South Platte
04. Deckers to Confluence with North Fork(Chutes)
| Difficulty | I-II(III) |
| Length | 15.6 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Reach Info Last Updated | June 15, 2021 |
River Description
Welcome to God's gift to beginner kayakers on the Front Range. It's wild, it's scenic, the kayaking is easy but great. It's almost like it should be designated as a federal Wild and Scenic River? This stretch has it all. Easy access, beautiful scenery, and easy yet interesting rapids. The problem is that everyone knows how great it is and thus when the river is up, EVERYONE is there including people fishing, tubing, camping, picnicking, swimming, tubing and boating (saying tubing twice is not a typo). The road along the river gets so much traffic on busy summer weekends that the dust descends upon the banks in clouds. But if you can get up there on a weekday when it has enough water, you’re unlikely to find a nicer stretch within 2 hours of Denver.
There are tons of access points for the Main Stem of the South Platte. Technically you could go all the way from Deckers to the confluence for an epic 15+ mile marathon, but I will say the one time I did it all in one day we took about 5 hours of constant paddling in long boats and weren’t really enjoying ourselves by the end (the random snow shower in September probably didn’t help). Most people looking to run 'The Chutes' (the one class III- at most water levels) will put in at the parking lot where West Pine Creek Road meets the river and float down to either the Colorado Trail footbridge or the confluence with the North Fork at the South Platte Hotel. Ultra beginners/first time whitewater boaters who don't want to run the chutes can put in a bit upstream at the Ouzel Campground or Willow Bend Picnic Area and take out at the parking lot just above the Chutes.
Flow Information:
The main stem and the North Fork work together to provide enough water downstream to water just about all of the southern Denver municipal area and many farmers to the east. Because of that, it usually doesn't follow the normal snowmelt season most other nearby rivers follow. Generally during main snowmelt se
...River Features
Put In
For the uppermost put in usually used to avoid conflicts with fishermen, you can park about 100 yards downstream of the stores in Deckers at a Forest Service parking lot.
W Pine Creek Rd Put-in
Most people looking for a couple hours on the water will put in where W Pine Creek Rd comes down to meet the river. There is some parking here (and a vault toilet) but if the parking is full, there is more just downstream. Putting in here avoids all of the private landowner issues that used to be cited on this page.
The Chutes
When you are floating, you'll pass The Giant's Balls, 3-4 house sized surprisingly round boulders with a beach below them on river right that accesses a parking lot with a vault toilet. The Balls are the landmark that creates a nice class II rapid and lets you know that the Chutes are coming up next. About 150 yards downstream from the beach, the river makes a sharp right turn and your last decent eddy is on the right just below the turn behind a low boof-able rock. It is annoying but possible to access the parking lot from this eddy.
Look downstream from that eddy to see the apartment building-sized, overhanging, water-streaked rock. There is a pool even with that rock that most people use to split this rapid in half. Above that pool, stay in the main current a bit right of center and avoid the FU rocks in the middle. There is a two-foot drop just above the pool that is difficult to see from the road. Use the pool for a quick recovery then hit the main chute. Point straight (a slight right-hand angle can help), paddle hard, and collect everything in the massive pool at the bottom.
Access Notes: It is illegal to stop your car on the road and/or scout this rapid along the banks. It is also illegal to get out of your boat and climb around on the rocks (say, to do any of the amazing seal launches at the bottom). Many boaters have gotten trespassing tickets here, in particular for climbing up to do the seal launches. Forest Service Rangers do patrol the road most summer weekends and many weekdays as well.
Hazard Notes:
PFDs (and helmets but I'm gonna start small) should be worn by everyone, especially tubers, for this rapid. The chute itself is DEEP and the walls are slightly overhung and many near-drownings have occurred here. Wearing a PFD is very effective at helping to manage this risk.
There are many body-holding sieves on river right next to the two-foot drop. Most people wont end up anywhere near them, however some people like to catch the eddy on the right just above the two-foot drop to boat scout it and missing this eddy can be dangerous.
Baby Chutes
A little chute after the main chutes with a large pool below. Can be a surf wave above ~400 CFS
Take Out at the South Platte Hotel
On Google search for 'North Fork Trail Parking Lot' to get directions to the South Platte Hotel, an abandoned, likely haunted building with a nice parking lot and vault toilet that is a VERY popular river access point for Foxton, Deckers, and Waterton. When floating, you'll pass the confluence, then go under the bridge and pull over at the beach about 100 feet downstream of the bridge on river left.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportMy wife and I took our Pack rafts on their maiden river voyage here. It is was a great place to learn. Started at Hwy 67 and took out at the confluence. There was only 1 section towards the end which I'm guessing is called 'The chutes' which is a bit scary for newbs like us. We never swam but bounced off a rock pretty good. If we did swim, there was a nice Olympic pool at the end.
CFS was @ 205 and we did hit bottom in some sections but could have avoided if we knew how to read the river better. Any higher would be perfect. There were A LOT of tubers, so a great place to look cool. We will be back to practice for the more intimidating Foxton!
Ran this in packrafts at 200. It looked really low from the road but it was fine, could be done this low in kayaks too with hitting maybe a few more rocks. The previous comment about cables and 'no trespassing' signs is correct, however, the law in Colorado is that you can float through the river here as long as your feet do not touch the ground, so you can paddle there but not fish. There are not cables or barbed wire preventing you from floating through here but there are signs. Due to the popularity of fishing close to Deckers, we decided to start a few miles down. Other than the chutes, which are awesome and can be scouted from the road, the nicest, most fun section is actually from about a mile past the chutes to a little past the next bridge. Many options to make this run longer or shorter, some of the parking lots are free, most are not. A nice, mellow class II float close to the Front Range, with one short Class III drop in the chutes. Even if you swam here, you would end up in a calm, flat pool.
Ran this on 4/24/16 @ 220cfs. Lower Runnable. We didn't go up as high as Deckers. We put in about 5miles above the confluence with the N. Fork. Mostly easy class I and II with a couple of II+ drops and one really cool class III rapid that has a few technical moves and then funnels into a narrow slot between huge granite domes. Pretty stretch. Would be a great way to lengthen and warm up for a Waterton Canyon run.
Don't mess with the first 3.3miles downstream (North) of Deckers Rt.126 bridge (at intersection beside shops) because there are low bridges and some jerk has put up 'No Trespassing' signs with cables across the river... Beyond that river bridge at 3.3miles, the river is clear & ripe for paddling. Platte River Rd follows the river & there are many parking areas. You'll see many tubers floating down the river & fishermen on the banks. At medium water level, this stretch of river has several fun Cl II-III rapids with fast flatwater in between.