[deepsouthpaddler]

They turned on roberts tunnel to 177 yesterday, and bailey is in the upper 400's. Talked to Denver Water and they don't know what they are going to do yet today with tunnel flows. Dillon is full and there is a ton of water in the blue river below dillon. Denver needed the water and turning on the tunnel helped get some extra water out of dillon.

Everything else on the front range is cranking, but if you want bailey/foxton, check the gauges later today to see what they do with the tunnel. Nice flows in there right now.

Below is the link to the roberts tunnel outflow. Good to check to see what they are tinkering with. They usually change in mid morning around 9am, but when things are fuzzy like they are right now, it could be anytime of the day.

Detail Graph

 

[deepsouthpaddler]

Update 6/8/2010

Roberts tunnel flows at 358cfs. Bailey / foxton in the 500's.


From Denver water....
I think the Roberts tunnel flows will only last for the next week. I’m going to try and shut the tunnel off sometime next week to try and accommodate a habitat improvement project on the North Fork.

 

[deepsouthpaddler]

from denver water today 6/10...

We will likely run the tunnel until we fill up chatfield. This is likely to be about 4 days. If rains/melt increases inflow, this may change.

Looks like bailey/foxton might run through the weekend. Check the gauges before heading out, because plans are changing daily. A good bet is to check roberts tunnel flows the morning you paddle. Flows typically change around 9am, and are usually updated by 9:30ish on the phone/web.

 

[funkins]

Looks like Bailey is down to about 220. Anyone know if this flow will hold through the weekend?

 

[deepsouthpaddler]

funkins... they turned off the tunnel today around noon. Everything in bailey is natural runoff right now. Cooler weather will slow the melt, but there is a flood watch out for the front range foothills, so check gauges before you head out.

My two cents... you can do a lot better than bailey in the low 200's right now.

 

[funkins]

Thanks for the info, we're going to check the flows early and possibly audible to Clear Creek (Dumont)...heading to CCArk afterwards...give a shout if you are in the area...

 

[deepsouthpaddler]

6/18 update...

Denver Water plans on keeping the tunnel off this weekend. Main stem is spilling.

 

[deepsouthpaddler]

6/24 update...

Denver water turned on roberts tunnel today to ~100cfs. This should bring bailey flows into the 230ish range (too low imo). Weather and water demand is in flux right now. According to denver water, they would guess that tunnel flows would hold, or perhaps go up a little over the weekend if hot weather increases demand. Afternoon thunderstorms could cause demand to go down though. So there you have it... it could stay the same, go up, or go down.

Got a trick up my sleeve for flows... stay tuned.

 

[Theophilus]

Got a trick up my sleeve for flows... stay tuned.

Thanks for the updates.

 

[deepsouthpaddler]

7/1/2010 update

Denver water just bumped up roberts tunnel releases from 100cfs to 200 cfs. This should put flows in the 330ish range for the bailey guage.

Denver water said that they tenatively plan on keeping the flows constant over the weekend, but as always flows could change if there are changes in weather or demand.

Heads up on bailey... the riverwide tree that we have been ducking under on the far left has partially broken on the left side and has dropped down lower. Its barely passable with a high chance of branch to the face/pfd. Might be a walk if the tree drops lower or if flows get higher. Will need some beaver support to get that cleaned up.

Have a great 4th weekend and paddle safe.

 

[Don]

Awesome Thanks

Awesome news. Thanks for the beta.

 

[Id725]

Thanks for the updates, Ian.
Where is the wood you're talking about?
Last year there was that tree below Supermax on the right where you had to just go left. No biggie.
Then there was the river-wide job down below Deer Creek; my group was portaging that sucker.
Anything new this year?
Thanks.
-Mike

 

[CO_Patrick]

Mike, there was one we barely made it under below Deer Creek. If I hadn't seen others go under it ahead of me, I probably would have portaged it.

 

[deepsouthpaddler]

Talked to denver water again this afternoon. They are planning on turning up roberts tunnel to 300 cfs tomorrow (friday). That should put about 430 cfs in bailey/foxton. They generally make changes to the tunnel around 9-10am...

 

[Joe]

Any idea if they will hold the higher flows thru the 5th?

Joe

 

[cmack]

Yesterday at 450ish was really sweet!

The wood referenced by Ian and Patrick is actually above Deer Creek but after Trashcan. (no worries as I had couldn't remember where it was either) I cant remember exactly where it was, maybe someone who remembers better from yesterday can chime in with an exact location. Anyway... it kind of sneaks up on you if you let your guard down. It got my full attention yesterday because I only saw it when I was about 60 feet or so away from it. As Ian said, you can get around it on the extreme left side, but you are almost scraping the wood and the river bank simultaneously. You just barely fit. We need to get that shiz outta there, higher flows or even lower flows could cause issues. Tough to tell.

The wood that was below Deer Creek, in the class III drop that had the warning rope strung across the river is either now gone, or buried on the right. The rapid runs clean on the left. There is some wood in the shallow mank below this that some of us boated over and didn't really know it. Pretty easy paddling down there, but be heads up.

The rest of the run was good as far as wood goes.

 

[Id725]

A good landmark for the problem log:
After Trash Can, in a very flat stretch, when you see a very obvious rock wall come into view on the left, it's time to look for that wood.
It's closer to Trash Can than it is to Deer Creek.

Yeah - yesterday was sweet! I can't believe how much it cleaned up at that water level. Having only run it in the 200s, I was surprised to find it almost easier in the 400s. Padded, but the holes still weren't really all that sticky, except for that damn thing at the bottom of Trash Can!

 

[chepora]

Anyone know if the flow will hold through this week?

 

[deepsouthpaddler]

Denver water cut back the tunnel to 250 cfs, dropping bailey back to 320. No word on what releases will be later in the week.

 

[JCKeck1]

We ran it at 500ish on Monday. Great flows, great fun. Thanks for the updates Ian. I think that wood will be harder to get around as the flow gets lower. At 500 we had room to paddle around it on the left, but just barely - soon to be a portage.
Joe