Boulder creek snowpack is looking large. Shaping up to be a great season on boulder creek. After the flood there were pics of gaurd rails in the creek and lots of debris. Anybody got an update on what boulder creek is looking like now as we get poised for runoff? Has the debris been removed? Normal blue bridge down run look good to go?
Should be good above Fourmile, no?From Fourmile through Buttress and the playpark seemed to bear the brunt of the floods ....gotta be changed significantly....hopefully for the better...you would think Boulder would remove hazzardous debris in those stretches...maybe a big ongoing job....sure Dave and others will clue us in...FWIW I figured out where the 'new ' drop on Lefthand is ...it is not new but newly exposed and appears improved....just. 1/4 mile below the normal takeout park there was a culvert that got washed away along with the road, just below this is /was about a 4 to 5 ft drop with a pour over on one side and more of a ledge on the other...it is close to the road but was obscured from view by bushes and on private property so you could not scout it ...now the bushes are scoured away so you can see it....there was a large tree across the creek between the takeout and this drop before the flood, it either blew out or is even nastier now ...there is public access downriver from the 'new ' drop....
There are few river wide trees between BBridge and four mile. Four mile down was clear enough for the run we did in October. The hoe was working above buttresses since then and I've not looked too closely.
Sediment revival through town and drop structure. Work is just getting started.
A bike scout seems on order. Actually regular bike scouting reports would be ideal. Sounds like a good Riley assignment.
Seems like there is a lot more work to do on all the front range creeks than in a normal year. I think SSV is going to be covered. Talking to folks about bear, which may run this year too depending on how much snow mt. evans gets. Clear creek is good to go. Been wondering about boulder creek and big T.
County or CDOT has been working along Boulder Creek this past week. They were noticing our clearing work from last week below Castlerock to the narrows. They were taking the easy stuff up here. Hopefully, they do more in the lower stretches. It is definitely going to be different in spot from 4 mile down.
We saw them up there working last week as well. I assume their motivation is to clear debris so it doesn't wash down stream and become an issue when our totally awesome snow pack begins to melt.
Since boaters and anglers are in, on and along the streams and get the best perspectives while doing so, how about organizing a Before/During/After image/video with GPS project on, say, Google Maps in new Buzz image/video galleries to more clearly document boating recreation spots and new or future potential flooding repair/restoration spots for county planners, etc.?
The only tough part is being around the water to primarily document rather than boat or fish but, hey, that image or video could save a life.
Boulder creek had some major changes in it's creek bed and it will be very interesting to boat on the new version in the spring. Looking forward to it! I've seen a few large trees crossing the entire creek that really need to go. Also, just below Cobb Rock, the excavators seemed to clean up the entrance to that steep rapid. The F. U.(blade) rock is gone...
On another exciting note, S. Boulder creek through lower Eldorado is going to be a completely different animal! I think it will be a way friendlier run and a totally new challenge. The creek bed was carved out 5-10 feet deeper in spots and left beautiful polished slabs and boulders in a very natural way. Looking at it from up on the walls, I think it's going to be an amazing pool drop run, with huge eddies and stout, clean drops! Time will tell........
I regularly run up the canyon to fourmile and much of the riverbed looks to be fairly clean. There is definitely some wood that needs to be taken care of in spots, but I haven't seen anything that's too bad. Also, when they were rebuilding the creek trail they needed to get some large machinery across the river and that seems to have left some new mank piles.
Anyone up for a wood clean-up mission in the next month or so? I'll try to start making some mental notes on any problem areas.
Any one have a sense for how the "park" and run through town might have been affected? Any chance the trashy ledge holes were somehow broken up into more interesting/fun rapids?
I thought golite was sponsoring a project to restore the Boulder Play park to the pre-floud 1992 Glory? Maybe put up some broken slalom gates, so the ghosts of paddlers past can practice their dufects and ghostly squirt turns. Or maybe a Boxcar Coffee/Chipotle/CKS tube Rental, providing farm to table tubes, and kombucha enemas.
So when do you all want to do some work on 4 mile? There is a big ole Cottonwood tree in the buttresses and a few low hanging branches over some of the channelized sections. I would be glad to help after work one evening.
Dave, According to opensnow, "Next Tuesday through Friday (April 8-11) will be dry and warm. It'll be full-on spring weather with the highest temperatures we've seen this season."
That cottonwood will need a chainsaw. Let's stay in touch.
I'd like to get out and do a story on how the features have changed and what the local boaters are doing about it. Maybe a video, some photos. Get the word out there about what to expect. Still planning on doing some work this week?
I looked at it from the road yesterday. From what I could see, there are a few low hanging branches that are in the main channels that need to be removed. The biggest work is in the buttresses. I guess they plan to leave the guard rails in the creek? There is also a big cottonwood down in this section that will require a chainsaw. At the bottom of 4 mile before the bridge entering town there is a nice concrete pillar with a big old bolt sticking up, it would be nice to lay that over, if possible.
Dave, I know you run above 4 mile and there are a few trees across the creek that you gnar boaters will want to work on too.
A friend and I could meet down there around 4:30/5:00 tonight, if anyone wants to work. I have a small hand saw, but my chainsaw is not working.
I went up there today and took a look - today would have been a great day to get in there and clean out the buttress, weather wise. They're calling for 8" of snow tomorrow, but I bet here are going to be some great opportunities next week. If anyone is free during the morning or afternoon next week, post up, I would like to help.
Top of buttress
Example of guard rail that can be easily removed
Clearly a major problem
More guard rail
Looking upstream from about half way down the buttress
Justice center hole has always been fun at certain levels and looks like it might have cleaned up nicely.
Some work they are doing downstream of the justice center.
Just a word of caution: Boulder Fire Department went in to train SWR near the base of the canyon this week and cancelled their training due to the amount of rebar, guard rail, and other hazardous debris in the creek bed. They were in the Settlers Park area where the old slalom course was.
A friend and I are going to go down today at 4:30 to see what we can do with hand and bow saws. If anyone with a chain saw wants to come down, please do. We will be parking just above the buttresses.
Today we pulled all the guard rail that was in the river around buttress rapid and moved it up the banks. We also cut out a few trees. I did not go above buttress so I'm not sure what is left above. I know there is one tree left in buttress rapid. It will probably be easiest with a chain saw. It's right after what's the new entrance slide which was created when they pulled the big tree out that was buried under rocks in the first part of the rapid. Dave posted a video on here just after the flood. We'll that drop is more of a double slide now. We ran from buttress down to justice center and it was clear. I can't say there wasn't any but I didn't see much in the way of rebar.
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