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Why no improvements to Golden play park?

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5K views 29 replies 20 participants last post by  Nathan 
#1 ·
What needs to be done to get some improvements made to the Golden play park? City Council Meetings, Fundraisers, etc? I'm just getting more into play boating and it's frustrating having one decent feature that usually has at least a half a dozen people in the Eddy. I love the BV play park but my wallet hurts after driving down there once a week for the last couple weeks… Why does a little town like BV have such an awesome river park but Golden is mediocre at best… I can't imagine the city of Golden being short on cash… Big expensive houses with high taxes, lots of business, a free fire department… Has anyone petitioned the city council to make improvements recently? I'd love to help out however I can. It's not like they'd be starting from scratch, just redoing what is already there. I know I'm new so maybe this has been covered before but what gives?
 
#4 ·
I think it's the same problem in Golden as in Boulder. How the city defines success is different than how boaters define success. The play park has created a major hub in Golden and it's always teeming with activity. The grandstand hole is ok at certain levels but none of the features work at all. The whole park could be a lot better. Too bad.

Is the Boulder creek playpark really that much improved??? I'd be amazed.
 
#6 ·
...Is the Boulder creek playpark really that much improved??? I'd be amazed.
I am not a kayaker, but I walked the path over the weekend to check out the work they've been doing. You can tell where they've had the equipment in there and where they've tried to put things into specific places - improvement or not - and not just pulling out debris. There are certainly areas that appear to be different than they were last year, but are they "improved"? I guess we'll see soon.

I will say that one thing they did put some effort into is right after the bridge above Eban G Fine and just before that old dam drop. They cleaned that up a bunch, and placed the boulders in concrete. There's a nicely defined drop there now rather than the boulder garden that was there last fall. Changed for sure, you be the judge on improved on that one. Look fun to me, I'll test it in my minMax with my kids when the creek opens up past Broadway.

FYI, it was running about 100cfs when I walked it, and I've never really paid attention to it below about 300 cvs, so some things may look different just from that perspective alone.
 
#5 ·
I know they were doing work on the lower hole (below the bridge) but don't know how it turned out. The library hole used to be super sweet at low water, then they put a bunch of rocks on the left side and now it is worthless. Seems like they could easily change that back....
 
#7 ·
Why does a little town like BV have such an awesome river park but Golden is mediocre at best… ?
BV has an awesome river park because of the hard work of some dedicated community members who spent countless hours in town hall meetings, countless hours creating fund raisers (they do it every year), and countless hours writing to receive grants from GOCO (Great Outdoors Colorado).
 
#9 ·
Seems like now would be a great time to start trying to make this happen in Golden doesn't it? I've never written a grant before but I work with a lot of people that have. I'll look more into it. If all of us in the front range came together I can't imagine us not being heard…
 
#10 ·
Golden doesn't have enough water to put anything into it. That rodeo hole gives up tricks if you get technically sound, bleachers is the chunder bit and library almost feels like a wave. What more do you want on a stream that rarely gets above 1000 cfs.
 
#13 ·
Lyons & Lawson parks have demonstrated you can still make good features with low flows. Not as epic as a big water wave is going to be, but still fun.

Library hole is worthless now. It used to be good for spins at low water. I think that high flows 2-3 years ago moved something. Anyway, I think it's always worth a try to see you can get the features improved. There's certainly a lot wasted space from a kayaker's perspective there.
 
#11 ·
Yes, it could be better. If it is about people using the river, they would focus on tubing.

I would think the town section of boulder is the same. Good flows for 6 to 8 weeks, low flows for a few months with tubers outnumbering other water users 10 to 1.

I've been going to golden and I see a few kayakers that are working the grandstand hole pretty good and having fun at these low flows.

I don't think the library wave was working at lower flows like it used to, but looks to be fun now.
 
#15 ·
I think Golden contracts the same architect for these "improvements" over and over. One thing to note the rodeo hole which has been left untouched has now a lot of sand in the eddy and it's not being fed enough to create a decently deep hole. In another words, if you don't have a pool after an obstacle, you're dealing with a shallow wave.
I wish Golden would involve those they concern the most - kayakers.
Oh yeah, and lets ban access for peasants wearing bitchbeaters. They annoy me more than dogs of leash.
 
#18 ·
Boulder play park: Dave conned me into going down Boulder creek over the weekend. Except for the top drop, the park didn't look substantially different to me, but then I'm not an expert. However, Golden is such a totally cluster and the play hole isn't that great until flows comes up, maybe Boulder creek isn't a bad low water play spot. I may have to give it a try.
 
#20 ·
I think the open container laws at the play park frustrate me the most.

Sure the features are poor in quality but they are fun to mess around on after a blackrock and lower run.

That said, if your not allowed to enjoy a drink in the parking lot after you finnish your lap or next to the river while you watch your bro-bras play boat. And the rangers enforce this ridiculous policy like robotic cow herders.

You must move away from the action to the grassy section of the park to enjoy a cold one.

Such sad legislation from a town that was industrialized in part by the creation of a major beer brewing facility coors.
 
#22 ·
I think the open container laws at the play park frustrate me the most. [...]

That said, if your not allowed to enjoy a drink in the parking lot after you finnish your lap or next to the river while you watch your bro-bras play boat. And the rangers enforce this ridiculous policy like robotic cow herders.

You must move away from the action to the grassy section of the park to enjoy a cold one.

Such sad legislation from a town that was industrialized in part by the creation of a major beer brewing facility coors.

Creek corridor users (including folks who recreate in Lions Park) have only themselves to blame. Poor behavior that was prevalent two years ago has led to a number of changes, including:

  • fencing and specific access points to the creek to prevent damage and erosion
  • enactment and enforcement of smoking / drinking rules and regulations

The area belongs to everyone in the sense that it's a shared resource. Behavior that negatively impacts others (both other users and the adjoining neighborhoods) will clearly be managed: when you abandon the ability to police your behavior, someone will police your behavior for you. Read about The Golden Rule.

Like it or not, creek corridor users are viewed one big user group, not a collection of different folks for which there are different sets of rules.

There exists a creek corridor master plan FYI.
 
#21 ·
Actually, Golden does have enough flow...

Contrary to what you might think, you really don't need a ton of gradient and flow to make a good playspot. I've played many good holes that only had 300 cfs in them, but there aren't many designers who will target that flow. The thing to remember is that when the water's high, there are TONS of options for paddling around the state. It's when it's low that a play park can really be valuable to the kayaking community. It would be best for a park like Golden (which has 6? engineered drops), to have at least one or two of them designed as "lower flow" deep features--maybe targeting 200-400 cfs. Then other 4 drops could be targeting better spring levels.

But, someone does need to take the lead if anything will actually get done. AND they will need to hire the right designer (look at track records for creating actual good playspots--Jason Carey and Shipley seem to have to best track record at this point). AND you gotta know that most good spots have been built, tested for a year, and "adjusted" a few times before they're great. AND you're not going to get a 20,000 cfs Glenwood wave or Big Sur at lower flows...just maybe something more like Lawson or Lyons (which were referenced earlier). AND the $$$ has to come from somewhere for such improvements.

my 2 cents,
Stephen
 
#23 ·
After water and gradient (which golden has enough of to make a decent park) it takes 3 main things to get a good park...
1) money hundreds of thousands to a million or so depending on how major the redo is
2)quality design firm (plenty out there)
3)luck

Luck is the hardest to appreciate. It's part art part science. Really hard to nail it perfectly, thus the abundance of lackluster playparks.

Lastly you need someone with skills and passion to lead the movement.
 
#25 ·
streetdoc,checkout union if it ever runs(should this year at some point) it has the best features of the playparks around here...if it is dam release it is not too nasty...go a quarter mile past the last drop and around the bend,there is a medium sized bony slide drop ,at the bottom is the U hole..good eddy service...good side surfing,sort of slow motion spins ,good ender spot surf-right center..in a playboat you can loop ,if a loop is doing a front flip out of an ender...a block further down is good stern squirt spot (Oxford),,,yeah i know these are ancient moves...my buddy used to love oxford in his Sleek now he is a fixture at the Saliva hole so he must have learned well there..
 
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