Dowd Chute and Upper Eagle

Shortly after meeting up with Mike we decided to forgo the Gore Creek run since they probably had some Teva game competitions on it. We set shuttle and hooked up with the nice guy from Breckenridge that ran the Dowd Chute (Huge Water!) and the Upper Eagle. It was running just over 5.5 feet high on the bridge. This correlates to a a rating approaching V-, but was likely IVish in actuality. I was rather nervous but Mike seemed comfortable. I let him go first.

Dowd Chute from put-in to take out is just over a mile long and was over in less than 10 minutes. The rapid proper is channelized and pretty much the biggest water I have ever been in. Waves that seemed taller than me and probably were, we missed the holes that would swallow a car. You would take huge hits that would move your entire boat laterally 5 feet. Good fun.

After Dowd we enjoyed the relative safety of III+ on the Upper Eagle. I could argue it was harder as once again the waves and holes were enormous. The river was flowing at 2400 cfs and is pretty high. We enjoyed the endless wave trains on down. Thanks to Greg who led the charge as I was feeling rather tentative about the huge water.

No pictures, this water was just moving too fast and we really didn't make and stops.