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Rustic at 5 feet (Poudre)

1545 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  paulk
I went down upper and lower rustic a few days ago when the rock report said 4.8'. I was just posting this topic to see if anyone else has done it at this flow too? This is my second summer kayaking and I thought it was absolutely insane, definitely a challenge for me. I think I flipped 3 times in the middle of the white mile in a Jackson Fun.

How is this run at lower flows? Like 3' or 4'
Anyway, I was really excited with this run and wanted to know a little more about it if anyone knows
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It depends on your water snobbyness...

Most won't boat it below 4 or 4.5. Lower goes at 3.5 but you'll likely not find anyone to join and Steven's down is much better at that level anyway.
Upper Rustic is really funny. First time I ran it was at 4.2 or 4.3 I think, and the whole run including the White Mile was not very memorable. The next time I ran it was in 2011 above 5', and White Mile is huge at that level. That run really doesn't get going until 5'.

Lower Rustic is good above 4' in my opinion, with higher being better. Any lower than that it's not worth the extra gas to drive up there. The three rapids Grandpa's Gorge, Death by Dismemberment and Hole 99 are still fun below 4', but the rest of the run gets slow and flat.

At low flows (actually all flows - but at low flows it's more noticeable) Upper Mish is the better run.
There is a V wave/hole that is under some bridge. The top of the slide/wave starts right under the bridge. At 4.8' it was making a monsterous crashing hole of sorts. I went hard right to avoid it. Does that one have a name? I can't remember if it was before or after the super low bridge..
D by D actually cleans up at higher flows, I think the one he is talking about is in upper rustic, which I remember had a big hold under a bridge on river left. I could be wrong though. I'm not sure of any of the names up there except for the white mile
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