Chris Johnson checkin for blue sky in the "Vortex"
Hiking to the put in seems to becoming a normal pre requisite on my trips. I think Gary Edgeworth said it best "When Mulkey calls dont pick up the phone" See Video HERE. Well I would like to think my percentage of successful trips far outweighs the bad ones and even the bad ones provide such great stories that perhaps they are worth the pain and suffering.
Warm temps spread throughout the state of Wyoming and the ice began to melt at alarming rates so it was time to start checking the water gauges of Wyoming to see what creeks would be first to start kickin. The Laramie range around Casper, Wy is usually first to begin its melt, given its relatively low elevation snow pack. I had been in the area a week prior and noticed the creeks were beginning to rise but the gauges were not correlating very well to what I was seeing in the river bed so this was a bit concerning. So a week later warm temps were still holding and my thoughts were the flows had to be starting to rise with the days temps. Rallying kayakers early season always seems to be easy, like starved bears out of hibernation searching for a meal they gather with only a hope. Lucky for us this time we scored and we were handsomely rewarded with good flows and the third descent of the entire run of Deer Creek. You can see the story on the second descent HERE
Let the hike begin....
Kayaking in Wyoming !
Nathan Danforth psyched to make it through one of first big drops. Its drops like this that keep me coming back to Deer Creek. Its one of the very few runs around that can be run with zero portages. On my first trip through the canyon Ben Stookesberry ran the waterfall but with the right flows it will go again. We were able to do the 8 mile run with just one portage (the waterfall).
Part of the crew talking about how much they like hiking with there kayaks
The Waterfall- At high flows the waterfall fills in more so its not all dumping into a corner.
The one and only portage around the waterfall isnt too bad.
Randy Binder gettin off the couch finally for this run and enjoying every minute other then the hike
Chris boofs to wall. I dont believe this one has a name yet but it is indeed memorable
The large rock marks the entrance to the "Vortex"
Aaron Mulkey about to get his turn in the "Vortex"
Nate Winning charging the the 'Vortex"
Tom sunderland gettin ready for a beat down in the "Vortex" Love this pic with the elevation drop in the background.
Mulkey in one of the many drops in Deer Creek
Mulkey in the the midst of the run. Deer Creek has very little flat water and is for the most part non stop action.
Nate got the Booty beer for the day but the guy absolutely crushed the run. Lucky for us the last big hole of the day only chose him. Nate was paddling incredibly well this trip and I believe he said it was one of the best runs of his life.
The whole crew psyched after a great run in last days of March creek boating!
from the left- Tom Sunderland, Chris Johnson, Randy Binder, Nathan Danforth, Nate Winning, Aaron Mulkey
The next day we paddled Box Elder and I will have pics up soon....
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