Avintaquin - Avantiquan

Description

I've included this one if you are in the area and have a couple hours to spare. Or If you are competing in the Vertical Challenge the pinnacles campground would be ther perfect base camp as four different run options exist with either a put-in or a take-out at the campground itself. There are also cheap cabins to stay in. The only thing not conveniant is the Strawberry River Gorge. the runs are as follows: Strawberry Res. to the campground,IV+, 21 mi campground to Starvation Res,II, 16 mi Current Creek Res. to the campground,III, 32 mi Avintaquin creek to the campground,III, 8 mi the 3 put-ins and the 1 take out are all within a 26 mile drive of the campground. If a team of 5 each ran 5 laps on all runs, that would equate to 95,000 vertical feet with relatively very little driving involved. So now your wondering what about the run?? The whitewater is nothing great in particular, not too steap but a few wood portages and a fence near the take-out. The thing that sets this one apart is if you've ever been curious what it is like to run a normally dry desert wash during a flash flood, or to know what it was like back before we piped all of our desert streams, this one will show you. Winding it's way through sage country and cottonwoods, you will negotiate many sharp turns and sheer dirt banks and a few squirrly currents. But scout the blind corners if you don't see any eddies. The canyon itself is high desert flora: pines, junipers and sage. The canyon walls are steep and rocky with long lines of cliffs, although nothing too scenic. But this is real cowboys, indians, and rattlesnake country. I also find fascinating the possibility of a several other flashflood/spring runoff desert creeking options in the 9,000-10,000 foot Tavaputs plateau, namely Willow Creek, the headwaters of the Nine Mile Creek on down to the Green(actually somewhere around 60 miles) and a couple other options. Gradient from the put-in, down: mi 1-30 fpm mi 2-60 fpm mi 3-40 fpm mi 4-60 fpm mi 5-25 fpm mi 6-65 fpm mi 7-115 fpm mi 8-60 fpm