Upper Animas

This has been a dry year in Colorado. Winter snowfall underwhelmed, which made for a poor ski season and is making for a poor kayaking season. In late May, we are usually either skiing the last flakes of winter or boating on the beginning of runoff. This year there is neither. The snow is gone and runoff has peaked at a very low level.

Memorial Day weekend is usually kick-off to kayak season. In light of low flows, a plan was hatched: kayak the Upper Animas River, between Silverton and Rockwood, just upstream of Durango. Weak runoff left the Animas River at a manageable "medium" level, when it is usually roaring in late May. One day, 28 miles, 3000 vertical feet of elevation loss. Steve and Mike joined in the notion. If we were going to boat on a river this Spring, it would be the Animas.

We met in Durango and figured logistics: We'd eat dinner at the delicious and authentic Schoolhouse Cafe, camp at the takeout, get an early start, drive to Silverton and putin at 7AM. If you know how a group of kayakers work, you'll understand that an 8:30AM putin was "right on schedule."

Sunrise on the Hermosa Cliffs before shuttling to the putin:

Upper Animas Putin (about 550 cfs on the Below Silverton Gage).

Putin from above, at the confluence of the Animas River and Mineral Creek.

The temperature was in the 20's when we put on the river. Drysuits: mandatory. The primary advice we got for the trip was to bring extra layers. Here's me, cold and with icicles on my helmet.

The first few miles were continuous Class II-III splashing whitewater. Each splash was like getting hit in the face with a frozen trout.

Mike tries to warm up in a sunny part of the canyon:

The Upper Animas is one of the most scenic places that I've ever paddled. That's why we were there. 14,000 ft peaks rise almost 5,000 feet from the river valley. Beautiful!

We scouted the first rapid of the day: Snowshed/Garfield Slide (IV) and tried to warm up enough to feel our hands.

Snowshed paddled much easier than it looked. Below, we paddled for miles on Class III, with occasional Class IV-. All read-and-run. No eddies anywhere. Paddling was keeping us warm, so we continued to charge downstream, taking turns leading a new run.

A"new rapid" on the Animas formed last year as a result of a landslide. It's a junky Class IV affair with strainers on the good line and pin spots on the sneak. We all opted to portage.

Below "new rapid," we scouted No-Name rapid (Class V), where No Name creek joins the Animas. I walked, still not feeling "on." Steve and Mike had nice lines. Mike went deep in the drop on the foreground of this photo:

Steve recovered nicely from the fish-survey documented below:

The Animas is the most continuous river I've ever paddled. It never stops. There are no pools, no eddies, no egress.

The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad shuttles tourists along the Animas River through the entire canyon. The coal fired train regularly starts small fires along the way, which the locals seem to take very lightly. A water truck follows the train and puts out spot-fires as a matter of course. We stopped for lunch to watch railroad crews fight a particularly feisty fire that ultimately required air support:

The wildfire stopped the train, which worked out nicely: Mike's wife and mother-in-law were on the train and joined us for lunch.

After lunch, we got back on the river at around 2PM with 13 miles under our belt and 15 miles to go. Everyone donned their extra layer of clothing.

From Needleton, we boogied, only stopping shortly to scout Broken Bridge (Class IV+). Below Broken Bridge, we paddled 2 hours straight with only one eddy break (pictured below) for a total of 8 miles.

At mile 23, we stopped on some black rocks and lay like lizards soaking up some warmth. A critical part of our trip had not yet been decided: How to get out of the canyon. The end of the "Upper Animas" run was at Tacoma power plant. From here, we could wait for the 5:30 train and pay $60 to get a three mile ride to Rockwood. Alternatively, we could wait until 6:15 when "the last train has probably passed" and trespass along a the long and narrow train tracks to our car. Our final option was to paddle the "Class V Rockwood Box." None of these options were particularly appealing: $60 is a lot of money for a 3-mile train ride. We had heard horror stories of people narrowly escaping death on the train-track hike out when faced with oncoming maintenance vehicles on the tracks.

We were tired and a bit cold. Paddling the un-scoutable, walled-in, Class V Rockwood Box Canyon was not appealing. Swimming in the Rockwood Box would be very serious. Adding to the committed nature of the Rockwood Box is the takeout-eddy. What lays below the Rockwood Box is the Middle Box: An unrunnable series of sieves where the river dives underground.

We discussed options...everyone was on the fence. Paying for a train ride seemed silly. Hiking the train tracks seemed unpredictably dangerous. Running the Rockwood Box blind was a very serious risk.

After warming up on the rocks, we returned to the river and paddled a short two miles to Tacoma to make our decision. The river had nearly doubled in volume to about 1000 cfs.

Tacoma power plant:

Steel fish:

At Tacoma, we met a group of very helpful river guides from 4-Corners River Sports. Their safety-kayaker offered to lead us down the Rockwood Box. After 25 river miles, we were about to be treated to the best 3 miles of whitewater of the entire trip. The Rockwood Box is a walled-in gorge with a pool-drop character. I'm not sure if it's Class V, but it's some pretty damn committed IV+ or V-. For paddlers perspective: think Kirchenbaum (in Gore), for 2-miles, walled in. Amazing.

Flows for the May 27th:

We easily found the takeout eddy and enjoyed the 15-minute nature walk back to Rockwood Station where we had camped the night before:

The Upper Animas River is a classic. One day was too short to take it all in. This would be a sweet run to do over 4 or 5 days with raft support, layover days and side-hikes. It's an amazing canyon.

As icing on the cake of a great Memorial Day weekend, I stopped by Creede to visit Kate.

Shrine Mountain Inn - Chuck's Cabin

We lucked out with a last-minute cancellation for Chuck's Cabin on Shrine Pass, near Vail Pass. We expected typical late March powder skiing, but on this record dry year, we were treated to beautiful spring conditions.

Jay and Preston on the easy 3-mile skin in.

Christine and Preston nearing the cabin.

Kate with a full load on her back.

Chuck's Cabin has luxurious hut-trip accommodations. Running water, shower, sauna, full kitchen, the list goes on.

On Saturday, the crew went out for a tour. Temps were in the 60's. The girls made the best of unseasonably warm late March weather.

We took two laps on the Shrine bowl, which was rather chewed up by snowmobiles. If we go back to Shrine, we'll probably look for another place to ski.

Mount Holy Cross.

Kate comes over the ridgeline on our second lap on the Shrine Bowl.

Jay getting ready for some nice corn-turns.

Kate glowing after some lovely spring turns.

Jay ripping it up on tele's.

Taking a break at the base of the Shrine Bowl.

Sylwia and Dan took a tour to the top of Shrine Mountain.

Neato Maroon Formation outcrop.

Sylwia ascending to the neato rocks.

Did somebody say "boat drinks?"

East Side of Flattop RMNP

Temps hung in the high 20's all day and dashed our hopes of spring corn.

 Lois looks cold.

Santiago

Chile’s capital sprawls at the mouth of the Rio Mapocho river canyon. The Andes rise abruptly to the east, rolling hills lay to the west, urban sprawl is punctuated by small, steep mounts and the city is covered by an ever-present layer of smog.

Guidebooks and locals alike had described Santiago as an urban wasteland that could be seen in a day or two. Rodrigo, Dan’s kayak guide, went so far as to suggest that we need not even visit the city.

However, our initial impression of Santiago was good. People we met had been very engaging, there were a number of museums and plazas to explore and something to learn about Chilean culture. The LAN Airlines in-flight magazine described a large exhibit of Robert Matta, a Chilean artist at Palacio La Moneda. We were anxious to browse the lapis district where jewelers sell the semi-precious stone widely found in Chile and Afghanistan. The view from Cerro San Christobal was a recommended stop, along with the restaurants in the bohemian Barrio Bellevista district.

The Santiago metro system lived up to its great repudiation. Clean, safe, easy to navigate and with frequent trains. Trains is a bit of a misnomer as the metro is actually linked busses that ride on rubber tires guided by tracks.

We headed to Bellavista in search of lapis. Kate in Plaza Baquedano.

On the way we stopped for lunch at Waldini Café. The restaurant owner grew up in Santiago but spent much of his adult life practicing psychiatry in Italy. He had moved back to Chile due to the more stable economy and to be near family. A sign of the times when people are emigrating from Europe to Latin America.

Needless to say, lunch was delicious.

We found the lapis district, which consists of about 40 small shops with varying qualities of the dark blue stone. Lapis is a sulfur-chloride silicate that is formed when magma comes into contact with limestone in the earths crust. After inspecting 35 of the 40 lapis shops (5 were closed), we found two that struck our fancy. One had very beautiful set stones, the other had rough stones.

Kate reveling in lapis.

On our travels we had heard that a definitive Chilean snack is a “Italiano,” which is a hotdog smothered in spiced tomatoes, avocado and an unknown cream and mayonnaise mixture.

Dan doesn’t think the Italiano has anything on a Chicago-style hotdog, but it beats a ball park frank by a longshot.

We returned to the hotel to wash up and then returned to Bellavista for dinner. On the way pickpockets were on the prowl. Although un-picked, we were learning about the other side of Santiago.

Saturday was our last day in Chile. The hotel had been kind enough to extend our checkout to 3PM, allowing us to tour Santiago in the morning, clean up and head to the airport for our 11PM overnight flight.

We headed to Plaza de Armas, the cultural center of downtown Santiago, early on Saturday morning. Inglesa Cathedral on the edge of the square impressively grand.

A few blocks north of Plaza de Armas is “El Mercado,” where one can find fresh cuts of any meat or fish imagined. The market was easy to find; we could smell it from blocks away.

Shrimp and fish

Not sure what this is, but it looked very fresh!

The market is ringed by small seafood restaurants and we made a note to return for lunch.

A checkbox for every visitor to Santiago is to take the funicular to the top of San Christobal. We crossed Rio Mapocho from the metro station to Bellavista for a third time on our way to the funicular. The Rio Mapocho runs cold and brown in the spring months through Santiago. A guidebook claims that the color is a result of snowmelt runoff.

Headed up the funicular.

A few views from Cerro San Cristobal of Santiago. The smog was fairly heavy and restricted the view of the Andes mountains.

On our way back to the metro station, Kate befriended a llama. Llamas are traditionally festooned with brightly colored earrings, although this one was smart enough to also sport a hat. We saw only a few llamas in our travels in the mountains, but all of them had decorated ears. We suspect the llama decorations are much like branding cattle and allow one to identify members of their herd.

We ventured back to the seafood market for lunch. Kate enjoyed some fresh seabass while Dan enjoyed a “crab cake,” which was essentially a delicious bowl of fresh parmesan crab dip.

By the afternoon Plaza Armas had transformed from the relative quiet we saw in the morning to bustling hive of artists, vendors and various protestors. Students were protesting the “exorbitant” $500 (USD) per month cost of college tuition. Marxists were protesting alleged human rights abuses. Artists were painting scenes from Valparaiso.

We weren’t sure what this group was protesting, but they were well equipped with vuvzelas.

On our way back to the hotel we noted a few fond advertisements from Chile:

Does not translate well.

During our stay in Chile, Nestle had a particulary aggressive adverstising campaign to promote their “Pistashow” ice cream. Dan though the graphic design was particularly comic.

We washed up at the hotel and put on the clothes that we’d wear for the next 24 hours as we traveled home. There still were a few hours in Santiago and we planned to tour air conditioned museums. First stop was the Palacio la Moneda to see the Roberto Matta exhibit. Unfortunately the exhibit was private, for the President and his guests.

Next we headed to Museo Precolumbio, which we had heard was the “best museum in Santiago.” Unfortunately the museum was closed for renovation. Now having broken a sweat, we headed to the Chile National History museum. In air conditioned comfort we toured the highlights of the past few centuries of Chilean history.

Kate headed to the National History Museum.

It was 5:30 PM, with a few hours until we would head to the airport. Despite having only spent 8 hours in the city, we felt that we had gotten a pretty good feel for it.  We found Santiago to be easy to navigate, moderately safe feeling and convenient. Unfortunately, the city seems to lack a real cultural identity and is pretty dirty. We are sure that there were interesting cultural pockets beneath stones we left unturned, but were glad to have spent a few extra days relaxing in Punto Arenas.