Canoeing The Gunnison, From Hotchkiss to Delta

Our previous blog, Doing It On the Road ,was stolen by a hacker and so we have been forced to start a new blog! Google has so far denied our attempts to return access. Furthermore the hacker used our email to send a request for money saying we were in England and have been mugged. We are safe and need no money.

We were in a narrow branch of the river and something wasn't right. The current was too fast, as the water was being forced into the narrow channel, by a newly constructed coffer dam and there was no sign warning a river traveler. Worse yet the rapids on the main channel were too much for us and so we had to run the left channel.
One of the things we had wanted to do was go with Val and float down the Gunnison in Colorado. George had agreed to drop us off above the town of Delta and pick us up at the fourth bridge, where there is a pickup point and a warning sign about further travel. So it was with some trepidation that we pushed off from shore and started our float.
The Gunnison was a little stained but it had cleared considerably from recent monsoon rains and so we could see submerged rocks and snags. It was flowing pretty fast and we quickly reached a small class one rapids. Keeping our mad river canoe straight we scrapped bottom once and then reached a relatively calm stretch of moving water.
I saw place after place where I wanted to fish but I hadn't brought my fly rod as this first time down the Gunnision was really a test of our skills and the canoes capabilities,(If you read our old blog you know that we had primarily used it in protected waters). Renita took the camera out and started to take some images of the river and surrounding cliffs, but she soon had to store it in its waterproof bag as a much stronger rapids neared.

Following Val, who had run the stretch of river before, we passed through a chute and actually took in a little water as the bow of the canoe almost stuffed a wave. Renita, in the bow, held on firmly to her paddle and quickly obeyed my commands of paddle left, no left, and change sides and we made it through our first class two rapids.

The float went swiftly as we drifted and rested through calm stretches followed by rapids and then another calm stretch. A great blue heron lifted from the water and flew to a promontory where it stood and watched us pass. Two ducks flushed ahead and flew downstream but we soon caught up with them and we played tag for a bit till they flew around us.
Ahead a strong rapids made us take a narrow channel to the right and the water slowed to almost a crawl. We soon ran aground in a shallow rapids and our first portage of the day went easy, except for wading on the slippery rocks of the shallow stream bed.

Houses started to appear along the banks, or should I say vacation homes, and a bridge told us that we were getting near Delta. Two more bridges loomed in the distance, and then I saw something I didn't want to see, a newly built coffer dam!
Msking a major mistake we decided to float into a narrow channel on the left side instead of landing on the right side of the coffer dam and portaging around it. Well deciding really wasn't the right choice of words as the current was so fast that we quickly passed any chance of taking the portage.
The channel narrowed and sped up! It curved around and we saw cement walls. Putting our paddles to good use we were barely able to canoe against the current and land on an island. I saw a possible portage to the other side and we dragged the canoe and Val's kayak back to the man channel. Val, ever the daredevil decided to try and ride her kayak into the river, pretending it was a luge, and she almost made it!
Laughing, we helped her as she climbed back into her craft and we headed for the bridges.
Now the other channel appeared and we were able to see that the narrow channel we had been in ended in a small dam with a five foot waterfall, oh my! It was a place that we would have definitely crashed and rolled the boats. I reminded myself to be sure to check out google earth from now on and to always inquire about the current river conditions.
Muddy water entered the river from the irrigation ditches and it became harder to spot submerged rocks. To add to the excitement it started to first drop big raindrops followed by a strong rain. Of course we had launched in beautiful blue skies and hadn't brought our rain gear.
Val reassured us that the take out point was near and so we paddled on, at least the rain was warm ,and we stayed comfortable as we were wearing our life jackets. Another rapids appeared and then a small drop where large rocks dammed much of the channel.

Drawing more water then Val's kayak, we hit a rock dead center, turned sideways, and started to roll over. The canoe lucrhed big time and then righted itself. We stayed out of the drink! Maybe the mad river canoe really was a good choice. It sure gave Renita confidence and she stated her opinion as I thought to myself about my mistake in misguiding the rock.
Alls well that ends well and the fourth bridge appeared. along with our truck and a wet and shivering George. It turns out he had fell, while wading a rapids and had rolled over before regaining his footing. He wa proud however in his fishing ability as he told us of the 20 inch brown he had caught and released.
It had been a nice four hour float, we had successfully run some class one and maybe easy class two rapids. Our canoe had met or exceeded our expectations. What could be better then a day on a Gunnison. Clear skies.