South Platte River. Mountain Wayfarer paddling destinations

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South Platte River, Colorado

2004

1/01/2004: Kersey-Kersey. A New Year paddling with Sea Wind Canoe. Relatively warm weather as long as the sun was above the horizon. River flow near Kersey: ~500-520 cfs. I launched at the Mitani-Tokuyasu State Wilderness Area below Greeley (Evans-Kersey map ) and paddled upstream, portaged the Plumb Ditch Dam, after 5 miles I reached the Patterson Ditch Dam, and then I turned back and wa racing downriver against the setting down sun. The river was a little bit shallow for upstream paddling in a few places. In one shallow spot with fast current I tried a new technique: a polling from sitting position using a ski pole. It worked pretty good. Above the Plumb Dam I had a very close encounter with a bald eagle. I shot some video at both dams. I am going to include new footage in my movie from December paddling on South Platte. GPS trip odometer: 10.0 miles, moving time 3:33 h, stopped time: 1:12 h, moving average 2.8 mph (upstream 1.8 mph), max speed 7.7 mph.
Plumb Ditch Dam	Patterson Ditch Dam
1/04/2004: Kersey-Kersey. Sunny and cold. River flow near Kersey: ~500 cfs. It was 20F when I launched the Mitani-Tokuyasu State Wilderness Area. I paddled upstream only a couple of miles to the Plumb Ditch Dam. I love South Platte in a snow scenery, so I spent a lot of time of shooting. Each time I was crossing a powerline below the dam during last couple of months I saw a blue-grey kingfisher sitting at the same place on the lowest wire. It was my first encounter with a kingfisher on South Platte, but according to The Guide to Colorado Birds, the belted kingfisher is found year around along streambeds in eastern Colorado and throughout the state in summer. The smaller more colorful kingfisher with bright blue and orange feathers was my frequent companion during my paddling years in Poland. The air temperature was dropping down rapidly after the sunset and the river got covered by a dense fog. Not a frequent view in dry Colorado. When I was leaving the river valley about 5 pm, geese were still flying high in the sky, a nearly full moon showed up and my car thermometer indicated 4F. In Fort Collins was much warmer (~18F). GPS trip odometer: 5.06 miles, moving time 1:56 h, stopped time: 1:19 h, moving average 2.6 mph (upstream 1.8 mph), max speed 7.9 mph.


1/09/2004: Kersey-Kersey. River flow near Kersey: ~480 cfs. Air temperature 48-36F. Still some snow on the ground. Another training paddle from the Mitani-Tokuyasu SWA upstream to the Plumb Ditch Dam (1:19h of intense workout) and back downriwer. Hundreds of geese flying after sunset. GPS trip odometer: 5.44 miles, moving time 1:59 h, stopped time: 0:35 h, moving average 2.7 mph (upstream 1.9 mph), max speed 8.2 mph.
1/18/2004: Kersey-Kersey. River flow near Kersey: ~475 cfs. Air temperature 30-26F. My standard winter paddling course.
	It was sunny at Fort Collins. When I was approaching Greeley, the air temperature was dropping down and I found a valley of South Platte River in a fog. All trees and bushes where covered by frost as seen at the picture showing confluence of S. Platte and Cache la Poudre rivers from my launching spot. Paddling upstream I managed to escape from fog to the sunny world but when I returned back the fog got really dense. There were a lot birds along the river including a magnificent eagle and several kingfishers.
GPS trip odometer: 5.32 miles, moving time 2:01 h, stopped time: 0:38 h, moving average 2.6 mph (upstream 1.8 mph), max speed 7.5 mph.
1/19/2004: Kersey-Kersey. River flow near Kersey: ~470 cfs. Air temperature 40-35F. I checked my former launching spot at Kuner (north bridge). Unfortunately, a new fence made it unaccessible. Launching at the main (south) bridge looked really unattractive, so I started again from the Mitani-Tokuyasu SWA above Kersey and went down the river. The river seemed to be a little deeper and easier to paddle than the upstream part. Maybe, the 80cfs added by the Poudre River made some difference. I paddled a little bit more than 4 miles until I was stopped by a fallen cotton tree with signs of beaver activity. It was possible to take another river leg to go around the obstacle but it was a good turning point and nice spot for a short photo session.
	I finished my upstream paddling in darkness about 6 pm. I always carry my 10W head light in the case I paddle at night, but it really wasn't necessary to use it on water. There was enough dispersed light from Greeley to find a way for a slow upstream paddling. I used my light only when landing and uploading my boat. Travelling downstream at night on the shallow river with many sandbars would be more challenging.
Wildlife: geese, ducks, eagles and some other smaller birds of pray, herons and kingfishers. GPS trip odometer: 8.60 miles, moving time 2:59 h, stopped time: 0:42 h, moving average 2.9 mph, max speed 7.2 mph.
2/09/2004: Kersey-Kuner-Kersey. A beautiful winter day. Sunny. Snow on the ground. Air temperature 35-26F. River flow near Kersey: ~520 cfs. I started at 11:00am at Mitani-Tokuyasu State Wilderness Area and paddled downriver all the way to Kuner and further to the Empire Dam (8.3 miles). I could see a typical assortment of birds: geese and ducks, herons, kingfishers, eagles and hawks. About 1 mile above Kuner there is my favorite place on South Platte: a narrow windy right leg of the river. It had still enough water for paddling. Returning back upstream was much slower. I used a lot of my cross country ski pol to push my Sea Wind over shallow places. My average speed was not much better than 1.5 mph. I made two longer stops to shoot some video (the pictures below were extracted from video). After sunset the temperature was dropping down pretty fast but the life on river was going on. Geese started to look for a place to stay overnight. Hundreds of them flew just over my head. Squadron after squadron. It was miracle that I wasn't hit by any dropping. Later when it got completely dark I started to use my headlamp to find my way between sandbars. My light exposed several beavers along the shores. I saw only their gleaming eyes but on one occasion I came close enough to see silhoettes of their boddies. They were watching me very carefully. I reached my launching place about 7:00pm after eight hours spent on the river. GPS trip odometer: 16.6 miles, moving time 6:14 h, stopped time: 1:41 h, moving average 2.7 mph, max speed 7.7 mph.


	2/15/2004: Kersey-Kersey. River flow near Kersey: ~600 cfs. Air temperature ~50F. My standard afternoon paddle from the Mitani-Tokuyasu State Wilderness Area upstream to the Plumb Ditch Dam and back. This time I explored a narrow and shallow river channel near the dam. I went the entire length of the channel polling with a ski pol until I reached the dam separating me from the main river. According to old paddlers, before the upstream entry to the channel was blocked it was possible to take this route and avoid the portage over the Plumb dam.
GPS trip odometer: 6.1 miles, moving time 2:21 h, stopped time: 0:55 h, moving average 2.6 mph, max speed 7.9 mph.
2/17/2004: Kersey-Kersey. River flow near Kersey: ~620 cfs. A purely training run from the Mitani-Tokuyasu SWA to the Plumb Ditch Dam and back. I used a kayak paddle when going upstream (1:19 h) and switched to a single blade for the downriver run. No pictures. No stops. GPS trip odometer: 4.8 miles, moving time 1:40 h stopped time: 0:00 h, moving average 2.8 mph, max speed 8.3 mph. Time of the entire trip including driving from and to Fort Collins: 3:45 h (15:15-19:00).
2/20/2004: Milliken-Milliken. River flow: Fort Lupton: ~550 cfs, Kersey: ~650 cfs, St Vrain @ Platville: ~100cfs. Water level was rising. St Vrain Creek - Evans map
railroad bridge ~2 miles below Milliken	A little exploratory trip to the part of South Platte I've never paddled before. I launched at highway 60 (SE of Milliken) and paddled 2.8 miles downriver until I reached the Godfrey Ditch Dam. It seemed that a half of river went to the ditch that looked quite tempting but the current was pretty strong. Then, I returned back upstream finishing after sunset. The river was rising and carrying a lot of sticks and branches.
bald eagles soaring	black birds migrating
Godfrey Ditch Dam	and half of the river goes to the ditch
Sandbars and fallen trees made this part of the river interesting. Birds everywhere: several soaring bald eagles and hawks, thousands of noisy black birds migrating, geese and ducks, many kingfishers. It felt like a spring at least until sunset when temperature started to drop down. GPS trip odometer: 5.6 miles, moving time 1:59 h stopped (shooting) time: 0:47 h, moving average 2.8 mph, max speed 7.1 mph.
4/25/2004: Gowanda-Evans. River flow: S. Platte @ Fort Lupton: ~500 cfs, @ Kersey: ~800 cfs, St Vrain @ mouth near Platville: ~140cfs. I got a shuttle service from my wife Connie as gift for my birthday, so I used this as opportunity to explore some new segments of South Platte River. It was my first river time in my safari canoe this year. We started from scouting Saint Vrain Creek near St. Vrain State Park west of interstate highway 25.
	St Vrain Creek near St Vrain State Park (formerly Barbour Ponds) just above interstate highway 25. There is no access to the river from the park. The river looked quite shallow and rocky. A lot of water was going to Last Chance Ditch flowing through the park.
St Vrain Creek below county road 13 about 3 miles downstream from St Vrain State Park. A potential launching site, a little bit messy due to construction of the new bridge (completed but not open yet).
I decided to launch from highway 66 about 5.25 miles downstream from St Vrain State Park where Last Chance Ditch was returning back to the river bringing some water. Let's name this place Gowanda from a nearby stop on Union Pacific railroad going along St. Vrain Creek and S. Platte River. The highway was very busy, but it was possible to park off road on SW side of the bridge. Access to the water was next to the bridge through a gap in a barb wire fence, then by walking under the bridge and launching downriver from a gravel bar. The pictures below were shot looking upstream (left) and downstream (right) from the bridge.

	The river was narrow, twisty, but with enough water everywhere for paddling. There were some sharp turnings, a few fallen trees not blocking the river channel, and three barb wire fences (some electric) crossing the river. It was possible to easily go under them. The current was fast, my paddling speed according to GPS was often well above 7 mph, and then St. Vrain slowed down when approaching S. Platte River.
Fort St. Vrain Power Station was Colorado's only Nuclear Power Plant and America's only commercial High Temperature Gas Cooled reactor design. It was also the first commercial nuclear generating plant in the United States to be decommissioned. Currently, it opperates combustion turbines burning natural gas. The picture was shot just above a dam (portage left with landing on the dam or at the left shore depending on the river flow)
It was a trip of turtles. I saw dozens of huge turtles sunbathing on steep gravel shores along St. Vrain Creek and then on S. Platte but only within a couple of miles downriver from St. Vrain Creek. South Platte was quite scenic with high cliffs of Wildcat Mound along its left shore. There were three portages on my way to Evans:
	- Union Ditch Dam: portage left, easy - Godfrey Ditch Dam: portage right from the channel or, perhaps, over dam on left when water is low - Latham Ditch Dam near La Salle: I portaged from the channel between gates (very steep shore, uncomfortable), it may be better to portage earlier upstream left to the river.
Railroad bridge just below highway 85 (and just above Evans) has tendency to be blocked by logs and junk: potential hazard!!!
River milage: 00.0 - Gowanda (highway ??) 02.8 - bridge (county road 34) 04.5 - railroad bridge 04.8 - dam 06.1 - Wildcat (county road 19) 07.3 - South Platte River 12.3 - Union Ditch Dam (portage left) 13.1 - highway 60 bridge 15.6 - railroad bridge 16.0 - Godfray Ditch Dam 20.5 - Latham Ditch Dam 21.9 - highway 85 and railroad bridges 23.1 - Evans River Park (Ballfields)	GPS trip odometer: 23.1 miles, moving time 4:02 h stopped (shooting) time: 1:02 h, moving average 5.7 mph, max speed 8.9 mph.
5/1/2004: St. Vrain Creek above Wildcat. River flow: St Vrain @ mouth near Platville: ~300cfs. A week later I returned back to St. Vrain Creek with a kayak. I launched at Wildcat (another railroad stop) under county road 19 bridge and paddled upstream to county road 34 bridge and back downstream. Then, I played a little bit around my launching place covering in total 10.5 miles. Paddling St. Vrain Creek upstream offered a magnificent view on Rocky Mountains still in snow. I didn't see so many turtles like in my previous trip. However, I had company of a coyote and whitetail deer. The picture on right shows the river below county road 19 bridge. It can be compared with the picture from winter 2002 when the river flow was ~120cfs.

12/4/2004: South Platte River above Kersey. River flow: St Platte @ Kersey: ~750cfs, air temperature 32-40F It was my first winter paddling on S. Platte in 2004/05 season: starting in Sisson Nucleus kayak about 10am from Mitani-Tokuyasu SWA, 1 hour upstream paddling to Plumb Ditch Dam, portage, another 1 hour upstream paddling to highway 34 double bridge, and about 45 minutes downstream paddling including dam portage. Beautiful sunny weather, calm, snow on ground but not as much as in Fort Collins, a little bit of coastal ice, not much wildlife: herons, some single ducks, gees and merganser, no hunters. During first hour of paddling I collected a layer of ice on a deck of my kayak. GPS trip odometer: 9.21 miles, moving time 2:44 h stopped time: 0:40 h, moving average 3.4 mph (2.4 mph upstream), max speed 9.1 mph. Average HRM: 129.

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