Where to paddle in Fort Collins in winter time when all ponds and lake are frozen? The South Platte River is usually the only open water in northern Colorado, but it is 30-40 miles of driving. However, it is possible to find short sections of our local Poudre River suitable for some paddling even if the river flow is almost nothing. One such a spot is about a quarter mile of the river above I-25 within Arapaho Bend Natural Area. You can access that section from the Strauss Cabin parking (the very east end of Horsetooth Road) through two small ponds. When these ponds are frozen the river access requires a pretty long walk (~0.5 mile).

The picture above shot in January 2007 shows another opportunity – the river above the Timnath Reservoir Inlet Dam between Lemay and Timberline Streets. Finally, I found a comfortable access to this river section from the Nix Natural Area and did some scouting with Seda kayak.

Here is the entry (fire lane gate) to Nix Natural Area from the Hoffman Mill Road (driving north on Lemay turn right just before the bridge into Poudre River Drive, and then follow Hoffman Mill Road until you pass a gravel quarry).

About 200 yards of gravel overgrown fire lane leads you to a bike trail and the river.

Then, you have about half a mile of the river with standing or slow moving water. A lovely scenery in fall colors. It may be also good for some winter paddling photography. You can paddle upstream almost to Lemay Street, but before the bridge you will encounter some shallows with a fast current. I did my paddling on October 14 with ~100 cfs of the river flow in Ft Collins. It was enough water to run through those shallow downstream. However, rocks were pretty slippery and water too cold too drag my kayak up the river.

Here is a little picture gallery featuring Jeremy in his wildwater kayak from the recent paddling on the South Platte River (Sunday, March 15).

2×5 mile paddling workout on the South Platte River: upstream from Kersey to the Plumb Ditch dam and back down the river, about 3 hours with some playing and shooting at the dam.

I started my winter paddling season on the South Platte River in the middle of November. It was a short trip, rather a photo session. The goal was to photograph old cars on the river shore at the Patterson Ditch dam.

During two years, 2001 and 2002, the Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins, Colorado, was drained to just few % of its capacity to allow repairs to the main dam. The 6 mile long lake was reduced to three ponds connected by long narrow channels with some whitewater. The flow was supported by water diverted from the Colorado River within the Big Thompson Project.

Paddling was very interesting, but quite challenging in these narrows channels with a strong current. It was quiet, no motorboats since boat ramps didn’t reach water. Low water uncovered many structures at the lake bottom.

Below you can find 10 selected pictures from these dry years on the Horsetooth.

Dusk on the South Platte River below the Plumb Ditch Dam near Greeley. The picture was shot during a short evening paddling workout with Thunderbolt kayak starting at the Mitani-Tokuyasu State Wilderness Area (open till the end of February only) above Kersey.

My original plan was to paddle nearly 40 miles of South Platte from Orchard to Cooper Bridge. I wanted to resume my February low water paddling Masters to Orchard and explore another segment of the river. In winter, I also paddled the last few miles of my course: from Cooper bridge upstream to Snyder and back. Connie agreed to provide a shuttle. She was accompanied by my mother visiting us from Poland.

First troubles appeared at the Orchard bridge when preparing my safari boat (Spencer X-treme canoe) for launching. A local farmer asked me not to disturb duck and goose nesting area by paddling the river below Orchard. It seemed that he put two fences across the river to protect the area. After some discussion I agreed to move my launching 4 miles downstream to the next bridge at Goodrich. He wasn’t aware if I would encounter similar problems further downstream.