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Woods Creek, CO

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Reservoir to Confluence with West Fork Clear Creek

Class V
0.5 Miles
Avg Gradient 430 fpm
Max Gradient 430 fpm

Woods Creek


Woods Creek
Photo of Adam Barron by Brian Adkins taken 06/03

Gauge Information


Min Sug. Level:  200 cfs Max Sug. Level:  400 cfs

River Description

This is a crazy little steep creek at the very bottom of Berthod Pass, best run in conjunction with the West Fork Clear Creek. The main attraction for this run is the 1st hundred yards in which you lose a good 300 foot of vertical! Put-in on a small reservoir for the Henderson Mine, then slide over a sluice dropping 200’ vertical down the side of the impoundment that dumps you directly into a steep Class V cascade. At the bottom of the cascade hike back up and do it again a few times! Once you’ve had your fill of that continue downstream for ¼ mile of silly steep Class V-, but make sure there isn’t new wood before committing. Once you reach the confluence with the West Fork get out immediately river left, just downstream is a river-wide strainer. From here portage straight up and out of the river gorge and through the woods to the hairpin turn at the very bottom of Berthod Pass/Hwy 40.

A word of caution! Since the dam, and the area around the creek, is owned by the Henderson Mine there has been some debate over what their reaction is going to be when they find out that it is being kayaked! Currently there is no trash-rack at the top of the sluice, and there are no “no-trespassing” signs on the access road, even though it is obviously private. Please be stealth at the top of the dam, and if you see mine personnel hanging out or driving around don’t run the sluice!

For pics of Woods Creek and many other Colorado classics check out my Webshots photo album.

To Get There: From I-70 take the Berthod Pass/Hwy 40 exit and drive to the first hair-pin turn at the very bottom of Berthod Pass. Take a left on the dirt road that comes in at the hair-pin and drive ¼ mile until you see a smaller dirt road heading down and to the left. Down this road it is only about 100 yards until you reach a gate. Park your car here and shoulder your boat, the put-in is about ¼ mile past the gate. As described above, the takeout is at the last hair-pin turn on Hwy 40. From there you can just shoulder your boat and walk back to your car.

StreamTeam Status: verified
Last Updated: 2004-06-16 18:10:52

Search Results

Photos/Videos 1- of 3

Woods Creek


Woods Creek  Woods Creek Co
(17.93KB .jpeg)

Sluice


Sluice  Woods Creek Co
(28.74KB .jpeg)

bottom of sluice


bottom of sluice  Woods Creek Co
(26.16KB .jpeg)

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Gauge

Gauge Description:

I only ran this once when the West Fork was at 200cfs. This level was pretty much the bare minimum. I'm not sure what the max flow is, but I have a feeling this is a good creek to run at peak. Since this is the main trib to the West Fork use its gauge to estimate flow.

WEST FORK CLEAR CREEK ABV MOUTH NR EMPIRE, CO [ CO ]

Current Conditions

Stage Flow Updated
4.82 55 8/21 23:00

Station Graphs


Linked Reaches

Search Results

Level Legend: Running Below Minimum Recommended Flow Above Maximum Recommended Flow Unknown
Descriptions of reaches with River Name in bold have been verified by a regional StreamTeam member.

State River Name/Section Class Level Rel. Level Updated
CO Clear Creek, West Fork— Coors Falls to Gunshot V 55 cfs   low 8/21 23:00
CO Woods Creek— Reservoir to Confluence with West Fork Clear Creek V 55 cfs   low 8/21 23:00

Station Description

AW Gauge ID:7426
USGS Station:06716100
HUC:10190004
Latitude:39.7589
Longitude:-105.6594
Class:

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Disclaimer Data Sources

EPA Surf This Watershed

USGS Page for This Station

NPS CO Rivers Inventory


Journal Archive Articles



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