photos/18/
By Alan Silverstein, ajs@frii.com (page updated Sun Mar 9 14:33:54 MDT 2025)
Parent directory/folder =photos/18/
After a few years of desire, I found an opportunity to kayak the Poudre River through Fort Collins again. It happened to be on the solstice (longest day of the year). I covered 8.9 miles in 5.0 hours from the Aztlan Center (just east of US-287 and downstream of one big diversion dam) to the Swetsville Zoo (east of I-25), where Cathie met me with the truck.
I thought I needed 700 CFS for a good ride, and went on a day that it dropped from about 530 CFS to under 500, but as it turned out, that was still pretty hairy in spots. I had to scout and run carefully the first two bridges near Old Town, portage three diversion dams (and accidentally paddle over a small one I didn't see coming), plus also portage a narrow, tree-choked spot by the Environmental Learning Center. After all of that, the remaining run was simpler and merely fast!
Image files (Kb): (click on any image for next)