| Difficulty | V |
| Length | 0.94 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 102 fpm |
| Reach Info Last Updated | August 2, 2026 |
Colorado River Access American Whitewater’s Colorado River Access Program works to improve river access and public safety throughout the state by working with landowners and managers, paddlers, law enforcement, and lawmakers to understand Colorado’s river access laws and the ongoing threats to public safety. Our primary goals of this [...]Read More
The Big T Gnar Section is the classic roadside steep creeking of the Front Range. It has some excellent boofs, rapids and a waterfall, but it still has mank too. In short, it is steep, quality, shallow, and short. Most people hike a few laps and then head downstream for the class IV+ section to Drake if the flow is high enough.
Sadly, this section is Dam released and unpredictable. They usually update the flow at midnight and it can go from too low to too high and vice versa. Typical snowmelt season (June) is your best bet, but you have to check day-of to be sure. You can check the flows here: BTBLESCO
220 cfs - 280 cfs is low flows. You can run everything but it's kinda mank.
280 cfs - 350 cfs is medium.
350 cfs - 450 cfs is medium high.
450 cfs and up is high, it's pushy and the holes are giant.
Park at the big pull off by Cannon Shot (the obvious waterfall). Hike as far up as you like.
Nobody puts in at the Fishing Pier because the first rapid, Garbage Disposal, is an unrunnable death sieve. It used to be runnable before the 2013 flood, but it is not anymore. Even hiking up to Garbage Disposal isn’t so popular because the long rapid below the Garbage Disposal is mostly continuous Colorado mank with no drops. But hey, it’s fun mank.
The Bad Boof to Cannon Shot section is the awesome steep creek drops you came for.
Either takeout below Cannon Shot to hike a few more laps or if it is above 350 cfs head down to Drake or the Smith Park for some classic class IV+ creeking.
September 2013 Colorado received record rainfall within a five day period that has now completely changed the Big Thompson River. Lives were lost in this series of storms and the Big Thompson River redirected flows and removed roadways in the canyon. The Gnar section was rearranged to be as decribed here, and is regarded as superior to th
...To do the full section hike up and put in right below Garbage Disposal
Steep junky drop of about 15', basically an unrunnable sieve.
Boof the middle channel. It looks bad, but especially above 300 cfs it is actually good! None of the other channels go.
After peeling out from the eddy below Bad Boof, make your way around a couple corners and over some diagonally stacked ledges. V-Slide awaits. Aim center (below 300cfs) or just left of center (any level.) Come off sideways and you will be surfed.
Make your way through another stair-steppy alleyway section. Come off the tricky 5' entry drop, then drive back to middle and launch a fat boof off the central lip. High-five your pals in the (smallish) eddies below. The right hand channel lands on an invisible underwater rock. Know that the tricky entry drop pushes you over here but if you launch a big boof you will be ok. More generalized mank with a few holes goes around the giant house sized boulder and leads into Weird Thing.
An entry ramp into a big hole leads straight into a boof with a tricky pocket river right. Try and keep speed off of the entry ramp and hit the next boof river right ish with a lot of forwards momentum to stay out of the pocket. HIT YOUR BOOF -- the pocket overhung by the river-right boulder has been a bit of a swimming hole. Not a bad place to set safety.
This 10 ft waterfall looks totally terrible, but it is amazing. The highlight of the run for sure. Catch the big staging eddy river right and then launch a huge boof off of the river left flake. You want straight but not left angle coming off of this drop. You won’t hit any rocks in the landing unless you flip or plug. You can also run a trickier line off of the right side.
Sep 18, 2004
typical inbetween rapids in the hair section
The second big drop, the wood on river left is right in the good line.
The last rapid of the hair section