Pat Wales’ Canyon Country Adventures

Pat Wales of Tabernash CO brought a bunch of photos to the Denver Sportsmens Show in January. Pat bought her S14 in 2000 and has since paddled many of the great wilderness rivers of the Rocky Mountains and Canyon Country, including the Grand Canyon in 2002. Pat loves going on self-supported trips, carrying not only her gear, but the gear of her partner who paddles a hard shell kayak. When last summer’s drought in Colorado brought historically low water levels, Pat discovered how well her S14 handles in very low water. She spent several days camping along the Upper Colorado River near her home. At normal river levels, the river would have been packed with rafters and other boaters, but Pat had the river to herself. Pat also mentioned on that on trips where she wants to pack lightly, she’ll leave her tent and sleeping pad at home and sleep in her SOAR. Pat says she has had several great nights sleep by slightly deflating the side tubes of the S14 so that she has enough room to turn over. The last photo shows a boxer at the put-in on the Rio Chama that climbed into the SOAR to snuggle while Pat was still asleep. Other photos are (from L to R) Pat showing off a rainbow trout she caught on the Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Gates of Lodore section of the Green River, Steamboat Rock on the Green River Lodore run, a calm moment on the Westwater Canyon (UT) run of the Colorado River, the azure waters of the Little Colorado River (AZ), the Rio Chama (NM)