paddling with a camera

Two years ago I discovered the Big Thompson River for my paddling - I explored just a few miles below Loveland, mostly in upstream/downstream mode in Sisson Nucleus kayak. I made several trips in April, then I returned back to the river in July. Since then I haven't caught enough flow in the Big T to paddle there.

• 03/28/2005 Big Thompson River ?
• 04/07/2005 Paddling and Exploring the Big Thompson River below Loveland, Colorado
• 04/11/2005 Big Thompson River from I-25 to Hillsboro Dam
• 04/20/2005 Paddling Upstream Can Be Faster than Downstream - Hail Storm on the Big Thompson
• 04/26/2005 Big Thompson River with a New Pentax Optio WP Camera
• 07/02/2005 Sinking Sisson Nucleus Kayak on the Big Thompson River
• 07/06/2005 Back to Big T with Sisson Nucleus

The Big T is typically narrow, windy with many fallen trees and other obstacles including barbed wire fences crossing the river. You need to be careful there. I marked all existing and potential obstacles in the maps included in my slide show. It was 2 years ago! The river is changing. The high flow is adding more fallen trees, but it can also destroy barbed wire fences.

I was quite comfortable with my upstream/downstream paddling since I could first slowly approach and scout all obstacles when going upstream. Of course, it was a great workout. I am watching the Loveland gauge and the Sisson kayak is ready.

On the Big T I was using my new Pentax Optio WP camera for the first time, but the pictures shown here still came from Canon PowerShot S40, my first digital camera. They were shot in the same spot in April 2005. I was trying different angles and compositions. The high flow which appeared later that spring added more fallen trees there destroying my composition and making a portage necessary.