I guess the Upper Frying Pan would have been our 6th day paddling across Colorado. We left Eagle and headed over this cool pass to the Frying Pan River near Basalt, CO. I loved the scenary everything is green in Colorado right now.
The Upper Frying Pan is a cold technical class IV+ river that has the feel of a creekwith its boulder garden style drops. It had been our list for a couple of years. We took a look at it last year and decided to back down, this year we were feeling a bit more confident, but still put on with some anxiety, as we always do.The first drops were on us fairly quick and were a load of fun.
As with most unknown rapids we usually scout horizon lines, but we came upon on rapid were the eddy wasn't large enough for all of us. Mike tried to eddy beside me, but decided to charge the rapid rather than flushing into it backwards. He looked good going down and I positioned myself to follow. Tanner had chosen a different line and was also below. I dropped in and apparently chose the wrong line and found myself pinned on a rock. I tried everything to get leverage to move over it or wiggle around it but I wasn't going anywhere. The rapid was rather long and Tanner and Mike were not in eyesight so I blew my whistle for a while and they came to the rescue. Luckily Tanner was on my side of the river and was able to pull me off the rock and send me on down.It was a good lesson learned. Stay within eyesight and always have one boater stopped on each side of the river.
We regrouped and moved on down through some more fun rapids and finally to what I imagine was the crux of the run. Mike looked for while and decided to walk, Tanner followed. I decided to just portage the opening move and run the majority of the rapid minus the sketchy entrance.
The river was really a lot if fun, the remainder had a less boulder garden style and a more continuous nature.
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