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Curious about Doloris River (Gateway - State Line)

3K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  barry 
#1 ·
Wanted to inquire on peoples thoughts on the Deloris from Gateway to State Line. Thought this looked like a good day 1/2 Day trip if you could run the 8-10 miles to State Line rapid and set a shuttle.

What are your thoughts on the quality of the river, difficulty of state line rapid and quality of the side road. Odds look good for having decent flows this spring.
 
#2 ·
I scouted the reach, about ten years ago, for a trip that never came off. There are passable dirt roads on both banks, from Gateway to Stateline Rapid.

As I recall, from the Gateway bridge to Stateline Rapid, the Dolores (Sorrows) River is flat and silty, between brush-choked banks.

There's a sharp drop at a ditch diversion, and then Stateline Rapid is a big drop, between rock buttresses with a diversion on the right (?), scary-looking and fast. Below, the channel split with the left branch constricted, with weird-angled drops and log strainers (deathtrap). The right channel was wider, cobbly with logs and limbs bedded and no clean run. Grit-and go. Pretty, it ain't.

The danger would be to come off the fast water boomers in poor shape and get sucked left.

If you want a nice day run, it might make sense to put in above Gateway and float down to the bridge. There's a paved road east of the river for quite a way south, with some nice class 2 canyon reaches.

The main problem is unpredictable flows.
 
#3 · (Edited)
notes on 3k/10k levels

two trips,years apart,that ran state-line as part of multiday trips---4 mi down from gateway bridge,theres Diversion dam rapid(3k we scouted left--road,ran left;10k,mostly washed);ran everything else,as boat "scouts";stateline is a mandatory scout right(left tells you squat---the run is only right thru "must make" moves----the left side is death----river is wide but not deep;very bad swims could easily exceed a mile long thru shallow boulder fields/wrap rocks/logjams(3k we scouted for a knee knockin hour(dehydated,i put up my IK,and swamped(we got)for a 16'pro bucket),and ran it ugly,but good,with no selfbailers!!!;10k,it was too much for an exhausted crew that had run from snaggle tooth to here,being rained on constantly(which made for the record rising levels),bad soupy camps,etc.,for 2 weeks already---decided to portage,cataraft ,bucket,and selfbailer!!!).if you go on,i believe the moab blm(?) wants you to have a permit to the colorado river at dewey bridge.educate your self on whats private/public land along that river,due to the growth of gateway.beyond stateline, is a new(within last 10 yrs approx) rock fall rapid,of sizeable notice(scout?)---but that occured after my runs,so i cant give you any good advice,except have fun, but take stateline seriously,so your trip doesnt go bad at the end.i believe 1000-1500,was the low end for small rafts.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the responses. I was hopping this might be a good alternative to early spring Plateau Creek runs that is close to Grand Junction. Sounds like the float is nice, but that State Line is not a quality rapid for kayak play, but something you run to complete the trip to Dewey Bridge.
 
#6 ·
plateau creek vs dolores

Thanks for the responses. I was hopping this might be a good alternative to early spring Plateau Creek runs that is close to Grand Junction. Sounds like the float is nice, but that State Line is not a quality rapid for kayak play, but something you run to complete the trip to Dewey Bridge.
k----keep me in mind when you run plateau creek;although ive taken small rafts/cats down there,i mostly run an IK between 600(rock dodging) and 2500(very fast and swimming will hurt---actually,a swim at any level there will hurt,due to its shallowness!),from the putin,running the nasty class 4 lower end,and spilling(hopefully upright) into the colorado at I-70.in good years,the season for inflatables,seems only 8 weeks at the longest---i would even go up there after work,getting out at dark.....
 
#5 ·
go for the hanging flume section of the dolores. it begins at the confluence of the san miguel and dolores, and the takeout is a small bridge about 6 miles down. amazing canyon, easy access, class 2.
kayakers can drive [river right side dirt road] to stateline [chicken raper] and run multiple laps on the different lines.
 
#7 ·
Btt,

We will let you know when we go. We usually get 2-3 runs in in the spring until the 5th street wave comes in. I agree 600+ is the best (If this keeps up, we could be looking at flows well over a grand. I also have another open-boater friend (canoe) that wants to give it a try this season.

Only place I have swam so far is the last rapid, surfaced right at the take-out (hope it stays that way - don't like the thought of that shallow swim).
 
#8 ·
I ran it last spring @ around 1,000 cfs. Although "stateline" is worth getting out of your boat to have a "look-see"...don't let the difficulty of the rapids influence your decision making....particularly at low water. The scenery was good and the shuttle long. Consider Steven's advice and combine this run with one of the other Dolores canyons.
 
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