Castle Creek/Slaughterhouse 6-25-07

We headed out to the Roaring Fork Valley on Monday to get the last of their snowmelt. The Slaughterhouse gauge was at 750 cfs. There is no Castle Creek gauge so we just checked it out visually. It looked like 200+ cfs which we hoped would be enough. Castle Creek has several small Boulder gardens with blind corners. This combined with its reputation for accumulating wood led to a handful of scouts.

Typical Castle Creek scenery- small boulder garden with an almost river-wide log.



Bigger boulder garden downstream.



After a few miles on Castle Creek, we joined the Roaring Fork for the Slaughterhouse run. Slaughterhouse Falls is the most significant drop in this section. It is a 5 foot ledge than can be run cleanly on the left. Brian running Slaughterhouse Falls.



The rest of the run is mellow boulder gardens.



One thing to note about these runs is that the riverbed of both is entirely smooth, round boulders, which is a nice change from the Front Range. For future trips, I think 1500+ on the Slaughterhouse gauge would be ideal.