Cache La Poudre,

10. Below Filter Plant to Picnic Rock Access (Filter Plant)

Filter Plant

Filter Plant
Photo of Mad Dog Rapid at 3.5 feet by Brad Goettemoeller (www.allaboutrivers.com) @ 3.5 feet

Gauge Information

River Description

Check out their description of this reach.

This is the easy beginner run on the Poudre. There are two only two rapids (III), with swift moving class II in between. The first rapid is between the put-in and the bridge. The second rapid, Mad Dog Rapid, is after the bridge when the river takes a hard right turn.

To get there: Put in at the large pull-out below the filter plant. Watch out for fast cars, most people don't slow down for the corner here and they don't expect to see rafts and kayaks crossing the road! The take-out is at Picnic Rock Access. Picnic Rock is part of the State Parks system and you will have to pay a user fee, if you have a State Parks season pass you don't have to pay the fee. Make sure you make the takeout at Picnic Rock, there is a nasty low-head dam just down stream.

See Colorado Rivers and Creeks II, by Banks and Eckardt (The Bible), for info on this and most of the other kewl runs of Colorado.

Lat/longitude coords are approximate, from TopoZone.

See also,

Big South (Class V/VI),
Joe Wright Creek (Class V),
Spencer Heights (Class V/VI),
South Fork (Class IV/V),
White Mile Run/Upper Rustic (Class III),
Grandpa's Gorge/Lower Rustic (Class III/IV),
The Narrows (Class IV/V/V+),
Upper Mishawaka (Class III/IV),
Lower Mishiwaka (Class III),
Poudre Park (Class IV),
Bridges (Class III/IV),
Upper North Fork (Class IV/V),
Lower North Fork (Class II/III), and
Filter Plant (Class III).