Friday, June 25, 2010

Royal Gorge - Not for Mothers Eyes



I know I say this about a lot of river trips but this is the best multi-day, or even single river trip, I have ever done. Although the original team of six was eventually reduced to four, due to work commitments and and just not feeling it, I could not have picked a better crew to go in there with. Logistic's worked better than imagined with Shannon driving our shuttle (thank you), Corey taking our car back to Auburn (thank you) and for Rach, Dee and Matt who walked into the generation gap put in, day two camp, with steak, pesto, pasta, bacon, bagels, avacado, cheese, beers and even goon! With a good flow on the guage we decided it was on... it came up and it just made it better. Here is some photos from the first day through the first gorge and Heath One.


- Barny and Charles routing the first gorge (P. Jordy)


- Charles punching a big hole (P. Jordy)


- Barny rocking the mystic (P. Jordy)


- Stomping early on day one (P. Jordy)


- Me coming into a sweet boof (P. Barny)


- The postman (Justin) delivering the goods on Heath One (P. Jordy)


- Snarley Charley searching for the pot of god (P. Jordy)


- Barny going big...kiwi style (P. Jordy)


- Yeah boy, me greasing my drop (P. Barny)

Without Justin showing us down the lower Heath Gorge we would of had more photos, had spent more time on the river and probably had less fun... we all love follow the leader class V. Arriving at camp with plenty of day light, we went for a swim, laid naked on the warm granite, drunk some whisky, had a sick camp fire and ALL had Rattlesnake Falls on our mind... a 60 foot waterfall only fifty metres downstream of camp.


- Barny and Charles stoked with the Whisky (P. Jordy)


- Justin 'Postman' Pat and Snarley Charley caught in the ambience on the fire
(P. Jordy)


- Barny doing the same, showing some thigh (this one is for Airika)(P. Jordy)


- Man I love camping (P. Jordy)

Day two starts heavy with the 'White Gorge' before Rattlesnake Falls and never really relents. With everyone stomping the drop in good fashion, the scene was set for another incident free day in the Royal Gorge.


- Snarley having some class V for breakfast (P. Jordy)


- Barny running his drop... so sick! (P. Jordy)


- Me on Rattlesnake... sorry mum (P. Barny)


- Barny stomping perfect 20 (P. Jordy)


- The postman on split falls (P. Jordy)


- Barny running left on Split falls (P. Jordy)


- Charles and Myself trying to run split falls at the same time, almost (P. Barny)


- Me checking out the valley from Wabena (P. Barny)


- Postman and Snarley below Wabena (P. Barny)


- Our heros... cooking some fat steaks! (P. Jordy)


- The postman trying to clear us a campsite (P. Jordy)


- Some pretty amazing wilderness (P. Jordy)

Day three was a 20 mile paddle out through the Generation and Giant Gap sections. After some good rapids in the Generation section we played some nalgene passing for about 2 hours to pass the time of the paddle out. This is such an amazing trip I cannot say enough about it. This is a LOT of paddling in the class IV+ - V area with a lot of harder stuff if you want it. Again, put this on your bucket list.

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