Columbus Loop
May 27, 2019
by Frank Ohrt

  When my Very Good Friend (Liz Dennis) found out she had professional duties on the 25th, when Bob Naeger planned a club trip on the loop, and was seriously put out because she couldn’t go, I proposed a last-minute, informal loop paddle the following day. I posted it on the Forum, and, to my surprise, several people agreed to come along, despite the holiday traffic. 

  We all met up at Howell’s Canoe Livery in Columbus Sunday morning: myself, paddling a solo canoe; Liz and her daughter Grace in a tandem; Malcolm Lefevre and his guest, Crystal Aguay, in a venerable aluminum tandem; and Chris and Brigitte Larson in solo sit-on-top kayaks. After dosing ourselves with plenty of sunscreen, we took off on a lovely morning, partly cloudy and not as hot as it could have been. 

  It was mostly an uneventful trip (that is, no spills, rescues, hail or tornadoes), and we all had a leisurely, if not always straight, paddle. The Colorado was at 13.5 on the Columbus gauge (about 3500 cfs), so there was a fair current, but no problems at the put-in or the new take-out, across the river from the old one. We had lunch on a suitable sand bar, and were off the river in about three hours. 

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The author, Frank Ohrt