It was only our second day in Colorado, but it was shaping up to be a long one. It was almost ten o’clock and we were already supposed to be at the put-in, but instead we were stashing a bike behind some bushes at the Corral Creek trailhead. The shuttle plan was to hike our boats and gear 3.5 miles up Corral Creek trail from the river to the bike. Then someone would ride the single speed mountain bike the 17 miles back to the truck to retrieve it for the rest of the group. Without a doubt it was going to be a long day, but for our crew it was our chosen celebration of Independence Day.
Joey Jarrell, Jordan Sherman, Matt Wallace, and I (Adam Goshorn) had departed Chattanooga, Tennessee in the afternoon two days earlier. We drove 22 hours straight through and immediately put on Clear Creek of the Arkansas outside Buena Vista, Colorado. After a couple laps we began setting up camp at the take-out and putting the plan in place for the following day. Calls to friends confirmed that Cheesman Canyon had well above the minimum recommended water level and the call was made to schedule access through the private land at the put-in. Moments later we were joined by longtime friend Mike Tavares, who had driven up to meet us after getting off work in Salida. Mike and I went up for another quick lap on Clear Creek before joining the rest of the group for the first of many campfires, beers, and good times our visit to Colorado would include.
Arriving in Colorado. Photo By Joey Jarrell
Paddling the South Platte through Cheesman Canyon was high on our “hit list†for our time in Colorado this summer. This section of river didn’t see boatable flows often and didn’t seem to get paddled that often when it did.  However, several things we had heard about this section sounded particularly inviting to us. First, that the access issues of past with Sportsman’s Paradise, a private community at the put-in, had been resolved through an agreement set up by American Whitewater. Secondly, that the granite landscape was reminiscent of California, but with a much shorter drive.
