Shell and Ten Sleep Creeks

Its that time of year, I begin my treks across the big horn basin to visit the wealth of whitewater in Big Horn Mountains. This time we were joined by some paddlers on the other side of the mountain Eric Seymour, Brenden Cronin, Chris Johnson and John Whiedie. These guys along with the usual suspect Tom Sunderland and we were missing Randy and Nathan because they got their man cards revoked.

Shell Falls will have to wait to be run by a different human being

Levels were on the way down as cooler weather was sweeping across the state so we were able to grab Shell Creek at about 600cfs (7inches on bridge gauge) and Ten Sleep over two feet.

This is such a great road side rapid that perhaps someone will fire up someday but the last 25 footer is gonna be the crux. 25 feet into a pile of rocks that looked to have been placed in the falls during road construction.

The Fine Dining establishment of the Ten Sleep Saloon. If your going through Ten Sleep its a must stop for a bite to eat or a drink.

Kayak trash has arrived in Ten Sleep Wyoming!

Chris Johnson gettin his game on in the entrance rapid to the first gorge of Shell Creek

Eric Seymour tickin off one of the unrun rapids in the LTP section of Shell Creek.

Shell canyon is a pretty rad place

After some rest and prayers for Ten Sleep to lower its water level we heading back up the mountain to check levels. Ten Sleep dropped a little bit but not much. This 300+ft per mile run is unlike any other run I have heard of or paddled. The gauge was a little over two feet and it was sorta like navigating a mine field, one wrong stroke and things are gonna blow up.

Aaron Mulkey looking for the next eddy to catch a breath.

Eric Seymour wondering where the OFF switch is.

As Eric pulled into an eddy we were both trying to catch our breath and he looked at me and said
“This is really fun but on the edge of disaster”
Here is Eric Gopro footage-