Tony's SUP 1st D of Rockwood
The kayaking season here in Durango has more or less dried out, literally. With flows on the Animas hovering in the 200cfs range and temps in the 90’s I was inspired to give the Rockwood Box of the Animas a go on my Kona inflatable SUP.
I have been paddleboarding quite a bit this season and was feeling pretty confident that I would be fine in Rockwood. I had not been down Rockwood at such low flow in probably 7 years and well, the channels were not as deep as I had been hoping.
The first major rapid, Mandatory Thrash was boney, steep and had a tricky angled entrance move that put me in the water pretty quickly.
Tony wishing he had brought ass pads.
From there it was a lot of trying to pick the deepest channel and stay low on the board, which was on my knees in many cases. I portaged a couple of the more shallow rapids, Red Wall and one other one.
I finished up the last rapid the same way I did the first one, in the water. Overall, I had a good time but I think I will keep practicing and the next time I will go in with more water and more pads as I feel it would have made my life a lot easier and the run less painful.