I only recommend ducky trips to those who have rafted before. The trip I did was through Brown’s Canyon. On a raft, it’s an intermediate trip. But on a duckie, it’s an advanced trip. So I only recommend it to people who have duckied before. I am not sure if ”duckie” can be used as a verb, but I’m gonna do it anyhow. 
To me, duckying is the way to go. It’s incredible. You’re down in the rapids and experiencing them like no other. Not to mention, every move you make is controlled by you. So if I flip, I know it’s my fault. If I bump into a rock, it’s my fault. And if I have an awesome time, it’s definitely my fault, too!
I was a little nervous about my trip through Brown’s by duckie. It has been more than two months since I rafted Brown’s Canyon. I didn’t remember much about the rapids, other than Seidel, and we didn’t even do that rapid. Seidel was the rapid that flipped my raft in May. And it was the only time I’ve flipped this year. Our put-in spot was just a few miles south of Buena Vista. And our take-out point was at Hecla Junction. The trip took about two and a half hours. The river was insanely busy. There were a ton of rafts. Mike, the owner of the rafting company I went with, said it was the busiest he’s ever seen it. It was just raft after raft.
The first few miles were a little challenging for me. It was very rocky and shallow. I am sure it was challenging for the rafts, too. Within the first 30 minutes, I got lodged on a rock and flipped. It was definitely not the way I wanted to start my trip. It was really shallow and my butt kept hitting rocks. But it was a very easy swim. Luckily, I had no bruises. The first few miles also gave me a chance to warm up a bit and get the feel for things. By the time we got to Brown’s Canyon, I was in great shape. I was able to manuever well. I am very thankful for the warm-up miles.
Our first rapid was called Canyon Doors. This Class III rapid was pretty easy. It was my first hydrolic. All of us got through it, without any problems. Shortly after this rapid, was Pinball Rapid. This rapid was really technical. There were a lot of really large rocks, so it required a lot of manuevering.
Zoom Flume
The next rapid was Zoom Flume, the hardest rapid of the trip. We took time to scout it, before making our run through. I am so happy we scouted it. There were a couple of pretty big holes in this rapid. After scouting it, I was really excited, but kind of nervous. I knew it was going to be a lot of fun, but I didn’t want to flip here.
Duckying Zoom Flume
But this rapid was perfect for duckies. Lots of big waves to punch through. After this rapid, there were a couple of more rapids. They were no biggie though. I thought they were easy.
The next big rapid was called Big Drop. They call it Big Drop because there’s a big drop(obviously). We went to the left of the drop. I kind of wish I would have hit it though. I was getting fairly confident with my abilites, and wanted to start hitting the meat of things. But I held back. Maybe next time. Our next rapid was called Staircase. In this rapid, there are seven drops. They felt fairly easy. The last drop was the biggest. And in a duckie, it was a lot of fun. One of us flipped in this section. Thankfully, not me. Next was widowmaker. This rapid was pretty technical. It required a lot of getting around rocks. And on the other side of one rock, there’s a hole called Toilet Bowl. You have to be careful here, because it’s hidden and it’ll sneak up on you.
After widowmaker, we stopped and jumped off a rock. It was probably about a 15 foot drop and it was so much fun! I’ve always loved cliff jumping. After some fun time, we got back into our duckies and went through our last rapid before the take-out. It was called Raft Ripper. This was a fairly simple rapid. None of us had any problems. There were four of us on this duckie trip. Three of us fell out of our boats. But none of us had any bad swims. We all were able to get back into our duckies, without any problems. This trip was one of my top three favorite. I had such a great time.
What a trip
Run: Brown’s Canyon-Advanced
Guide: Mike Whittington, Owner
Company: Independent Rafting
(719) 539-7737 or (800) 428-1479
Accomodations Provided by:
Woodland Motel
903 W 1st St - Salida, CO 81201
(800) 488-0456
