Posted 05 August 2016 - 07:44 AM
I've had a love of canoes for the past 20 years. Bought a 17' Old Town "Tripper" royalex in 1994 when we first moved to Colorado. It's been used all over as our kids were growing up, Missouri, Utah, South Dakota (Custer State Park), Wyoming-Yellowstone in the Oxbow area, Colorado.
One favorite easy going river in Colorado is the Yampa River. Starts around Steamboat Springs, flowing west. I've taken Boy Scouts on three 50 mile trips. Put in at Craig, Colorado, take out At Juniper Hot Springs, near Maybell, CO, 50 miles down steam. Beautiful, relaxing, scenic. We did service projects each trip, the biggest one was pulling tires out of the river, for all fifty miles, that had been carried off with high water flow periods, from agricultural areas where they had been used to slow bank erosion. It felt good to give back, and make it better for those who followed. Also pulled a jack-knifed Coleman canoe out that apparently got trapped under water, and abandoned because high water had probably lodged it somewhere and it couldn't be budged.
Still have the Tripper, but also found a Kevlar Mad River Explorer last summer for a bargain. It's so much easier to portage, and a joy to paddle, love it! It is also far easier to put on top the camper.
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