So to finish up the trip in the southwest corner of Colorado I was able to rally the local Durango boys for some warmer weather and desert boating. Luckily Escalante is the one drainage that hadn’t completely dropped out due to all the cold weather.

Coming from Durango to escalante is one of the more beautiful drives you can do in Colorado. You climb multiple mountain passes with slow speeds so you can really take in the views. Brianne, being from Michigan, is not quite as used to the views, and the no guard rails, and the steep drop offs, and the piles of rock falling in the road, or snow in May, so I took it slow while she gripped the passenger side o-Sh%t bar. Of course we made it no problem.

Showing up in the canyon just in time for a sweet moon-rise

Camping in the desert is awesome, we had a sweet fire, grilled some bratwurst and drank some cold beer. During the night Cruise and I peeked over the rim with some bright headlamps to see the main Falls completely raging and what is normally a rocky mess, totally filled in with brown sudsy water. The morning came and we were not disappointed with what we saw. Flows had held strong and we saw med-high in the gorge. The fin was long gone underwater at 57 chevy for those who know the gauge. Entering the lower gorge when flows are high definitely means you bring your game. While the moves are not insanely hard, the combination of dark water (where you can’t see the rocks), and pushy flows means you just need to be precise.

The falls still goes smooth at higher flows just the auto-boof is trickier to catch. I took the camera down in to catch a shot up close for the first lap. Here is Cruise Quenelle and Cody Beach.

On the second lap flows had come down a little more but still super fun. The higher the water the better the boogie water goes up top. I’m so lucky to have Brianne along to take such awesome photos seen below. She’s getting some awesome shots and I’m sure they’re going to just keep getting better. Scott Young and Baird (sorry forgot last name) joined us for our second lap through with some good style.

The crew:

Scott Young, original Colorado gangster:

I finally caught the auto-boof on the second lap and Brianne captured the moment perfect.

When you run the S*%t, s*$t can hit the fan. Alex, taking his booty beer like a champ. He’ll be sure to get back after it.

I’ll tally up the vert here soon, until next time. SYOTR

After heading up for a sweet day at the Boxes Brianne and I went to the next drainage over for an awesome camp site right at the base of Vallecito Creek. It feels good to have everything you need with you at all times in the rig. We had a nice fire to keep warm and are figuring out this camp cooking thing. The cold winter storms that seem to keep coming weekly kept the flows pretty low. I think everyone in the state of CO is ready for some sunny days and warmth to get the rivers going. The gauge in the morning read 1.9ish and that meant the door was just open to drop in. This fall I was told there was a really significant wind event through this area. There was definitely trees strewn all over the place within the gorge. Some seemed well anchored and easy to get around, while others are just waiting for that high water to wash downstream and get in our way. The locals have done a good job of keeping the flow clean but it will be a constant battle this spring to get them out after high waters shift them. We went in the next day at around 2ft and pulled a log out that moved during the night, below fuzzy bunny. So; be careful out there and keep an eye out for wood.

Brianne hiked in and got some great shots from the rim of the gorge and I put together a GoPro edit. I switched up the style a bit since I shot footage from Vallecito last year in my Driven project. Check it out, it’s less than 2 minutes long. Tell me what you think of it.

Here is local Reece Hanson dropping into entrance falls.

Cruise Quenelle in the long boat.

And me in the run out of Trashcan.

Here are some interviews and quick clips I got from race day. Don’t worry it’s not 45 people going off Gorilla over and over. Enjoy.

Green Race 2010 from ross herr on Vimeo.

More scenes from the Green. Interviews with Woody, Tommy Hillike, and Cory Volt. Some green house timelapses and more shots from race day. Enjoy.

www.kayakingRoss.com

So everyone knows the score, the dust has settled, hangovers are starting to improve, and it’s time to move on from the greatest show in sports. This years 2010 green race was another awesome event. The entire week of paddling is my favorite of the year for sure. Everyone is pumped, learning new lines, anxious about race day, and excited to party. This year the title is leaving with Mike Dawson to New Zealand but he has already promised to return next year to defend himself. I couldn’t believe how many people were in the gorge. From “Go Left,” down you could barely hear the water beneath your boat over the roar of the spectators. The only negative words I heard all day was there just wasn’t enough carnage. People are really stepping up their game. In the top 40 racers there were ties all over the results page. Also, this year had more long boats than seasons past showing that the kayak industry understands the need for long fast race boats. The Stinger is labeled as this years fastest boat with two of the top three podium spots. I wish i hadn’t paddled the stinger so I could have an excuse for my embarrassing post of a time. It just means next year i’ll have to stay healthy during the week of training and put it together when it really matters.

If you were there this year, and are anything like me, you will definitely be there again next year. The Green Race is a special event that I can’t think of a reason to miss out on. Over a hundred athletes, thousands of spectators, no prize money, just pure competition. Here are some of the photos from race day. I’ll keep going through and adding more. If you want a picture just message me here on my site and I can reply with some higher resolution pics. I have thousands of pictures for the week that i’ll be putting together soon so come back.

These boys were up early to make sure the after party went off with awesome food.

Hale’s speech got everyone fired up, despite the cold

Jules ready to kill

Those aren’t brown claws, the hand paddlers of the Green

Looking up at the crowd after my run

Meg hiked in a bag of wine,

Exactly what i needed at the finish.

My favorite picture of the day.

There were a few backwards lines to be had

but Gorilla was fairly kind this day.

It seems more people had issues with Go Left this year than Gorilla. Here is Corey Volt enjoying himself after a swim at go left. My ribs are going to be sore for a while from my run-in with it earlier in the week.

It was cold

The people are what make this event so awesome



White pants in the gorge?

Isaac on his way to winning short boat class

Adrianne killin it for the women

Passing

Ben Fraker, C1 killer, didn’t let breaking his T-grip off his paddle hold him back. He finished the race and ran Sunshine with what was left of his paddle. The C1 division really gave-er this year with some good carnage too.

Chris Young cam flying off the left of Sunshine. After i took this pic he told me that he hadn’t picked up his kayak since 2008 until friday before the race. My new hero. He said next year he’d have a long boat for sure.

Butter put in some serious time trying to help get this boat out.

Greg Gerrard, might not have been on his line but wanted to make sure the crowd was having a good time

well thats it for now. it’s all still such a blur from waking up sunday, driving 16 hours to be back at school today and planning already for next year.