03. Lawson to Idaho Springs

Nestled between Interstate 70 and Highway 6, just north of Idaho Springs in Clear Creek County is the Lawson and Dumont sections of Clear Creek. While this may seem like just a drainage ditch to the numerous passengers slowly creeping by on I-70, it is in reality a very fun and exciting section of whitewater sure to thrill newer and experienced whitewater enthusiasts alike. This section starts with the nonstop roller coaster of the Lawson section, and continues with the slightly more spread out section know as Dumont. If running Lawson you will almost 100% be running Dumont as well, so these two stretches have been grouped together. While Lawson is not necessarily more difficult than Dumont, it is quite a bit more narrow and fast at higher water. It is generally recommended to run Dumont first, especially if you are newer to class IV river running. This length of river starts to be very low runnable in the 200cfs range in a kayak, and more like 300 in a raft of 4 people. I personally don't like to run the Lawson section in a raft below 500 as it feels very boney. This section starts to lose it's 'technical' feel around 600cfs and goes full blown pushy around 800. Above 1000cfs, you're in for an amazing time that seems to be more rare as the years go by. Be prepared for some rapids to be washed out and others to have monster holes that aren't normally present. Very fun, but if you swim you will likely lose some gear!