Bluegrass Creek,

Tunnel outlet to Highway 34

Usual Difficulty	II-V+ (may vary with level)
Length	20 Miles
Avg. Gradient	67 fpm

River Description

This is a bizarre post-season run courtesy of the ranchers of south-east Wyoming. The water in Wheatland Reservoir #2, which comes from the Laramie River, is siphoned off into Bluegrass Creek. You will have a 23 mile (guestimate) run with 20+ fences over the creek, 3 BIG V to V+ rapids, 2 or 3 miles of fun III/IV, and 20 miles of swift moving Class II.

The beta in CRCII is outdated on this run. The Flying X Ranch no longer welcomes paddlers and you have no choice but to do the 23 mile run.

The put-in is truly bizarre with the water coming out of a hole in the side of the hill and proceding to immediately cascade(V+) down what was once a sagebrush filled draw. The streambed is only as old as the diversion, 50-60 years max?, so the bedrock is jagged and scary looking. This section reminds me of No Fun Falls of Bear Creek, on steroids and/or crack. The gradient looks to be about 300fpm or so for 1/2 mile until the water dumps into Bluegrass Creek proper.

At the bottom you are unceremoniously dumped into the main channel of Bluegrass Creek, relax, there is only about 10 miles of Class II until the next significant rapids.

It is hard to say what Bluegrass Creek is. Is it a Class V hair run with a lot of flatwater? Is it an intermediate run with 2 long, but easy, portages? From both perspectives it has some major negatives, but considering the lack of other kayaking opportunities in the area during the time of year this runs it is actually worth it. Just remember the Advil and consider it an adventure.