Gates of Lodore - The Trip of a lifetime
Gates of Lodore: Written by Josh Rich. Photos by Anna Stonehose and Jordan Curet.
Last fall I got a call from my friend Zach Patterson saying his friend Anna scored a last second cancelation on a permit for a trip on Gates of Lodore. So since odds were really low and this has been on my list to do, I called out sick from work and called Zach back and told him "count me in!".
For those of you who aren’t already familiar, Gates of Lodore is a 45-mile section of the Green River located in northwestern Colorado, extending into northeastern Utah. Getting a permit to float the Gates of Lodore requires entering a lottery, and with only two launches per day during the high season, and one a day during the low season, getting the opportunity to experience this stretch of river is something many boaters may have to wait years for. National Park Service says theres a 4% chance of you winning it and getting to paddle the river. That being said, the wait is certainly worth it. The scenery in the Gates of Lodore is absolutely stunning at any point in the year, and with a launch date at the end of October, the canyon was in rare form; the seemingly endless pockets of bright orange and yellow cottonwoods made the trip all that more epic.
When I wasn’t grinning ear-to-ear taking in the beauty around me, I was geeking on the brand new Kokopelli Rodeo that had been a surprise reveal on this trip. I’ve used a handful of Kokopelli packrafts over the past few years, and for this trip I had been planning on using my current self-bailing Nirvana due to its whitewater capability, durability, and internal storage via the tizip. However, when I arrived at the boat ramp the night before shoving off, Zach wasted little time in letting me know that the Rodeo - which I had been hearing bits and pieces about for years - was in the sample stages, and he’d brought one for me to test out. Hell yes! The Rodeo would have the same levels of durability and gear storage space I’d grown used to in my other Kokopelli packrafts, but would be a step ahead in terms of whitewater capabilities. A beautiful stretch of pristine river corridor, and a brand new, unreleased whitewater packraft? What more could I possibly ask for?
Upon packing my Delta Dry Bags into my Rodeo the next day (I managed to squeeze in plenty of warm layers, a tent, sleeping bag, extra breakdown paddle, and snacks for four days - with room to spare) and launching into the Green, I immediately began playing around with the Rodeo to see what I was working with. The first thing that I noticed was the amount of rocker (the amount of curvature between bow and stern, for the uninitiated). With more rocker, and therefore less boat in the water, the result was a more playful and maneuverable boat, and I was able to experiment with different lines and eddies that I might not have tried otherwise. I spent a lot of time putting the packraft on its side and playing with the balance, which in turn forced me to practice my bracing - a skill that doesn’t always come naturally to me as someone who has picked up whitewater via packraft, and not from a hardshell kayak. It was clear to me that I have work to do on developing my whitewater skillset, and I’m stoked for when this boat is on the market so I can continue to grow as a whitewater paddler.
The first day was fairly mellow. We had a slow morning and took our time packing up, and were on the water by 12pm. As mentioned, there was plenty of flat water for me to experiment with the Rodeo. My first chance to put it to the test came with Winnie Rapid, a mild II+ about three miles or so into our day. It was an easy read-and-run; by running right and avoiding Winnie’s Rock, we were through quickly with smiles and splashes and back to taking in the views around us. Notably, there is supposed to be a beautiful side hike to Winnie’s Grotto immediately after the rapid, but we opted to keep moving for the sake of daylight - one of the downsides to having a leisurely morning.
The real business of the first day were the Disaster Falls rapids - Upper and Lower. Both go at III+ and we found both to be fairly straightforward. We took them as read and runs, and everyone made clean runs.
By 4pm we were off the water at Pot Creek 1 campsite. This took the cake as one of the best river campsites of my short career as a recreational paddler - We had a massive beach to ourselves, beautiful camping under junipers, and stunning views up canyon. We settled down for the night with a tikka masala and naan feast, and went to bed more than satisfied.
Day 2 started off with a morning stroll up the canyon with my cup of coffee. We loaded everything back on the big rafts and launched at 11am. This day was a little daunting knowing that the biggest rapid of the trip, Hell's Half Mile, was lurking downstream. We paddled through Harp Falls and Triplet which were some nice warm up class 2 and 3 rapids. We got to Hell's Half Mile and decided to stop before it and scout it. Hell's is known for being notoriously tricky, John Wesley Powell and his team used ropes to portage the rapid and lined their boats down the rapid instead of running it. I decided I wanted to run and gave it a shot, it was a blast! It was so much fun that I ran back up to hit it again. But this time I got a little too playful and flipped over and ended up swimming for awhile. Luckily there was people down stream who were able to grab my boat for me.
We got off the water at 2:30 and started setting up camp at Rippling Book 2. It had a big sandy beach and we hiked up to a small waterfall. I took polar plunge shower at the waterfall and then hiked back down to camp. After an amazing dinner cooked by Zach and Tristan, I broke out my "welcome to Moab" laser and put on a little light show with the campfire smoke.
After another peaceful night we woke up, packed our gear and launched at 10am. Day 3 was mellow paddling as there were no major rapids, but the views were amazing! We paddled through Echo Park where the Yampa River meets with the Green and the famous Steamboat Rock. It was so cool paddling right below a sheer 500 foot cliff face of beautiful sandstone.
We ended the day at 4 pm and camped at Island Park. This was a great site because there was tons of afternoon sun to keep us warm and dry out our gear. We also stayed up pretty late drinking beers and playing the rowdiest game of bocce ball since it was our last night camping out on the river.
Day 4 started off rough with a 6 am wake up when it was 29 degrees out. We got a little fire going to warm up while we cooked breakfast and then launched at 8:45. I strapped my packraft to one of the big rafts and hopped on the oars for a little bit to try out rowing for a little bit. We passed another major landmark, the famous split mountain, its a huge rock formation with curved layers formed by a fault uplifting it.
Once we got to the rapids I hopped back in my Rodeo and paddled four more class 3 rapids. We got to the take out at 1:15 and started un packing everything to load it up in the cars.
The Rodeo Packraft was such a treat to paddle. It's thicker than my Nirvana so I can punch rapids better, but the shape is the real stand out. It performs so much more like a whitewater kayak. The increased rocker also allowed me to skip across the top of some of the rapids. The floor is also new with baffles that run from bow to stern instead of port to starboard which makes it a lot more rigid. Then theres an inflatable seat on top allowing you to blow it up to sit higher and get more power out of your stroke, or a little squishier and sit lower and be more stable. Lastly the gills on the floor what Kokopelli calls venturi drain holes, they are little flaps over the drain holes that close up as you paddle, but open up and drain water out fast going through rapids. Overall, I'm a huge fan on the new design and I was pretty bummed I had to give it back to Zach after the trip. But I will get my own next spring!!!
