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PaddleFest 2017- Buena Vista- May 26-29th

3K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  lmyers 
#1 ·
Excited to have the 17th annual PaddleFest in Buena Vista, Colorado coming back this Memorial Day weekend, May 26-29th.

This hands on, interactive and engaging festival has events of all ages, all abilities and all interests.

Come join your friends and family over this 4 day weekend and EXPLORE the on water demos, competitions, races, classes, workshops, swaps, sales, music, food, and beverages too. Just so much going on and we would love to see you here.

The entire weekend is also a fundraiser for Chaffee Co. Search and Rescue North. You know, the guys and gals that come save us when we are in trouble, on and off the water. They are awesome and we love to support their efforts.

Happy paddling everyone
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BUENA VISTA: A TOWN THAT GOES WITH THE FLOW

At the base of the Sawatch mountain range lives a one-stoplight town, and a river runs through it.

From the first sign of snowmelt to the time the leaves start their change, the Arkansas River Valley is the place to be. The overall sense of community revolves around Sup’ing the Milk Run with a handful of your favorite friends, riding your bike down to surf in our play park until the sun sets, getting your heart rate up on the Pine Creek and Numbers section of the Ark, and exploring the Brown’s Canyon Monument by raft, kayak, or foot. There is something for everyone in those summer days that keep on giving.

Around the endless amount of activities offered by this valley, is the support of a community that throws itself into making all the fun as accessible as simply showing up. Start your day with a steaming cup of coffee from The Buena Vista Roastery, head over to CKS Main Street and pick up anything you need to enjoy all that the river has to offer, and finish your day sipping a cold beer from Eddyline Brewery or a cocktail from the Deerhammer Distillery.

The big bang that starts off our incredible river season is Paddlefest, which falls on Memorial Day weekend. If you’re looking for a way to get involved in river sports, ready to hone your skills, or just want a good party that involves playing on water; this is the place to be. Clinics, competitions, races, and concerts make it a weekend not to miss!

The Arkansas River Valley has captured the hearts of all who visit or now call it home. It is the mountain town that just won’t quit, and the summer months give it the soul that makes it a nook worth exploring.
 
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#2 ·
Numbers Kayaking Race
REGISTER NOW! -Must be registered 24 hours prior to race
$35
Date and Time:
Sunday, May 28th / 9:00am-11am
Location of the Race:
Number 1 to Number 5, the race length is roughly 1 ¼ miles (subject to water level)
Who:
A limit of 80 Kayakers and Canoeists who must have solid Class IV paddling experience -Must be registered 24 hours prior to race
Categories:
Mens Long Boat (9ft-12ft 6in), Mens Short Boat (under 9ft), and Womens Open (all boats)
**YOU MAY ONLY REGISTER FOR ONE CLASS**
Why:
Because Kayaking is the greatest thing ever and why not?
Race Info:
Registration is $35, must register within 24 hours of race, online. Contestants will meet at the AHRA Numbers put in for a team meeting and float from there to just above number one. On shore there will be race organizers and this will be the official start of the race. At 9am we will start releasing racers (time trial, not head to head) at 1 minute intervals to race in a time trial format. They will race from here to the eddy at 5.5 on river left, finishing when the bow of their boat crosses the finish line. Award Ceremony will be at South Main Square at 4:30pm.
Morning Of Details:
7.30am / Check In----AHRA Numbers parking lot
8.15am / Pre-Race Meeting
9am / First racer to start down Numbers course
Prizes:
$750 cash purse + other prizes

Contact: paddlefest@cksmainstreet.com with any questions.
 
#4 ·
I don't expect the flow to change much over the weekend.... unless we get significant rain. The BOR dumped some water from Twin Lakes last week and will likely need to wait for flows to come back up before they increase the release again. The melt from Leadville/Fremont Pass is starting to creep up again after yesterday's warm temps, but the weekend is not forecast to be super warm so my guess is the flows will stay in the 600-700 range through Paddlefest.

Also worth noting that I believe the Nathrop gauge is incorrectly calibrated. It has been showing the same or less water than the Below Granite gauge all season and that simply can't be right. There is only one ditch that draws off the river between Numbers and Browns, but both Cottonwood and Chalk Creeks come in. I paddled it last week when the gauge said 800 and it definitely felt more like 1000-1100.
 
#5 ·
Looks like dam releases are consciously being done to keep the river at the 600 - 700 range on the Granite gauge for the weekend festivities. Probably for safety's sake.

Earlier this week, I thought the stair-step release decreases seemed to be coming at an odd time until I realized the festival was this weekend so I looked back at last year, Memorial weekend, and the same thing happened then too.
 
#12 ·
I'm rolling over by admitting the show pony comment may have been a little mean, but not rolling on the fact that Twin Lakes release changes could possibly have been done to affect the outcome of Paddlefest. By whoever. For whatever reason.

According to the Pueblo office of District 2 water there have been nothing but calls since very early spring. Since the vast majority of water rights for the Arkansas belong to S.E. CO led me to state that I thought it odd they would be lowering the release at a time of increasing calls.
 
#13 · (Edited)
The Pueblo office of District 2 is currently dealing ONLY with calls from the Lower Arkansas Water Conservation District which is entirely downstream of Pueblo Reservoir. So the calls they are referring to are generally drawing from Pueblo Res. and from tributaries such as the Huerfano and Purgatoire. Yes, there is water owned by lower district rights holders in Twin Lakes, but the primary owners are municipalities.

Something important to remember is there are water levels that must be maintained in a certain range at Twin Lakes for the Mt. Elbert power plant to generate electricity. For this reason Twin Lakes is maintained in an acre ft range regardless of downstream calls. 99% of the time they will not allow the reservoir height to go below 100,000 acre ft. Just before Paddlefest they reached this height and had to shut down releases until the reservoir level refilled some and inflow increased again.

The BOR usually provides decent updates on the reasoning behind their gate changes here: Colorado Parks & Wildlife - AHRA Water Flow

I'm not saying the water movement couldn't be managed better from a recreational perspective, but what I am saying is the Voluntary Flow Management Plan water is the only water that is released with consideration for whitewater recreation. Sometimes they will change releases for the benefit of the fishery, especially in drought years. These changes are a collaborative compromise usually between major water owning municipalities at the request of the AHRA to prevent fish die off. This is a complicated process of transferring and trading water that does not occur for the benefit of whitewater boating.
 
#14 ·
Thank you Logan. I really don't care if C'Dave comes around or not but it seems important to set the record straight so the greater boating community knows how this works. This is not news on this board, it has been discussed before, but this feels like a whitewater version of conspiracy and fake news. You can speak to much of the mechanics of all this better than I but I will add this. I know people (family) who have organised Paddlefest and parts of Fibark and I know BLM and AHRA administrators and other than the voluntary flow program the river is not managed for whitewater recreation. I personally have looked into whether water could be moved for one weekend in late summer or early fall to accommodate a "late season" whitewater weekend event. The system is not set up to do so. Now if we were fishermen...
 
#15 ·
Since we are delving into this topic so deeply another important factor to consider in this equation is the Colorado law of Prior Appropriation. According to this law the most senior water rights take priority over all subsequent junior rights.... and many of the most senior water rights in the Arkansas Valley have been purchased by cities such as Aurora, Colorado Springs and Pueblo from their original owners. This gives these municipalities the right to store or move their water however they see fit. That means there might be a dozen calls downstream for water, but if the cities want to keep their water stored in upstream reservoirs the BOR can't move water to meet the junior calls until their obligation to fill the senior allocations has been met.
 
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