Low-water Run of the Yampa River, Part 3: A Breakdown and a Put-In

Dear Reader, Our truck turned 200,000 miles, and in seeming celebration or revolt, it had its first ever major breakdown just an hour, of our 8-hr drive north from Cliff’s house, shy of the river put-in, in northern Colorado where our water tribe was waiting. The Breakdown The truck’s drive shaft completely fell off, in the middle of nowhere and as night quickly descended. Waiting for the tow trucks But most fortunately, as if the Gods, yes, wanted to mess with us but, no, not too badly, we broke down a few minutes before loosing cell service forever, and just …

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Low-water Run of the Yampa River, Part 2: Raising Cliff on Rivers

Dear Reader, Our son, Cliff, grew up running rivers, starting when he was a toddler. In Colorado, he’s run: The Yampa, at least six times but never this low. The Delores where, at the age of six, he had his first kiss in the bow of our raft when a cute, little girl asked him if he’d ever made out). The San Juan. The Colorado: Pump House to State Bridge a gazillion times as a young boy; Ruby-Horsethief; and Westwater. The Green: Ladore Canyon, and Flaming Gorge, where at the age of eight, he kayaked his first Class 3 rapids. …

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Low-water Run of the Yampa River, Part 1: The River and the Water Tribe

Dear Reader, Before we could leave Colorado, and actually even before we could finish storing everything at our son’s home in Durango and head home to Nicaragua, we had one last thing on our to-do list: To run the Yampa River with our beloved water tribe. The Yampa River The Yampa River is a high mountain and desert river which begins in the Rocky Mountains above our old home of Steamboat Springs. It runs westward and free through northern Colorado until it flows into the Green River at Echo Park, near the border of Colorado and Utah. The Yampa, as …

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