[Awclist] Dolores Shuttle???

Tue May 24 17:18:45 MDT 2005

BEWARE of the statement, "Saggletooth was relatively easy at 3500".  This GREATLY needs a qualifier.  I ran it twice, 5/5 and 5/17,  at 1500 and 2000+.  It is definitely a class [4] and easily the scariest in the Southwest, including the SALT River at 1500 to 2600!!  Don`t conclude that it "covers up" at 3500 because the River Guide says, "Class [5] above 2000" and Western W.W. says, "Class [4]; and MORE difficult at higher flows".  An experienced kayaker says," it's most vicious about 900" [more technical].  The Guide Book says, "Portage below 1000 is highly recommended".  

It is long, with [4] drops.  After the 3rd drop you need to pull hard left but very few rafts avoid hitting the big boulders on the right [4th drop] because the river very deceptively pushes hard right at that point [a wrap hazard].  I watched about a dozen 14 ft rafts run right-of-center [the logical route];  all made it but most tangled with those boulders at bottom right even though they rowed frantically to avoid them.  I ran it both times alone in a 14 ft by 5ft wide cat and hugged the right bank scraping the shore rocks thru the 3rd drop to avoid the violent water below each drop, then PUSHED very hard left for the last drop. On my 2000+ run, rather than enter by hugging the left end of the pour-over at the top right, I dropped over the center of that pour-over to insure not getting sucked left into the mainstream.  On our 2000+ run, an experienced IKer flipped on the very first drop with a long, nasty swim.

 At higher flows it's quite possible an exhausted swimmer couldn`t recover in time to avoid the lethal under-cut wall about 300 yards down, on the right.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Sara Traub 
  To: Adobe Whitewater 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 2:09 PM
  Subject: Fwd: RE: [Awclist] Dolores Shuttle???

  Dolores info and looking for people to run the box with:

  "Vinson, Joe" <JVinson at state.nm.us> wrote: 
    From: "Vinson, Joe" <JVinson at state.nm.us>
    To: 'Sara Traub' <sara_traub at yahoo.com>
    Subject: RE: [Awclist] Dolores Shuttle???
    Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 11:10:30 -0600

    We just ran the Dolores this weekend from Bradford to Slickrock. We also
    did not have a second vehicle to shuttle but there were lots of people on
    the river, so arranging a shuttle with other folks at the put-in was cake.
    All of the river access points were well populated. By the way,
    Snaggletooth at 3500 cfs was relatively easy. There would be a strong
    penalty for a mistake but the moves needed to negotiate Snag were relatively
    easy. Most of the rest of the rapids were washed out. On that section the
    river was running a good 6 mph+...short times on the water. The weather was
    great, the camps were great, just like the Dolores is, but I'd get there
    early to beat th e rush at the put-in/take-out.

    P.S. I'm a lone rafter in search of someone to run the box with--don't want
    to do it as a solo boat. Anyone out there interested in hooking up for a
    "safety in numbers" run?

    Thanks...Joe

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Sara Traub [mailto:sara_traub at yahoo.com]
    Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 10:58 AM
    To: awclist at swcp.com
    Subject: [Awclist] Dolores Shuttle???

    ---------------------------------

    Greetings AWC members

    Its been years since the Dolores has run and I want to
    get out and do it this year! Unfortunately, my new job
    has not let me accumulate any vacation days yet, so
    its going to have to be a 3 day trip only. I want to
    run from Gympsum vally to Bedrock and was wondering if
    any of you good folks knew of a good shuttle person
    (probably located in slick rock, as we will go thru
    there).

    Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!!!

    Have a great spring boating season!

    Jim Gale

    Albuquerque NM

    jgale69 at hotmail.com

    PS, I was just down the Taos Box on Sunday (~4300
    cfs)....great FUN and Very BIG and fast from rock
    garden on down!!!

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