[mattoak]

I apologize if this has been discussed but I did a search and couldn't find anything in a couple minutes of looking.

It seems the poudre river has just about peaked since there is no snow left at joe wright. Flows are up over 4' right now, but being new to the area what is the expected drop off? How rapidly will 4 drop down to 3, and then down to 2? Do they keep the reservoirs outflowing all summer and keep the river boatable?

Really what I am asking is how fast can I expect the season to fall off from awesome to mediocre to over? What is the typical season like on a 100% snowpack year? Just wondering so I can prioritize and get it all in now if need be, or if I can plan on a longer season and mix kayaking in with other activities. I am asking only about the poudre river also.

 

[BrianK]

It depends on the year, but it is generally a slow decline. I imagine that the river will start to drop off next week. When the river drops it will slowly drop out - I would bet on 3'+ through June and 2'+ through July. Also, it generally hangs out at certain levels when dropping as well. (There is generally a week or so when it hangs around 2.75' before continuing down.) It should (hopefully) stay in the 1.5'-2' range until September.

Also don't despair, while it is true Steven's Down, Rustic, etc are awesome at 4' and above and are less fun as the water drops. The narrows offers legitimately fun boating at very low levels. The whole stretch goes and is fun down to 1.3' in my book. Upper and lower narrows are good below that, but middles gets pretty thin.

The above is the long answer - the short answer is that Winter is long, and ideal flows are short - go boating. Any other activity you might want to do, you can do in the fall.

 

[BruceB]

That is the best advice ever given on Mountainbuzz!

"go boating. Any other activity you might want to do, you can do in the fall."

 

[Paul]

Matt, be careful with your post title. I just about fell into severe depression since I thought you were asking why there was a severe drop off!

 

[mattoak]

haha, it was meant to be an attention grabber.

On another note, does the golden whitewater park stay flowing throughout the summer into the fall?

 

[Nathan]

If it's over 250 go to Lyons, it's better than Golden and closer to Ft. Collins.

 

[mattoak]

Awesome thanks. I didn't know there was one in Lyons.