South Platte

I ran this today, 3/13/2022 at around ~250cfs on a SUP and it was fun. Once you get used to the effluent smell, it is not so bad. For the first dam, I portaged around it on river right (east side). There is a little road/walkway with a bench to make traveling around easy. I portaged the second dam on river left. I moved quickly portaging the second dam because I wasn't sure if it was private property or not, lots of cow pies made me think it was private property so tread lightly. It is an easy portage though. Other than that, the strainers are easily avoidable and currently there are very few hazards. I took out at the baseball fields in Ft. Lupton, there is a cement walkway to walk to your car around the fields. Besides the industrial areas, there was a lot of wildlife viewing and pretty cottonwoods along the river.

I did this stretch yesterday at 410 CFS on a SUP. From Denver this is an easy option for anyone looking for a class 1 float on a SUP. Yes, there is a lot of trash and broken concrete, and it is not all that terribly exciting, but to get out easily and log some miles it is convenient. If you overlook the occasional rebar, or errant tire, there is a lot of wildlife to be seen. The birds we saw included, blue herons, kingfishers, red tails, bald eagles, pipers, and red winged blackbirds. We also saw deer, fox, and two beavers. The wind picked up on us so this stretch took us 3 and 1/2 hours to complete so bring a snack just incase the wind gets you too. There is one rock dam towards the start that we had to portage but at higher flows it could be runnable on a SUP, and the dam further down was closed so we had to portage that too. I would not run it in a SUP any lower that 350. There are a few gravel bars, and strainers that if the water was any lower would be hard to get around. Would I do this stretch again? If I planned on bringing a few beverages, and went into it with the right attitude it could be a blast every time!

Dam from below at about 300-320 CFS, in Mid December. 2 SUPs, 1 SOT kayak, one river runner ran the dam no issue on river left.

The review above is spot on - prefect for beginners, but realistically, TOO slow. The water levels were really low (day of float said 216cfs, but that was about as low as could be floated). We scraped bottom a number of times - nothing where we had to get out and portage, but still low enough that it was a hassle. To be truthful, at this level, it could be a class 1 all day long, barring the first five minutes into the trip. My wife (first time 'whitewater' kayaker) dumped before we were out of Veterans Park on a ~5 ft. drop - mostly my fault for not providing a proper 'block of instruction'. The rest of the day was 'lazy river' - even the dam (which was open) was uneventful. Higher waters would probably pose a risk where portage would be suggested, but we just floated right under the dam doors and scratched the dam door bottom only slightly. Overall, a good run for a true kayak 'virgin' but most people who have been on a kayak and can paddle fairly well will be looking for more. Overall trip time ~4 hours. Oh, almost forgot - the takeout section where it says to park is closed (no parking signs in a few places) - we went over the bridge to the other side of the river where there was a baseball field - there is a 'road' behind the fields that leads to river access - not a super clean takeout (vegetation, swampy areas) but you can park within 100 yards and takeout just the same - no issue, just be aware.

Unpassable with canoe portage is required. There is a nice concrete block right before the turn to this dam that works well for group trips .