Enjoyed my first paddle here in sunny, summery Colorado (actually, I've been down the Gunnison that runs into Grand Junction once years ago on a raft, but that doesn't really count). I forgot to take my camera, as usual. About 20 miles north of Boulder is the small, yet surprisingly thriving on this Memorial Day weekend, community of Lyons, Colorado. It's a cute little town that reminds me of a lower elevation Deadwood without the distinction of being the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickock. Rolling through town is the lovely meandering S. St. Vrain river, what, in Oregon terms, would be known as a creek. It's high water right now, and with the creeking season here in Colorado being about four weeks long, it was the time to get up there. The section called a "kayak park" is really just a 1/4 mile section near a town park that has about four features on it that are mildly interesting. There was one excellent glassy wave that you could literally front surf on until the water drains from the creek, but it wasn't much for cartwheeling or doing anything that requires pop. Still, a terrific spot for just getting in the water and relaxing. The other features were all pourovers in the vein of the small stuff on Oregon's N. Umpqua, below Pinball rapid, or the Lower North Fork of the Middle Fork Willamette. There's a nicer pourover with enough of an off-width to create a wave about a 1/2 below the end of the kayak park, which appears to be where the locals really go.We were passed by a posse of C-1ers while we played at the upper glassy wave, and caught up with them down at the good wave at the end. They were all a bunch of happy-go-lucky man-child types who consider class 5 in an open boat a fun day on the river. Super nice people. They even let me shuttle with them AND gave me the passenger seat when they headed back to the put in (about four miles upstream of the kayak park) so I wouldn't have to stuff myself in the back with six other smelly, wet gents, dropping me at my truck. Something tells me they rarely see a girl on the river, probably their insistence on getting my number so they could invite me on some future trips. All good, all good.The exciting part of the day was the fact that some picnickers found a dead man on the banks of the river at the take out a few hours earlier. The C-1ers were there when the paramedics and cops came. Fortunately, they removed the corpse before we came down. I'm not sure that's the kind of scenery I look for when I'm on the river. Besides the dead man, I was somewhat disheartened by the general presence of human rubbish (the trash kind, not the body kind) that filled some of the bigger eddies. Kinda sad to see, and doesn't do a lot for making me feel comfortable when I get that unexpected mouthful during a particularly rough window shade. Ce sera, I guess.On another note, I submitted another short story, in the horror genre, for publication to Pseudopod today. Tomorrow is the BolderBoulder 10K run. Wish me luck on both.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.