For the next few days, my friend Lars Hard will be along with me in his kayak; not wanting to miss the thrills in Shoshone, he and Joe Beverage boated it at about 9 am while I snapped some photos of them.

After a hearty breakfast Lars and I left Two Rivers Park at noon. The weather was better than yesterday, but still much colder than normal.

This is the most visible part of the river because of its close proximity to Interstate 70. In six hours we descended over 700 vertical feet and covered almost 50 miles to the town of Parachute.

Wildlife sightings included a mule deer, a raccoon, a bald eagle, an osprey, many blue herons including two of their rookeries, several egrets and countless ducks and geese. Obviously, Lars knows how to identify these creatures better than I do.

The smells of all the new growth and sounds of so many types of birds kept our senses on high alert. At one point the river cuts through large hogback, which is a geologic feature rising from the surrounding area. At a time like this, what do you think it is called: The Grand Hogback

The river moved fast and there was a surprising amount of waves and other assorted whitewater. As the day progressed, so did the weather.

By about 6:45 pm we were tired but happy to have met our daily distance goal. The next two days will be equally long, so I’ll close so we can get out there and do it all again.