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 season, water users can get enough water from other sources so the upper South Platte Drainages get held back behind reservoirs. Flows in May and June will often be low or barely runnable, but a huge water year when the reservoirs get filled early can sometimes create 1000cfs flows on the main stem. Then once other water sources start to run out and irrigation really kicks into high gear in mid to late summer, these two rivers will start being called on. For this reason, a decent August and September season can usually be found on these two forks.
Nearby runs:
- Waterton Canyon (just below the takeout at the confluence):
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- Foxton (shares the same takeout at the confluence):
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Access issues:
- In addition to the issues at the Chutes themselves (see the rapid description below), the upper part of this section has a lot of private land along the banks. If you choose to put in all the way up at the town of Deckers you'll eventually pass a cable across the river with a sign stating that it is private land and to stay in the river. Please be respectful and do not get out of your boat or pull over while floating on private land. Most private land ends around the Scraggy View Picnic Area.
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History of Conservation - The Two Forks Dam:
- In the 1980s, the Denver Water Board and a number of other water agencies pooled their resources and water rights and proposed the Two Forks Dam at the Confluence of the North Fork and the main stem of the South Platte just downstream of where the South Platte Hotel currently stands. This 539-foot tall reservoir would have flooded the main stem back to the town of Deckers and the North Fork back to the town of Buffalo Creek. The Army Corp of Engineers enthusiastically approved the project and the smaller Strontia Springs Reservoir just downstream was quickly built as it would help with managing flows out of a gigantic dam. However, the Forest Service had determined in 1984 that the sections of the river that would be flooded were eligible for protection under the new Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, though the Forest Service could not propose protection themselves. At this point the Environmental Protection Agency got involved and conducted a $40 million Environmental Impact Study, one of the first ever for a dam. At the conclusion of the study and a ton of lobbying from environmental groups, the EPA administrator Bill Reilly vetoed construction of the dam in 1989-1990 calling the dam an 'environmental catastrophe.'
- After a 6 year legal battle, the veto stood and everyone had to come back to the table to discuss options. The water agencies wanted to submit a proposal for a new dam that would get around some of the EIS concerns. The environmental groups wanted to push for the river to be designated as a Wild and Scenic River, which would prohibit dams in perpetuity. Eventually a grand compromise was struck in 1999. No dams and no W&S status would be pursued by either side for 20 years. Denver Water would create a $1 million trust fund to be managed by a new South Platte Enhancement Board to protect the identified Outstanding Remarkable Values of the river corridor. The board still meets today with a whitewater recreation rep (
http://southplatte.org/ for more info) but you'll notice that the 20 year moratorium has expired. Denver Water has slowly been utilizing their water rights that would have gone into the Two Forks Dam elsewhere including the Gross Reservoir Expansion, the Chatfield Reallocation Project, and a proposed Bear Creek Reallocation Project, however the threat of a dam at this site will remain for as long as the mountains stand or the river is designated Wild and Scenic.