south boulder creek

[JCKeck1]

I gotta disagree. With the exception of Moist slot and the bridge, all the best whitewater (3/4 of a mile of III+ at low flows) is below the hike out. Bummer about the land owner - I met a nice old lady when we hiked out in the fall. Definitely private property, so play nice. I'll be at work before 7am or I'd go, but then I'm seriously jonesin - it's not that fun except for the bridge drop.
Joe

[tj@cu]

maybe i'm thinking of another trail, what is the one that is to the right of the bridge drop? where is the trail you all are talking about?
-Tom

[doublet]

If you hike up the river left side at the bridge it takes you to the Walker Ranch parking lot. The trail on river right might be a little icy/sketch.

As I mentioned before, I'm definitely not an expert...only done the run once and biked the trail a few times. Definitely public land though.

What we should do is stash a boat at the bridge drop since that is the good rapid. That way we can just walk down, take turns lapping that drop and walk back out. We could even have a bonfire and whiskey down there.

[El quapo]

Just wanted to add there was a large entrance gate at the end of the hike, just west of the visitor center. Dont know if it's always been there since it was my first run but it looked like it would be a pain to get around. Fortunately there was a technician guy there working on it and he kindly let us out.

thanks again, CDW. Stoked to do some boatin in Feb.

[deepsouthpaddler]

From the eye in the sky couch scouters satellite (google earth)

Hike out from dam to visitor center:
1.75 miles following road - 190ft elevation drop

Hike out from bridge drop to walker ranch parking lot
1.2 miles elevation gain 490ft.

Any takers for friday if the flow is still up (weather calls for 51F in denver)?

[Dave Frank]

The gate that separates the park from the private homes is not new. I've never looked too closely at getting around it.

[JCKeck1]

The gate is not too bad. You'll have to look at it for a second, but anyone with a mis-spent youth will have no problems.

[Ture]

Friends of mine had a little trouble with a not-so-nice guy on the walk out (last year?...can't remember...too many concussions). The Walker Ranch walk out might be a good idea for now. I think that guy is in a cannibalistic cult that keeps sex slaves in the woods around there.

It is not like people are walking through that guy's yard or trying to free his sex slaves. This is a gravel road that is used by multiple land/home owners and the water department or whoever maintains the dam. That road gets plenty of traffic.

If it gets too bad then maybe we could figure out who really owns the road and work out permission to discretely portage on it?

Does anyone know how to figure out who owns a road?

[cdw]

[quote=deepsouthpaddler;86508]Hike out from bridge drop to walker ranch parking lot
1.2 miles elevation gain 490ft.
quote]

Is this the parking lot on the road from Pineview to Gross Resevoir? If so, I'd say the 500 ft gain and 1/2 mile less would be the way to go given how much it would shorten the shuttle.

Any lawyers out there want to jeopardize your professional reputation and let me know what you think about a road to a public utility (Denver Water runs the dam) being private/gated?

J. Smack? Andy?

Last year you two would have been monitoring this minute-by-minute, but that may have changed now that you have "real" jobs
-C

[deepsouthpaddler]

Not sure which parking lot you are referencing Carter. Here is a map of walker ranch, which shows the one I was thinking of.

http://www.co.boulder.co.us/openspac...r_Full_Map.pdf

The parking lot is at Ethel Harrold Picnic Area and Trailhead on the map. Shuttle is about 5 miles via flagstaff road from put in, so shuttle is much shorter. Trail is river left at the bridge drop up to the parking lot.

I agree with Joe that missing out on the last 3/4 mile of whitewater would be a bummer. But if you are looking for a quickie, its a 3 mile run, 5 mile shuttle with a mile hike out that route.

Nice idea to try and secure access to the road to the dam.

Still thinking about Friday down to the dam. Anyone?