I had the opportunity to get in a great late season run a couple weeks ago. The Big Thompson is a super fun medium volume river that had some excellent releases late into the fall this year. Similar in character to many of the runs along the Colorado front range, the Big Thompson provides a range of different class runs, like the neighboring Cache La Poudre and St. Vrain drainages.
It had been a couple months since I had last gotten in the creek boat and firing up the fairly technical class V section had me a little gripped. But after a shaky and exciting first lap it was smooth sailing punctuated with clean lines and rowdy boofs. By the third lap Leif Anderson and Conor Flynn were ready to run the often skipped crux drop of the run, Garbage Disposal. I’d say it’s an applicable name especially if you find yourself upside down. The 12-13 footer is whirlwind of sharp rocks with a fairly narrow landing, and is certainly no place for the boof impaired. The guys both had awesome lines and from there we made our way downstream for another lap. With the sun setting over the ridge by 4:00 we decided to call it a day, and what a day it was. Despite the cold, late fall boating is always a great time.
Happy boating, see you on the river
