Eleven Mile Canyon ran last year for the first time in 10 years. This is a complete reservoir dam release fed river, so with all the wild fires last year, the Denver Water Board needed to "flush out" Cheesman Gorge and a couple other areas inundated with ash. The result was the only good run in a drought year. Currently, the reservoir above Eleven Mile is empty so we won't be seeing this run anytime in the near future.
I ran this ran with a guy named Ed who took these pictures at a river wide whole about a mile below the first Class V entrance rapid.
Things look good here, as I'm lined up coming into the rapid. Unfortunately, just after this shot I hit a rock, got spun around backwards and taken completely off my line -- which normally is far right or far left.
As you can see by the look of abject terror on my face, I missed the left and right and am headed right into the middle of the hole. Not a good line usually. Luckily, the hole only grabbed my stern and put me vertical for a few seconds and then mercifully let me out. Whew.
