Bogley

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

oldno7 wrote: Awaiting the "epic" report--

Did maybe 4 miles of Deep Creek and then the Narrows! It was Awesome. Took a few Photos but not a ton! Water Level was low but certainly kept my attention. I ran up onto a rock and then fell off the side. Got knocked unconscious and swam the rapid. The helmet saved my life. It cut my head open and left a big bump under the helmet. Just a couple miles into Deep Creek, a seam on my right tube split. I sort of was able to repair it with some tear-aid tape I had fortunately brought. Had to do 2 repairs and keep it very deflated. I would lean over onto the left pontoon whenever I would hit a rapid.

Don and Mike were great. We began our journey at 3:30 AM yesterday and I got home at midnight. It was worth the wait for sure. Saw another group of Kayakers that had hiked in from Chamberlain Ranch. Sounded like a brutal hike.? Our hike was maybe 15 minutes?

Anyhow...Off to work I go.

Alex · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 2469 Location: SLC, UT

Wow Bo, I am glad you made it out ok man! I am so jealous! Are you going again?

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

Alex wrote: Wow Bo, I am glad you made it out ok man! I am so jealous! Are you going again?

Thanks Alex! The season will be over after wednesday according to noaa river projections? We ran it starting at around 220cfs yesterday morning and ended on 180cfs. It was a bit boney (especially in my crippled kayak), but the amatuer kayaker I am, I would not have wanted more flow :mrgreen: I would want to do it again, but the river beat me up pretty bad. I went down a class 5 section, ran up onto a huge boulder, dropped off the side, slammed my head, got knocked out, came to, caught my boat, lost my paddle, and finally reposed. (this was only 2 miles into Deep Creek). I started paddling and realized that my right tube was flat. Spent an hour trying to tape up the seam. Sort of worked, but I limped the next 10 miles leaning on the left side of the boat :haha: I must have torn a muscle in my left shoulder because I sure cant lift my arm today! I found out that where we accessed Deep Creek is frowned upon by private landowners, but they allowed us to go anyway. It was a short, but steep descent for 15 minutes, but it sure beat the heck out of the 4-6 hour slog from Chamberlain Ranch! :five: There are quite a few class 3, 4 and even 5 rapids (and Don even said 6?) in Deep Creek. I was glad that it wasn't flowing any higher. Not a lot of places to pull over in some sections, which makes for a very interesting time! :rockon:

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

:eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

Near death experience!

I am glad I sat this one out! :cool2: What a trip. :hail2thechief: I am so glad you are alive. :nod: Sounds like you need to get some rest though! :rockon:

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

tanya wrote: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

Near death experience!

I am glad I sat this one out! :cool2: What a trip. :hail2thechief: I am so glad you are alive. :nod: Sounds like you need to get some rest though! :rockon:

You would have had fun :nod: I'm glad I made it out alive too. Rest is good! :2thumbs:

Seth missed us by 5 minutes. I'm bummed as he is! He was going to video the whole trip. Oh well..another excuse for us to get together next year again.

A couple more pics I took. It's hard to get pictures while trying to drive! :haha:

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5720 Location: St. George

Very nice. Who is the man with the beard then?

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

tanya wrote: Very nice. Who is the man with the beard then?

He is Don Sharlet. Don has worked for Zion the last year as a road and trails supervisor. He has been employeed by the NPS for 30 years in places like Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Ranier. I really enjoyed his company. He is really laid back and fun loving, but takes his whitewater very seriously. We couldnt have had a better person along. :2thumbs:

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

A Map of our trip Sunday down Deep Creek and the Zion Narrows.

hank moon · Joined: 16 Mar 2007 Posts: 840

A friend did it a few years back at 1400 cfs, a lot of it by headlamp.

said it was "exciting" - esp navigating fallen trees and the waterfalls coming in from the sides. the pictures were amazing...

...so much fun she went back a week later and did it again at a slightly reduced flow rate ("only" 900 cfs if I recall) ...

hank

canyonquest · Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 17

Bo,

It was me and my buddy Jason that you bumped into there at the North Fork / Deep Creek confluence. Wish we would have had a little more time to chat. I was extremely jealous of your Deep Creek put-in. However you didn't let on that it was such rough paddling. The walk in from Chamberlain's is long but still pretty. I'm glad your patch job got you through. We were unscathed aside from one very ugly dump right at the end of Riverside Walk in front of all the tourists. We flipped in the EXACT same spot two years ago. Note to self - portage around that little boulder field in the future.

http://canyonquest.com/v/zion/narrows/narrows_2008/P5180179.JPG.html

Alex · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 2469 Location: SLC, UT

canyonquest, I looked through your pics, what an awesome looking trip

"Whoever turns the boat first loses..." :roflol: Nice!

Man, I am so jealous of you guys! If you ever need another crazy to join you send me a PM :2thumbs:

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

canyonquest wrote: Bo,

It was me and my buddy Jason that you bumped into there at the North Fork / Deep Creek confluence. Wish we would have had a little more time to chat. I was extremely jealous of your Deep Creek put-in. However you didn't let on that it was such rough paddling. The walk in from Chamberlain's is long but still pretty. I'm glad your patch job got you through. We were unscathed aside from one very ugly dump right at the end of Riverside Walk in front of all the tourists. We flipped in the EXACT same spot two years ago. Note to self - portage around that little boulder field in the future.

http://canyonquest.com/v/zion/narrows/narrows_2008/P5180179.JPG.html

I'm glad you guys had a good trip. Man I was glad I didn't try to hike in from Chamberlain Ranch after talking to you two! 6 Hours! I don't know if my back would have liked me after that hike?!

The paddling really wasn't bad at all in Deep Creek. It was just a lot narrower and kept you on your toes! It would have been much better for me had I gotten a better signal to portage the waterfall instead of going over it. The waterfall is where I got knocked unconscious, tore my left deltoid, and probably damaged the right tube (I was under water, so I didn't see what happened to the boat?). I actually got my wits again pretty shortly afterwards, but then the tube went flat with very limited success repairing the 2 inck split right on the seam. Thanks for the offer of using your repair kit!

How did your Tandem Trip go! It must have been a bit frustrating having to drag the boat over the shoals?

A friend of mine went through the Narrows a week back and crashed at the same location at the end of Riverside Walk. They had a hard time getting the boat off the rocks. I dragged my boat over the logs on river right and dropped into the eddy on the backside of that same spot. Then I was able to merrily paddle downstream to the shuttle stop.

Did you get any pictures? Would love to see some! It was a difficult time for me to stop and get a lot of pictures. Next time it would be fun to do a Helmet Cam and document the whole trip! :2thumbs:

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

Alex wrote: canyonquest, I looked through your pics, what an awesome looking trip

"Whoever turns the boat first loses..." :roflol: Nice!

Man, I am so jealous of you guys! If you ever need another crazy to join you send me a PM :2thumbs:

Yeah, yeah, yeah! :lol8:
Actually Michal turned over first, but got right back in. I did learn a lot after my incident. We spent 10 minutes afterwards discussing scouting and shoreside signalling. Michal had given me the signal to go ahead, but what he really was trying to say is that there is a BIG ASS WATERFALL just below me...look where I'm pointing....don't do it man! Get over to the side. I interpreted his signal as "Go right where I'm pointing!".... :haha:

Bo_Beck · Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 775 Location: Southern Utah

hank moon wrote: A friend did it a few years back at 1400 cfs, a lot of it by headlamp.

said it was "exciting" - esp navigating fallen trees and the waterfalls coming in from the sides. the pictures were amazing...

...so much fun she went back a week later and did it again at a slightly reduced flow rate ("only" 900 cfs if I recall) ...

hank

You are talking one "hard core kayaker" Hank! This was my first experience with such an endeavour. I am soooooooooo glad that I did it and that the water was only 220cfs!

Logan Hebener who gave me the beta for Deep Creek has done the trip numerous times and at various levels was most gracious. His friend Don is a very experienced river runner and was impressed with the run and I'm quite certain he could have done the run with much more flow, but was quite impressed with what little water we had.

Logan has offered to teach me to roll a hardshell in his swimming pool and I have found a hardshell kayak, so next time I hope to see it from a different angle. :2thumbs:

Alex · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 2469 Location: SLC, UT

Bo_Beck wrote: Alex wrote: canyonquest, I looked through your pics, what an awesome looking trip

"Whoever turns the boat first loses..." :roflol: Nice!

Man, I am so jealous of you guys! If you ever need another crazy to join you send me a PM :2thumbs:

Yeah, yeah, yeah! :lol8:
Actually Michal turned over first, but got right back in. I did learn a lot after my incident. We spent 10 minutes afterwards discussing scouting and shoreside signalling. Michal had given me the signal to go ahead, but what he really was trying to say is that there is a BIG ASS WATERFALL just below me...look where I'm pointing....don't do it man! Get over to the side. I interpreted his signal as "Go right where I'm pointing!".... :haha:

Sorry Bo didn't mean to poke fun of you, I was referring to canyonquest's video in his gallery. They were running tandem and were coming up to a gnarly section and one of them says: "Let's play chicken, whoever turns the boat first, loses..." :lol8: