Floating the Upper Rio Grande

 

I was very sad we wouldn't be canoe camping in North Dakota so when planning to go to Colorado, I found another river to canoe--the start of Rio Grande River.  There was a touristy little town, Creede, where we stopped and set up shuttle service and they told us where we could go that was appropriate for our lack of abilities (class I-II).

I think we all started out fairly happy but almost immediately in the very first rapids we hit, Jubal fell off his kayak, and with Leo and I separated in different canoes with kids, we weren't able to maneuver to go help.  I was so impressed with Sebastian and Nicolas though, they kayaked right over, one helped Jubal to get to my canoe and one grabbed the kayak and paddle.  They were awesome!!!  So then Jubal was FREEZING the rest of the time and pretty scared of falling in again.  So I towed his kayak.  We stopped along the way for lunch, then paddled on.

The wind picked up throughout the afternoon and it got harder and harder to steer.  Elena and Isabel were both completely new to canoeing and Isabel at least was getting more than a bit frustrated and upset.  We made it back to Creede though, and I think overall everyone had fun and got sun burnt.

Sebastian has skills!

We were supposed to spend the night at another BLM campsite, but it was snowing as we came through the Rockies so instead Leo found a hotel for us in Colorado Springs on Hotwire. We warmed up breakfast burritos I had made beforehand in the microwave and they tasted so good! I think we all were starving.  The hotel was super nice and we had a delicious breakfast the next day (chefs on hand to make omelets however you wanted). Anyway, it was definitely better than setting up tents in a snowstorm.  We would have froze.