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View Full Version : Trip Report TR: Upper Animas



mrbrejcha
07-11-2008, 11:36 PM
Well...it's the Upper A http://www.riversports.com/site/animas_beta.html.

The put in is about an hour from my house...and it is the best run I've yet to do. 24 miles; it's always class III unless it is IV or V. The scenery is unbelievable, 12,000 and 13,000 foot peaks create the river valley. The run cuts through the heart of the Weminuche wilderness. The only people you'll see all day are on the train, gawking at you scouting a sweet rapid.

Wonderful sleep, ruined by the beep, 6 am time to get up! We're leaving Durango by 6:15. We head up highway 550 and drop the shuttle car off at the rockwood take out. There are four of us in the truck heading for the put in. 45 minutes later were in Silverton gearing up, there is frost on the ground; it's summer. We look into the canyon, we're a little intimidated by the 13,000 foot needle mountains capping the skyline.
Time to go. We put in. The beginning is easy enough, duck a bridge, a few turns here and there... get used to the boat you'll be in for the next 8 or 9 hours.

The river picks up speed, it's class III now and it's time to stop looking at the scenery. More III and the river picks up speed. More III, and the river steepens...a horizon line. Yup...it's the first IV of the day. Nothing bad, just watch the pour overs. The rivers mellows to III. Garfield mountain comes into view, towering overhead. Easy class III for a few miles leads to a small horizion line, you can sense something coming. Time to scout! A quick eddy and I'm out of the boat. We walk down the river bank. The first class V doesn't look so bad, but we keep walking and walking and walking. It's looong! The line looks good, but 3 of us decide for a portage while one of us decides to run the rapid. We set up saftey for no reason and continue on our way. The first V doesn't end in a pool but instead with three miles of class III+ / IV whitewater which is only interupted by No Name rapid, the crux of the run. We hop out to scout, already winded from the last three miles of continious rapids. A train roars by. The rapid is shorter than the last, but more powerful. The line looks straight foreward at first glance, but the longer I look the more difficulties I see. Three of us walk, one decides to run it. He does so with a perfect line and we continue down more MILES of III+ whitewater. After a few miles we are all ready for a little break and stop for lunch at Needleton in a small eddy, we're about 1/2 way through the day and have 12 miles to go. We warm up then set out again into the next few MILES of III whitewater. We see an old bridge on the horizon, well gee, it must be Broken Bridge rapid, the last "big" rapid on the run. We stop to scout. The line looks good and I'm not going to walk another great looking rapid... this time two of us run it while two walk. I peeled out of the eddy and puched a small hole, paddled hard to make the left line and punch a bigger hole, I felt that one. I keep on line, punch a hole, thread a couple rocks; then punch through a river wide hole in the weakness, I'm through the rapid and in true Upper A style, the IV+/V rapid eases into III+/IV whitewater for the next few miles. It's hard to run the rapids while trying to look at the amazing 13,000 something foot pigeon peak domiating the skyline. . We take a short break a few miles later, still about six miles from the take out, then head back into the III/IV whitewater. The rapids are becoming more defined but no smaller. A few small gorged out sections and some fun III+/IV rapids take us further down river. We pass the rafter take out and head as far down as we can before the river runs into the Rockwood box. We're there! We are all a little tired after 24 miles of continious rapids, but drag our boats to the tracks and walk two miles while looking into the class V gorge wishing the water was lower so we could run it instead of walk. We eventually reach the car, crack a beer, exchange laughter and stories. The Upper A is in the bag, and holy shit I wanna go back!

Alex
07-12-2008, 06:44 AM
Just two pictures!?!?! :frustrated:

Man you got to have more than that, great TR, wonder how far is it from SLC?

Are you going again?

mrbrejcha
07-13-2008, 01:50 PM
Sorry about the lack of pix, but it's hard enough to look at the scenery on this river, good luck taking pictures.

It's hard to get a crew to go on this trip, the Upper A seems to have a serious air about it. I'll go back next year for sure and if the water comes back up and there's a good crew, then I'd LOVE to go back this season.

Here's a video a buddy of mine took earlier this season of the Upper....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNfSJLhQchw

abirken
07-13-2008, 06:40 PM
This river is one of the most beautiful I've seen. It's also the scenery surrounding it that's simply breathtaking! :nod:

Alex
07-14-2008, 07:33 AM
Awesome river! Wonder how far it is from SLC?

mrbrejcha
07-14-2008, 01:20 PM
It's about this far from SLC...

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Salt+Lake+City+&1s=UT&2c=Silverton+&2s=CO