Kayaking Shoshone in Glenwood Canyon
Returning to the Scene of the Crime

Kayaking Shoshone's Maneater Rapid (4 photos by Paul Cloud)

My memory of Glenwood Canyon's Shoshone as my first river run with fun & significantly challenging rapids is also mixed with my memory of Shoshone as the first river run to frighten me with a disturbing injury.

A funny thing happened between Paddle Day 17 when I injured my neck and today, Paddle Day 34...
I actually became a little bit better kayaker.

What once seemed to be a double black diamond stressful affair, now seems to be an easy blue run. What a fun day this turned out to be. I ran Shoshone twice back to back with regular paddle partner Seth.

Special thanks to photographer Paul Cloud for the 4 Shoshone Maneater photos above. We met Paul during our walking shuttle back to the Shoshone put in.

We dropped off our boats at the put in and decided to walk back up after parking at the Grizzly Creek Shoshone takeout. Shoshone is a short stretch of the Colorado River and its length along with convenient highway shuttle cause many people to run it twice back to back. But if you stop to play repeatedly in its features, you can get enough paddling out of one run.

	Maneater is only a few small bumps for a raft.	I've never rafted but if I did, I'd want one with a roof.

There is a convenient bike path that runs along the river next to the whole run. Walking back to the put in allowed us to check out the rapids visually before our paddle down. The bike path will also make it very convenient to shoot some kayaking segments here for the Savage Snow film.

Shoshone's takeout ramp at Grizzly Creek.

I didn't purposely delay my return to Shoshone this year. I just ended up having the first half of my summer filled with Arkansas River opportunities that kept me away from the Glenwood Canyon portion of the Colorado River.
But I'm glad it turned out this way. It was nice to come back to Shoshone with it now well within my capabilities.

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Before kayaking Shoshone, we left Seth's truck parked much further downstream at Two Rivers Park in Glenwood Springs. This way after using my vehicle at the Shoshone takeout to run the boats back up for a second Shoshone run, we could then continue on past Shoshone's takeout to run the lower Grizzly Creek section also.

I have developed a very low tolerance for mild river sections, so I wasn't too happy running Grizzly Creek to Two Rivers Park.
But at least I know what it is now.
In the future, I will avoid kayaking the Grizzly Creek stretch of the Colorado River beneath the Shoshone run, unless I am helping out beginner friends or it is running exceptionally high.

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For more photos of Glenwood Canyon, one of the most popular scenic drives in America, visit Matthew Salek's Glenwood Canyon / I-70 pages. Part of his site is dedicated to the engineering achievement of building an elegant highway through beautiful Glenwood Canyon.
For more Savage Snow Glenwood Canyon Pictures taken from river level, select any of the "Shoshone" Journal Entries from Kayak Index Pages One, Two, or Three.
-Dan