royal gorge – Wild Wanderer

Raftpacking

The day had its ups and downs. I’d set my alarm and it hadn’t gone off, putting me 4 hours behind schedule for the day. I’d summited Deer Mountain A in the coldest conditions I’ve seen this season, made it back to the trailhead, and drove as fast as I could to Canon City. I hate being late, and felt awful for putting us behind schedule. No, not going wasn’t an option: we were raftpacking in the Bighorn Sheep Canyon in October, the weather wasn’t going to get any better than it was right now and I really didn’t want to wait until summer. Also, I’ve recently accomplished a few major goals and came to the realization I need to start making time for my friends.

Rafting isn’t a quick process, so after combining vehicles and driving and setting up the raft and our dry bags we weren’t on the water until just after 5pm. I didn’t do much (any) of the set-up, and learned a few things about putting together gear (no water or backpacks in dry-bags). I made a mental note to start relaxing now that I’d made it and we were on river. I tried not to get too apprehensive about the weather. It was a warm day, but we were starting late. It wasn’t supposed to get too cold but I can have a Raynaud’s attack even in good weather, so I was hoping not to get cold. Or wet. As long as it wasn’t windy I should be fine. Last time we were out here I didn’t get wet at all, so I was thinking positively.

The ride down the river was nice. We were on river, so phones/cameras were in dry-bags. (Sorry, no on water pictures). We saw raptors flying overhead and river dippers skimming the water and catching bugs near the shore. All around fish jumped and caught their own dinner. The gorge was beautiful and Eric made the rapids look easy (I didn’t do much).

The sun was slowly starting to set in the gorge and the wind picked up just a little bit. I was getting splashed in the rapids and instead of drying out between runs I stayed wet. It accumulated, and before I knew it I was cold. Very, very, cold, even though it was nice out.

Trying not to be too much of a baby I asked how much longer until we made it to camp? 15 minutes. Good, that was good. I could do that. I thought. Unfortunately I don’t remember much about that last 15 minutes because I was so, so, so, so cold. I was losing feeling in my fingers, toes, and legs, but didn’t want to scare Eric and tell him that. I pumped my fingers back and forth. I had goosebumps and my toes were now white.

At 7pm we parked the boat at the beach (yes!!!) and I got out.

Well, I kind of tumbled out of the boat and walked about 10 steps, stumbling towards the scrub oak on the other side of the sand like a newborn giraffe.

I’m used to losing fine motor skills, but this loss of gross motor skills was a bit embarrassing. I could tell by the look in Eric’s eyes he was scared and I tried to reassure him I was ok. He wasn’t buying it and kept a close eye on me. He told me he knew I was used to either leading or doing things on my own, but he was here to teach me how to work as a team (filing that one away).

I knew I just needed to change my clothes so I could get warm, but he wasn’t leaving my side. I took off my life vest and put on a thermal and sweatshirt (something I could do to get warm without taking any clothing off). He had me dry my feet in the sand (it didn’t work). It took me a while to convince him I was ok and just needed to change out of my wet pants. I left the immediate area to go change and he stayed by the raft. Yesterday I’d bought new snow pants: shout out to Roxy for making a pair that, almost, fit me! They’re size xs and I could use one size smaller, but being a little big I was able to put them on without struggling. Bonus: They aren’t kids snow pants and snow pants they’re warm!

It was a slow process but with new dry clothes and a knit hat I felt much better. I still couldn’t feel my toes. I decided walking around in socks was going to have to be ok, put some on, had a shot of whiskey and started feeling much, much better. I began talking more and moving around. Eric was visibly relieved. I’m sure he was worried he was going to have to airlift me out of there or something. It was my fault all around (I got there late) so this never should have been an issue. And, now warm and dry I could focus on other, less basic survival need kinds of things.

My pants were dripping wet. I placed them on a rock, not convinced they’d dry through the night and started setting up my bivvy. We were sleeping about 20 feet above the river on a rocky ledge. There was just enough room for 2 people so we set up our sacks side by side. Unbeknownst to me, Eric put his good sleeping pad underneath my sack (which would come in handy during the night if it got cold). I think he may have been concerned I was going to have another attack during the night (I didn’t).

Knowing I don’t have fine motor skills when it gets cold I don’t usually cook when I backpack/camp in the wilderness, so I was snacking for supper. Drat! I’d forgotten my dried mangoes in the front seat of the truck! Oh well. Beef jerky and almonds it was for dinner. Eric heated up ramen.

We sat and ate dinner on the rock ledge and talked, watching the stars come out. I’m not sure when I fell asleep, but I woke up twice during the night because I was thirsty. Bonus: I wasn’t cold! Here’s the view from our sleeping shelf

I woke up first and watched the sunrise, or as much as I could see from inside the gorge. I wrote up some trip notes from the day before

And made a friend. Actually, lots of friends: there were little caterpillars everywhere! I put every caterpiller I found on the rock behind me and eventually decided to go for a walk because my legs were falling asleep. As quietly as I could I got up, stretched, and went exploring. The area isn’t large, but looks like it could support about 10 people camping (if you don’t mind close quarters and no tents).

Check out the down view from the sleeping area

I was just getting ready to head back when I saw a mama deer and her two babies running like they were late for school

Deer

I took an early morning selfie because I was still the only one up, and decided to take a nap.

I woke up just before the first train went by. I got out my breakfast (you guessed it: beef jerky and almonds). Eric warmed up some water and I had ‘coffee’ and he put the rest in a water bottle for me to use to warm up. He’s convinced me to perpetually hike with a jetboil so my fingers get used to using it when they are numb: Last time I almost started a forest fire, so I haven’t tried to use one when cold since. Everyone on the train waved as they passed and were excited to see us ‘camping out’ in a place only accessible by watercraft. Also, I love my new socks!!! Totally worth the $6. And my pants dried over night so I didn’t have to raft out with snow pants! Another win!

We sat so long on the ledge we saw another train go by. I enjoyed just watching the river, glad to be warm

Around 11am we gathered our gear and got ready to head out.

We were careful to sweep the area one more time to make sure we left no trace. This is the sleeping area (sans gear)

Back in the boat I was worried I’d get cold again, but thankfully the rest of the rafting was done in the sunlight. We stopped and waved to another train and enjoyed some wild grapes on the side of the river. We made it back around 1pm and drove to get Eric’s car. There we parted (he said he could take down the raft and put all the gear away by himself, and I selfishly agreed so I could go home and cook my daughter dinner before heading out again at midnight).

So, minus the brief Raynaud’s attack it was a great trip! We camped at the perfect spot, had some great conversations, and I learned quite a bit about raftpacking. We were the only ones on the water the entire trip. Hopefully next time I can be of a little more help on the water!

After arriving back home I looked at the pictures/videos from the trip. There was one point where I’d thought I’d taken a picture of the train passing, but ended up taking a quick video of the train along with a 4 minute video of the inside of my pocket. While listening to the video I realized something: I’m a lot!!! I talk rapidly, move from one subject to the next, over explain, and monopolize the conversation. This is something I’m going to need to work on. I may need to implement a code word or something with my kids to help me realize when I’m like this (all the time?). BTW, my nickname in preschool was “M-O”, for “Mellow Out”. So I guess what I’m saying is this isn’t something new…

Rafting and Rappelling – Royal Gorge

I have mixed feelings about this river. I’ve been rafting here at least a dozen times, but that one time in 2009 still haunts me. I’d been invited out on the water today (with the added bonus of some potential rock climbing) and was determined not to think about what happened in that icy river 10 years ago. Instead I was going to focus on today’s experience.

I didn’t even realize you could go rafting in Colorado in April, but apparently it’s a thing! Because we were rafting we took 2 separate vehicles and met at a gas station on the way. A local 4H club was having a bake sale, and I couldn’t resist (no, I didn’t but cookies, but left a donation). 4H and FFA bring back so many awesome memories I couldn’t not donate, even just a little bit. Oh, and they were totally taking over that gas station. There were probably 15 students there with their parents. They made an impact, and the belt buckles and handmade signs were a nice touch.

In any event, we parked my truck at the end of our intended route and drove together to the launch area. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized we were nowhere the crash site (it was miles upstream). OK, I could completely relax now. Even though I try not to, on past trips I’ve been glued to the water to see if I can find where we landed. Funny thing, my success rate in actually finding the spot is about 50/50.

First things first: setting up the raft. To be honest I didn’t do much work, but it seemed straightforward. There’s tons of gear you need (or hope you don’t need) for a day on the water. After setting up I stayed by the raft and just relaxed and did yoga for a bit while he parked his car in a lot a few minutes away.

To my surprise it was a beautiful day; A bit chilly when the wind blew, but with the PFD on it wasn’t too bad. My feet were cold, but that was to be expected. I was only splashed by the water a few times, and tried to make it fun. Today’s trip down the river was more serene than any other trip I’ve taken, most likely because I’m usually in charge of 25 excited girls and the river’s flowing faster. It was nice just floating on the river, my friend doing most of the work (which I felt guilty about). On the downside the water could be loud at times and I had a hard time hearing and missed a few strokes (whoops). There were dozens of geese and lots of small birds on the water’s edge. One of my favorite parts about being in nature is seeing wildlife.

After a few hours of rafting we stopped directly underneath the Royal Gorge. I’ve never actually been to the Royal Gorge (something that needs to be rectified soon).

Our intention was to get some photos of me climbing. My main intention was to learn. I want to solo a few Centennials this summer that include rock climbing, and while I’ve climbed for years in a gym and many times with groups, I’ve never been solo, or even in charge of setting up my own equipment. That means I have no true idea what I’m doing, and that needs to change.

I found a friendly rock to hide behind and changed into my climbing gear (this was tricky; as we were directly under the viewing platform of the Royal Gorge, and I’m sure there were tourists with binoculars up there).

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I was given a quick briefing about how to secure ropes that astonished me in its reliance on trusting the strength of rocks I’ve been taught not to trust, and then started climbing. I’ve never been climbing without shoes before, and it was trickier than I’d imagined. I’ve also never self belayed, and I was clumsy to say the least. The rope kept getting longer than I wanted it to, but I wasn’t sure how to quickly shorten it.

Climbing up was pretty easy. The only difficult part was stopping for pictures. I like to keep moving, and I wasn’t too steady staying in one place. I felt nervous and unsecure, and my harness was definitely too tight.

OK, after climbing up it was time to maneuver around the rock so I could rappel down. I like bouldering, and this was exactly what this was (except for the rope and harness continually getting in the way).

I started rappelling and then stopped in place for a picture.

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All was going well, or at least I thought it was, as staying in one place was working. But as soon as I tried to rappel just a little bit something went wrong: I started sliding and couldn’t stop myself. Believe me, I tried, and I have the rope burns on my fingers to prove it. Luckily I was able to slow myself down so I didn’t hit the ground too hard, but I was immediately consumed by tons of negative and unproductive emotions.

I was embarrassed I’d slipped, I wasn’t quite sure how it’d happened, and yes, I was in a little bit of shock from the whole experience. Now I felt very silly for not bringing my helmet (I’d left it in the car… on purpose). I don’t fail well, but need to get over that if I want to accomplish my goals. I still don’t quite know what I’m doing when it comes to solo climbing, and this incident proved that. I’m going to need more practice before tackling this myself. I wanted to get up and try again, but was advised otherwise. So I walked down to the river to cool my burnt fingers in the water.

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We did have time to hang from some rocks though….

Note to self: Now that cookie season is over I need to work on toning my arms.

Oh, and it was fun to see the Royal Gorge train go by. Everyone waves at you and you’re kind of supposed to wave back…

We gathered up our gear and rafted back down to my truck. I was amused to learn we just tied up the raft and left it on the water while we drove to get the other vehicle. This seemed pretty trusting to me, but I guess the rafting community’s pretty honest? Deflating the raft and putting it away proved similar to taking down a tent. A heavy, canvas tent made out of rubber. It was much later than I’d realized (wow! Was it really already 4:30pm?) and I’d promised the girls I’d be home by 6, so I drove a bit faster than I should have home.

OK, so lessons learned today:

You can raft the river in April
It wasn’t as cold as I’d expected on the river in April
A canyon is wider than a gorge (duh…lol!)
I’m better at taking photos than being a subject (this needs work!)
If your guide knows what they’re doing you can avoid getting wet (but it’s probably more fun to tackle the rapids instead of glide through them. Still, I appreciated staying mostly dry)
I need to do some research and practice on how to set up webbing safely (I’ve tried this before and came up empty, so I’m going to have to search again)
I need to buy webbing (maybe on my trip to get a new backpack?) and figure out exactly how much I need
Self belayed rappelling is not my strong suit. I need to practice, preferably in a place where a fall won’t be too tragic.
I may need a thicker and longer rope (mine will hold me, but it’s slippery… maybe gloves?)
I need to develop more patience with myself
I need to fail faster and not beat myself up so much when I do
While I feel like I got the perfect amount of sun, sunscreen is my friend and I can’t forget that
Knowledgeable and patient friends are invaluable
I need to visit the top of the Royal Gorge