Go big or go home. It’s a phrase some people live by. Especially adrenaline junkies like myself. And when it comes to rafting, this phrase more than likely means doing a Class IV or V section of whitewater. But not this time. Not until later on in the season when I do an adrenaline pumping run through Gore Canyon. But this week, I got my adrenaline fix by duckying Clear Creek. If you read my past blogs, you’ll see I’ve done a little bit of duckying in the past. Last year, I duckied the Brown’s Canyon stretch on the Arkansas River, Ladore Canyon to Dinosaur Monument on the Green River and the North Platte. So when I heard about one company who does ducky trips on Clear Creek, I couldn’t resist. You see, Clear Creek is different from all of the other rivers. Why? Well it’s a creek, of course! It’s narrow, it’s rocky and it’s damn cold. So there aren’t many outfitters that do ducky trips on Clear Creek. I had one concern about this trip though-I do not want to have to swim Clear Creek. But I really wanted to do this, so I took the chance. I figured, if I swim then I swim. I am very confident in my ability to swim to shore. However, I am not confident in my ability to avoid all the rocks. And honestly, I wasn’t sure I was confident in my ability to stay in my ducky, but I did.

Me duckying Brown's Canyon last year

We did the beginner section of Clear Creek. The creek was flowing at about 564 cfs. For Clear Creek, that’s a pretty moderate level. And it’s a great level for the beginner section, too. And you don’t realize it’s a higher level until you’re actually in the water. There were very few eddies and it was flowing super fast. But it made for a great challenge. We put-in in Idaho Springs, near the Mount Evans exit. That’s not too far from the wooden waterwheel you see from I-70. Immediately, is your first named rapid called Wild Wild West. It was only 50 yards away from where we put-in. This was only a Class II rapid. Shortly after, was another Class II rapid called Charlie Taylor Falls. Both of these were really great warm-up rapids. It’s always good to have easier rapids first when you are duckying. It gives your arms a chance to get warmed up and allows you to get the hang of paddling and maneuvering your boat.

Next, was Subway Falls. This Class II rapid is right next to the Subway shop in Idaho Springs. When you have the word “falls” in a rapid, it sounds a little threatening. But Subway Falls wasn’t so bad. I had the pleasure of doing this same section in a raft just a couple of days before. And I was a little nervous about doing the falls. But the drop wasn’t near as big as I thought it was going to be. I think the ducky handled it quite well. There were a couple of other similar drops in town, called Argo Holes #1 and #2. These Class II rapids are near the old Argo mine in town. These were very similar to Subway Falls. There were three other people with me in duckies and one of them actually came out of their ducky in Argo Hole #2. The gentleman was able to get to shore fairly quickly, but his ducky drifted down river quite a bit. After taking the swim, he was very cold and actually didn’t finish the trip. Luckily, the shop was close by. For the rest of us, the fun was just beginning.

After about a half mile or so down the creek, we were out of Idaho Springs. It was pretty mellow for quite a ways. The next rapid was called Dizzy Lizzy, a class II rapid. I was kind of nervous about this rapid. A couple of days before I had done the same run in a raft, with a bunch of raft guides. And they were talking about how this rapid would sometimes slam you into the left wall. That’s because the creek narrows a little bit and curves. So I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like in a ducky. But it wasn’t bad at all. Of course, you have to paddle a little harder. But not too hard. The next rapid, also a class II rapid, was called Power Line. The rapid has the name, because there are a lot of power lines nearby. Of course, none of them are very close to the creek. This rapid was fairly long, but it was straight. It wasn’t hard at all. Shortly after, we pulled over to take a quick stretch in an eddie near the Clear Creek rafting offices. Our guide, Max, who is the owner or Renaissance Adventure Guides, told us what was coming up. Bring on the Class III rapids!

Mountain Lion rapid was our next rapid. And it was our first Class III rapid. It’s right underneath the wooden brigde that is to the right of the tunnel outside Idaho Springs when you are driving east. They named it Mountain Lion rapid after a kid was mauled by a mountain lion, while training on Idaho Spring’s cross country team. Ouch! I’m not exactly sure what happened to that kid. Anyhow, this was a pretty good rapid. It was fairly easy. There were some big waves, and I took the run straight down the middle. The next rapid was called Box Rapid. It, too, was a class III rapid. This was my favorite. And after rafting this section, I knew it would be my favorite in a ducky. There were a lot of really nice waves in this rapid, one after another. Waves are my favorite, whether I’m in a ducky or a raft. They’re a lot of fun. Just like Mountain Lion, I ran this rapid straight down the middle. The next rapid was a Class II rapid called Big Kahuna. It’s called Big Kahuna because there’s just one big wave. But a fun one. Next was Speed Limit 55. I’ll give you one guess at why it’s called that. Yep, you’re right. There’s an I-70 Speed Limit 55 sign right there. This class II rapid was a little like Box rapid. There was wave after wave, but the waves were a little smaller. And at this level, there was one bigger wave at the last. Sneaker was the next rapid. It’s a class III rapid. They call it sneaker because there’s a hole at the bottom of it, that will kind of sneak up on you. We avoided that hole. And last but not least was the mother of them all, a rapid called Twister. We actually got out and scouted this rapid. After seeing it from the shore, I was very nervous. It was one of those rapids you wanted to hit just right. If you hit too far right, you would go over a big sharp rock. If you went too far left, you would hit a big hole. But if you hit it in the middle you were okay. I wanted to hit it perfect. And I think I did. I may have hit a little more left than I needed to, because I did hit some sort of hole. But I had enough speed paddling into it, and did just fine. It was a lot of fun though. I never turn down a challenge. And it was a challenge for sure.

So if you duckied before and really enjoyed it, I highly recommend a trip down Clear Creek. If you don’t have ducky experience, try other sections first, like the South Platte River. Clear Creek will definitely put your paddling skills to the test. And at 564 cfs, it’s flowing fast and you have a lot less room for mistakes.

Company: Rennaisance Adventure Guides, 303-988-2943

                 www.raguides.com

And for more information on Rennaisance Adventure Guides Advanced Ducky Trips, go to http://raguides.com/kayaking-school/advanced-kayaking-classes/private-course-rates/.