Wolf Creek Pass lured the Jackson’s in for some snow kayaking...

June 11, 2005

We were driving over Wolf Creek Pass from Six Flags
in Denver to Durango last night and the amount of snow left was awesome.
At the top of the pass is a pull-off big enough for the RV and an awesome
hill, mostly covered in snow. If I had rushed to Durango, I may have had
the chance to paddle, however, the kids and I were too excited about the
prospect of a fast downhill adventure in our boats. I got the Super Hero,
Nick got the Rocker, Emily the Hero, and Dane the Fun 1 off the roof and
we started hiking up the hill. We are all getting quite used to the altitude
so the 10,500 foot pass was not an issue. The best place to start had
a big jump just downhill, but had two trees to go through and both Nick
and Dane crashed into the branches on their first run. I made a channel
to guide me into the jump, free from the trees for my run. It worked out
quite nicely as I got some serious speed hitting one small jump and right
into a big jump. I got the clean Pan Am and stuck it (into the mud), not
quite throwing it early enough to get the bow through. Nick did a sweet
grab, while Emily started after the jumps, and Dane got a nice jump on
his second ride. It was about 8:30 at night and getting dark fast. The
dogs had a great time as well. Pebbles went from full speed down the hill
to crashing hard and tumbling down the hill. I even talked Kristine into
a short ride to the RV.

After loading the boats back up, we made our way into
Durango and crashed.

Today is the Foreruns for USA Team Trials for Slalom
kayaking. I will be racing for the next three days. The kids are not racing
but are enjoying Santa Rita Hole and Smelter waves on the Animas at 4,000
cfs.

🙂 EJ