Big South 7-4-07

The Big South Fork of the Cache la Poudre is a classic kayak run. The run takes paddlers through 12 miles of largely pristine wilderness with a wide variety of large rapids. There is a new gauge under the highway bridge at the takeout that has six hash marks painted on a rock. For our run, the level was just under the 3rd mark up from the bottom. This apparently corresponds to a little under 300 cfs, which is on the lower side of medium. This is a good level for both the big drops (says the folks who ran them) and for the many in between rapids.

The first two miles of the run are on Wierd Creek, which is a tributary to the Poudre. The water in this creek is released from Long Draw reservoir. Put-in on Weird Creek:



The largest rapid on the Weird Creek section is Rock Lobster. As shown in the photo, this rapid is a genuine piece of shit. It is pretty representative of the character of Weird Creek, which kinda sucks.




Soon after reaching the confluence with the Poudre, paddlers reach Starter Fluid, which does not suck. It is a fantastic rapid with a few Class IV S-turns leading into an 8 foot boof:



The character of the next couple miles is pool and drop with rapids of varying size and difficulty.

Joe- about to make contact in Bar Room Brawl:



And nailing the line at Cool World:



After the Peterson Lake (flat section), you reach the lower half, which is more continuous and has several good rapids.

Canning in progress at Pin Cushion:



Slideways is one of the last rapids and one of the best. The entrance has a 4 foot boof followed by an 8 foot boof:



The bottom of the rapid is a steep chute into a big hole. Everyone in our group punched it with no problems.



Overall, this a great run, but a long tiring day. The window for flows probably will be over soon, so get it while you can.