Colorado River - Palisade-Fruita-Westwater

A weekend trip with Jerry and Marci Nolan (red Old Town Penobscot 17) and Ken Lotze and Carol Johnson (green Old Town Penobscot 17). I was paddling my Sea Wind canoe and trying to shoot some video clips with my camera mounted in the front deck. We launched at Riverbend Park in Palisade around noon of April 12 and paddled to Fruita State Park for overnight camping. Launched at Fruita in the morning of April 13 and finished at Westwater around 4pm. Total milage: ~ 55 miles. Palisade to Fruita paddling was great despite of a very low river flow, only 300 cfs at Palisade. The river was not so scenic as in the popular Loma-Westwater run through Horsethief and Ruby canyons but technically more interesting with many ripples and standing waves (pictures in the second row by Jerry Nolan).


Ruby Canyon and Black Rocks. River flow at Colorado-Utah Border: ~1400cfs. It was quite breezy on the river below Black Rocks.


download video (9.5Mb for Windows Media Player) Resources: Colorado river flow: below Grand Valley diversion near Palisade \| near CO/UT state line Jerry's local river guide with more pictures from our trip. Related trips: Loma to Westwater - my solo trip in March 2001 River Runners' Guide to Utah ... Belknap's Waterproof Canyonlands River Guide

Extra shots on the return way to Fort Collins: South Canyon Rapid on the Colorado River below Glenwood Springs (flow ~1400cfs)