Fluid Kayaks Team

The water year is starting to wind down in Colorado, but Conor Flynn, Natalie Kramer and I were lucky enough to have good flows in the Cheeseman Canyon section of the South Platte. I'd wanted to do Cheeseman canyon for a couple years, ever since I saw the writeup of it in Colorado Rivers and Creeks, way back as a wee little paddler.

The main complication with this run is access. At the putin, there is a private resort called the Sportsman's Paradise which historically has tried to block access. At the takeout, there is a 3 mile hike through a region recovering from a forest fire (there used to be a road, but without all the trees, there is too much erosion to keep the road open). It's easy to just tough out a hike, but the putin was a real pickle. Fortunately for us, American Whitewater has done some great work here and negotiated a good faith agreement to avoid pushing the access agreement to court. Unfortunately for Conor, Natalie and I, the agreement changes every year, and we read an old version of the agreement. The version we read simply said to put in between 9:00 and 11:00 and keep in a tight, quiet group as we paddled through. The 2008 version asks for paddlers to call ahead, so that the Sportsman's Paradise caretaker can give you a ride past all the flatwater in the resort area. There were other terms, too, like a recommended minimum flow, and new putin times. We were ashamed to learn that we had broken pretty much every item in the agreement, so to try to make up for it, I've been posting information about the agreement wherever I can. I'm especially embarrassed because we met the caretaker, and he was a really polite and reasonable guy. So, if you plan to run Cheeseman Canyon, check the American Whitewater website, and call the Sportsman's Paradise beforehand at 719.748.3212 or sportspd@Wildblue.net. Call at least 24 hours in advance, and before 6:00PM. Check eddyflower.com for more details and directions.

Once past the sketchy putin, the run was pretty much everything that I had hoped. I won't bother with a full on blow by blow commentary, but I will mention a couple rapids that stand out in my memory. As we portaged the first major drop (not enough water) we saw the first handful of serious rapids ahead of us. The creek looked like it had suddenly started pouring off the face of the earth. There was plenty of steep mank, but it was just the right amount of continuous-ness.

There were eddies allowing us to scout everything, but there was definitely not a single inch of flatwater until well past Slap Yo Mama falls.

After that first group of rapids, things backed off, allowing us to enjoy the beautiful canyon that we were in, but there were still some fun boulder gardens, including one 4 or 5 foot boof onto a rock, which Natalie really styled.

Then, after one last clean slide, there was the 3 mile hike out. The hike was made a little nicer by the weather; it was cloudy and on the edge of raining the whole time, but never really got us wet until the last half hour. This meant that it was the perfect temperature every step of the way. On top of that, the evening light came in under the clouds and lit up the burnt out trees for some really pretty scenery.

I'd like to thank Natalie Kramer and Conor Flynn for a great trip, and for taking these awesome photos. -Leif Anderson