Happy to see the “experts” the Coloardoan used last week don’t know their @ss from a hydraulic in the water! Peak Memorial Day weekend at 4, S#!T!

Currently 65.7F, and sunny with a slight breeze. Expect a high of 83F with 10% chance for T-Storms.

Lower N Fork still moving at 682 cfs. Main stem has a LOT of debris pushing down it, mostly logs and branches. As they guy I saw scouting Pine View a few minutes ago said- “looks like it’s time to think twice and put your game face on!”

============

This just in from Jeff Burley, re: the removal of a strainer on Upper Rustic yesterday:

“We had a swimmer go under a strainer near Profile Rock at a private property bridge a few miles below the White Mile.   He was ok luckily, but we made the decision to get that log out of there.

By a stroke of luck, one of our paddlers truck was driving by at the exact moment we had this great idea :).  Thanks to a chain and diesel that log is now gone.

Thanks to Laurie and Sue for diesel truck delivery and perfect timing.

Be safe out there.

Jeff”

This is an update on river flows for the upper Poudre Canyon, as observed throughout the day.

All stretches of the Poudre River are running high, and rising. Beware of wood as there is a lot of it moving down river right now, and more will be moving overnight.

Rustic Runs: MEDIUM-HIGH. Today was a great level to be on Upper and Lower Rustic. Expect these runs to rise even more by tomorrow and beware of new wood!!

Little South Fork: HIGH. Late this afternoon was the highest flow this run has seen in years. Lots and lots of timber moving downstream along this stretch. As of late this afternoon, the run had a clear channel down the entire run, except for the main rapid. Watch for new and existing wood!!

Joe Wright and Spencer Heights: Both runs were running HIGH this morning. This afternoon Joe Wright came down to MEDIUM level, while Spencer Heights rose to SCREAMING HIGH levels. Tons of new wood floating down Big South and Spencer Heights as I type this. By 8pm, Spencer Heights was running higher than I’ve seen it (see attached pics).

Sportsman Gauge: 3.4 @ 10am & 4.0 @ 4pm. The river kept rising all day, and by 8pm the gauge had washed out (as in, it’s no longer there…). No water was coming through tunnel all day.

Big South: BALLISTIC (as in, really really high!) @ 8PM. The top of the rock gauge (the one located under the bridge) is buried deep underwater. Tons of wood flushing downstream. This would have been a really scary place to be boating today. The gate into Long Draw reservoir is closed.

Here are some photos taken throughout today:

Upper Rustic wood update, from John Tillema earlier today:

—

For anyone running Upper Rustic, they should take the right channel on the first bridge below Chapel bridge.  This
is the “Crown Point” road based on the road sign.  There is a log blocking the left channel on the backside of the pylons. Right channel is good.

At 4′ Saturday and ~3.9 Sunday it was ~2/3 slightly under the water with ~1/3 above.  I don’t think this log is going anywhere.  Saw more wood floating through both runs  than I’ve ever seen in the last 5 years.

Otherwise Upper/Lower Rustic doesn’t have any large hazards, or at least no logs that haven’t been there for years and are more visible.

John

I forgot to mention, there’s a new log in Ansel Watrous Falls, river left, close to the bottom of the falls. At first it looks like a rock, as you get closer it becomes an obvious log facing upstream. Could take someone by surprise.

Also, thank you to whomever removed the 16 foot log that was balancing on the middle shoot at 3-Way (or 3-Rock, depending on which company you were trained by). That was a nasty hazard!

Currently 58.1F partly cloudy and calm. NOAA expects the area around Gateway Park to reach 77F with a 30% chance for T-Storms. They expect a cooling tomorrow, high of 69F.

The N Fork is still pumping at a whopping 787 cfs at the Livermore gauge.

Little South Fork is LOW and scrapie, but runnable. Today there were two mandatory portages, including a new tree strainer half-way through the main rapid. The main rapid can be run down to the sketchy eddy next to the tree on river-right, then portage the tree on river-right and continue on through the rest of the rapid. Here are a few photos from earlier today that show the gauge rocks and the new tree strainer: