pull the rip cord, drop 8 feet into the creek and go off the first 30 footer 2 seconds later. The run lasts about 20 seconds but is a rush. from the bottom of the last drop you can hike out or bump and grind down to east vail.


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## ToddG (Nov 29, 2003)

re forest canyon: 

on a "hot tip" from one mr. shawn hartje ... beavers, myself & talkalottapoo celebrated 4th of july in there couple years back. it's an amazing place w/ tons of wildlife & no human traffic ever ... it's got some good big drops, some fun bouldery stuff, & plenty of unrunnable stuff ... it's got enough deadfall to supply a papermill for the next decade & a rediculous walk in. bears too. 

it's not worth it. trust me on this one. ((lake creek is swell and it's roadside.)) 

tg


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## badkins (Oct 30, 2003)

I went m-biking on Sunday and saw a sweet tea-cup style bedrock cascade called Horsetooth Falls, near Horsetooth Reservoir. It looked like it dropped at least 100 foot over 6 or 7 distinct drops. I don't think it runs except in big rainstorms tho...and access would be a bitch. If I go back this weekend I'll post pics...


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## JCKeck1 (Oct 28, 2003)

No one ever wants to say anything about stupid falls - why is that.....? I watched Valhalla tonight - are those the Yule drops you're talking about Kyle? If so, I agree that you should definitely eat your initial words about it. Maybe boats easier than it looks would be a better description because that looks pretty scary.


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## Cutch (Nov 4, 2003)

Yeah, Valhalla has lots of Yule. Yule isn't for most, but for very solid boaters that are willing to suffer the consequences of a mistake, it has the goods. At least relating to runnable more-than-a-few times big drops in CO. The season is fairly long for it too, and it doesn't take much water to run it so you can go in there when it is mostly rocky instead of pushy.

Stupid falls looks worse in scouts to me than any of Yule. I haven't seen it with enough water to ever run though, so that could be why. 

I'll owe you a beer for my comment Joe. 2.5 weeks until my cast comes off!


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## steven (Apr 2, 2004)

we did yule 4 years ago and i still remember it as one of the best days of creeking i have ever had. we had no beta and did some limited scouting [after a minor altercation with a landowner]. he told us it was all private on both sides and to stay away. we politely said okay and drove on up the yule road a ways and bushwhacked down to the creek with some gear in case we had to climb out [i think we went a little ways past a bible-camp-type place] we were immediatly upon some class 5 in a beatiful, tight canyon. the drops just kept coming, and we took turns probing them. water was not too high so we were able to get out above almost all drops. when we got to the final 4--we were shocked and amazed. with no beta--we considered climbing out, but did not. one of my friends ran the 35 footer 1st, and we all regrouped in the pool below it and wall-slammer. we knew that once we ran the 35--we were committed to the wall. i took this one 1st and cleanly lifted the left side of my boat for impact. it was very hard to say the least. my buddy got the wind knocked out of him pretty bad. you hit that wall going so fast. after wall-slammer it was my other pals turn at going 1st and i was glad about that. this 3rd drop of the final 4 is so sick---drop into the "v" slot and catch air coming out of it and then land with another 50-65 feet of verticle at about 45degrees and then hit the water so fast that i actually caught big air on the bounce. then the sloppy 15-18 footer to end it. the 3 of us in that bottom pool looking up at what we had just run were as stoked as any boaters could be. that night we drank and relived and drank and relived until 2 of us puked. this did not help us the next day on the crystal gorge. as far as yule goes---i have to say that the big 4 did not require much technical paddling skill, but the consequences could have been horrendous [decapitation, broken bodies] vallecito requires more skill in my opinion. does anyone know the gradient of the last half mile or so?


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## steven (Apr 2, 2004)

also--i would think this run at higher water would be very, very dangerous to say the least


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