paddling with a camera

When I did my last paddling on the South Platte on June 23rd the flow was ~1500 cf at Fort Lupton and ~1100 cfs at Kersey. It was my last river training before the 50 miles Kansas River "Fitty Gritty" Race. I launched my Thunderbolt kayak at Evans Riverside Park and paddled about 4 miles upstream.

After about 1.5 miles I reached the Lower Latham Ditch dam. The scenery was very different from what I remembered from my winter paddling at much lower water. The river had three distinct arms: the channel leading to the dam gates and two more natural channels flowing over two rock dams parallel to the dam channel.

The portage over the dam appeared to be quite difficult due dense and high weeds including thistle taller than me. It was not easy to carry the 21' kayak through bushes. After several attempts, I managed to portage upstream of the main river dam. I still have scratches on my legs. On my return way down river I entered the channel and portaged between dam gates - very steep and uncomfortable, but I didn't have to fight with a jungle of weeds.

In the middle of July the river seems to have not enough water for paddling near Greeley (below 200 cfs at Kersey), but a pretty healthy flow for paddling from Brighton to Fort Lupton (~400 cfs at Henderson and Fort Lupton).

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• 61 Boats in the Sixth Annual South Platte River Joint Spring Paddle Trip
• Union Pacific Railroad Trestle over the South Platte River
• Paddling under the Rainbow Bridge - Fort Morgan, Colorado
• On the Icy South Platte River with Pentax Optio W10 Camera and Thunderbolt Kayak
• Horizontal or Vertical? Two Pictures of the South Platte River at Wildcat Mound