# 11 mile spill way?



## ChasetheWater (Apr 19, 2011)

Has anyone ever done a super stealth mission to check out the spillway on 11 mile dam? Message me if you have. If you haven't, look at it on google earth.


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Chase that does look interesting. It looks hard to get away with if they don't want you doing it. Have you ever looked at Tarryall Res. spillway? Looks runnable,not much stealth required,steep mank,and in your general area. Someone posted once that they had run it . 



Is anyone familiar with the South Platte just below Cheeseman ? Paul Zerklebach [sp] wrote it up as a 4- run down to Deckers in CRC 1. Sez' it mellows to class three after 3 miles,so the top is better. My question is if anybody fishes or hikes there,is it worthwhile to run just below the dam and just carry back up to avoid private property confrontations towards Deckers? Are there many decent rapids near the dam? There are fishermen's trails going downriver correct? Other than probable hassles at the Wigwam club near the takeout,how likely are you to encounter pissed off gun toting types? I don't think you are really doing anything illegal ,but no one does it . It is dam controlled,close to Denver -C. Spgs.,and a semi wilderness run with intermediate whitewater. Seems a waste that it is off limits due to private property BS. Not sure if Cheeseman allows carry in to put in or no...probably too much carrying for just laps below dam...

Chase it is cool you are finding unique stuff to paddle around your zone . There are some runs in Aurora like your concrete box on Monument Crk.


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Also,old timers what is the Cheeseman canyon run ,from Slide for Life or therabouts to the old takeout at Cheeseman like ?


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## Theophilus (Mar 11, 2008)

Haven't been up there in years. Theres a caretaker house just below the dam at river left. I used to talk to the guy who lived there on occasion. Had a wife and kid and was there 24-7. Something to keep in mind.


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## ChasetheWater (Apr 19, 2011)

thanks for the input.
i just got done scouting a 500 yard slide between academy and briargate just east of I25 by about 20 feet. It's going but too bad it's midnight and i was solo. I was geared up and had my boat next to the ditch and then started thinking that it was a bad idea. below it is a gnarly 10 footer and below that is a 6 footer but again it's midnight and it was dark as hell.
I also scouted the Saint Charles between 3R road and burnt mill. It looks pretty cool and it's running but it's all private property and involved some stealth fence hopping. 
I ran the drop on cherry creek in castlewood canyon a couple weeks back. It was dumb, it definitely didnt have enough water I want to come back after a monsoon.
Below rainbow falls in manitou there is a sweet class 5+ drop I'm waiting for a big storm to fire that up. Its crazy. 
Beaver creek out of skagway was sick I did a backpacking trip down it and there is some gnarly vertical in it. Too bad it's not gonna run this year.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

cayo 2 said:


> Is anyone familiar with the South Platte just below Cheeseman ? Paul Zerklebach [sp] wrote it up as a 4- run down to Deckers in CRC 1. Sez' it mellows to class three after 3 miles,so the top is better. My question is if anybody fishes or hikes there,is it worthwhile to run just below the dam and just carry back up to avoid private property confrontations towards Deckers? Are there many decent rapids near the dam? There are fishermen's trails going downriver correct? Other than probable hassles at the Wigwam club near the takeout,how likely are you to encounter pissed off gun toting types? I don't think you are really doing anything illegal ,but no one does it . It is dam controlled,close to Denver -C. Spgs.,and a semi wilderness run with intermediate whitewater. Seems a waste that it is off limits due to private property BS. Not sure if Cheeseman allows carry in to put in or no...probably too much carrying for just laps below dam...


I have done a little looking into this run Jay. Since 9/11 Denver Water no longer allows access to the bottom of the Dam. To access this stretch of river (for any purpose, including fishing) you have to hike up the Gill Trail from a trailhead on CR 126 upstream from the Wigwam Club. Trail descriptions say it's pretty rough with scrambling over large boulders....doesn't sound like a lot of fun with your boat on your shoulder.


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## Theophilus (Mar 11, 2008)

Chase I was looking at the drainage by my place east of Chapel Hills. I need to show it to you sometime. I've wanted to get on it since I moved here. Hit me up in the evening when you have time for a scout.


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Chase, 
hey you stole my 1st D on Castlewood Falls! That drop always looked sweet ,have seen it at perfect level [posted pic on here once ],falls and a couple little drops above look good ,but talk about sieved out just below and steep unstable slopes keep dropping in more boulders. There is some irrigation ditch with a big curve with gradient about a mile up that looks interesting if you just happened to be there at flash flood. I have run some manmade drops ,a couple good sized,below the res. in town. It is a low quality run ,but 5 minutes from my house and has up to 15 2-3+ drops,a couple boofs at high/flood stage.

Be careful , i wouldn't 1st d something at night. Two raft guides from the Ark.[ must've been kayakers too] tried to run Beaver maybe 10 years ago and had to be rescued by helicopter from Ft. Carson.

So the goods of the St. Charles is down by /just above Burnt Mill ? The guy /group 1st D'd it somewhere around where the NFk. comes in. Ever check out the drop/falls exiting San Isabel Lake ?


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Thanks Logan,i was afraid of that.


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

*we need one of these ,or maybe not*

... came across this while looking for a good picture of Castlewood Falls....

" one hundred and twenty years ago, in 1890 local farmers arranged to have a dam built across the creek for irrigation purposes. On August 3, 1933,the dam broke sending a fifteen foot high wall of water into downtown Denver. " 

Can you see the Cadillac Wave ,Skatepark,or Trestle at those levels! Foot bridges would cause features [ or horrific wood piles ] but street bridges would be clothes lines .. ..hell 1500 from the current dam would be awesome ... never seen more than 600 ,only once, and that makes it actually worth running [ for local intermediates and jonsers ] out east .


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

cayo 2 said:


> Ever check out the drop/falls exiting San Isabel Lake ?


Looking on Google Earth, I cant seem to find those drops? That is quite a serious gorge beneath there, though, whoa! Doesnt look too feasible for kayaking, but maybe a canyoneering trip through there might be fun?

Cayo, have you ever looked at Tallahassee Creek above Parkdale? Looks way too steep and too low to kayak but i bet thats a damn pretty gorge. Again, a good canyoneering mission maybe?

What about the gorge at the headwaters of the Huerfano River?


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## ChasetheWater (Apr 19, 2011)

I'm actually going to the gorge below lake isabel tomorrow if anyone else wants to come St Charles River Natural Slide - YouTube
Its a local granite slide section


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

I guess it is Isabel Lake.There is just one vertical falls about 15-20 ft tall right st the outflow.Had maybe 100 c f s when I saw ut, good for that tiny creek.I didn't scout down too far .....was creek style woody 2 just below but drops off the edge of the earth a little further down...... I guess Chase was down by NFk ...not really to Tallahassee....Huerfano never seams go have water, but there must be something when it does


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

My friend that lives in Howard explores all the little drainages around there on foot and dirt bikes says there are all sorts of cool areas tucked away back there.Says he has seen some of them with enough water but nothing looked good.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

I would pass on that unless it flooded bro that wouldn't count as kayaking


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

yetigonecrazy said:


> What about the gorge at the headwaters of the Huerfano River?


I have looked at this, and it has gradient, and drains large mountains, but the channel itself is small and rocky. Looked like low-volume manky type cascades. I also looked at the stretch below that runs through the Huerfano SWA and it seemed like a decent float, but not much gradient or rapids.

Has anyone ever looked at the upper reaches of the Rio Blanco or Navajo (San Juans)? It looks like they both drain areas comparable in size to the Chama, are out of the SSJ Wilderness, and have FR access.


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Logan the old Doug Wheat book. says they divert 110k acre feet of water to the Chama leaving only 55k in the Blanco/Navajo.If it was any good, I imagine Durango bloaters would hit it. Book says lower25 miles scenic class 1 with fences. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a little whitewaterwater higher up when there is water.Some restaraunt I was in down around there had a picture of Navajo Falls that appeared to be a 15 to 20 footer that looked runnable.I wonder what the creek they divert it down is like.


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

I know what you are saying Mike, but did you notice the two horizon lines downstream.Looks like microcreek staircase if it had water.

Chase do you hike in on SanCarlos trail or down from Isabel.Surprised there were all those kids there. Is this a popular. Pueblo get away? Another cool place around there is Bishop's Castle. JIm Bishop is kind of an anti government wacko but also a true character of the west, built his own castle by hand and is fun to talk too.


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Logan it just occurred to me that I have heard that Navajo reservoir is kind of a poor man's Lake Powell might be cool to paddle the hybrid boat you were talking about a few mos. ago to just camp on the remote side of the res. I'm sure locals know some cool spots.


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

Logan-

Thanks for the beta. About what I thought, its hard to real know from looking at google earth.

Cayo-
The headwaters of the Navajo are on jealously guarded land grants and access is pretty much no go. There is a marked falls called Bridal Veil on usgs maps, and another called East Fork Falls on the east fork in an area called Vampire Valley. Given the geology on the other side of the hill, including bedrock, and lava/ash flows, then it stems to reason that there is likely some ok stuff. But its doubtful anyone will ever get up there without help from the landowners, or a super super stealth mission. Google Earth has some good high def photos of the area, there is a gorge below the big falls that you can see real well that looks like its full of hard whitewater. Bridal Veil shows up well, it looks like a multi channel falls of large height, kind of like a taller, narrower Pit River Falls. looks like another, smaller falls above that. Super steep headwaters give way to flats, big falls, gorge, and out to the flats of thr Navajo River Valley.

I would be very surprised if at least parts of this or all of this havent been done.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

cayo 2 said:


> Logan the old Doug Wheat book. says they divert 110k acre feet of water to the Chama leaving only 55k in the Blanco/Navajo.If it was any good, I imagine Durango bloaters would hit it.


I see looking at the topo where the Oso Diversion Dam is, and where the Tierra Amarilla land grant is, and you guys are right. It doesn't leave much of the river accessible where there is water.

I didn't do any research into it, but are you sure they draw water from the Blanco as well? It looks like there would be a canyon below the Blanco Basin Road, through the flanks of Blue and Bear Mountains (with significant gradient) down to the Blanco River Campground below....

Plus Jay, just cause Durango boaters haven't posted it up on MB or wrote a guide book doesn't mean they haven't done it, or it isn't quality. An example would be the Rio Grande above RG reservoir. Miles of quality III-IV, with some V's thrown in too.

http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f11/rio-grande-headwaters-20071.html

http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f11/upper-rio-grande-details-37717.html










which, by the way, I would LOVE to hit this season....


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Logan, 

I am just telling you what it said in the book . It specifically mentions Blanco in regards to the diversion. That book is semi old things may have changed.

Sure it could be some secret stash. I satellite scouted it after Yeti chimed in,does appear to have a fair amount of whitewater,Blanco too. But you are both making your point and reinforcing mine. People keep shit secret but eventually they talk about it like they did on that thread . Lets hope there are good runs left to be revealed or discovered. That run in the pic looks/sounds sweet. All the III - IV stuff in that area is on the bucket list for sure.


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

The blanco looks like its got some sustained steep whitewater in some gorges in the upper headwaters. There are two tribs that come in from the west that look mighty intense, highly doubtful of kayakability but would be sweet to see. The canyon below the diversion looks like it would be a fun class II run through a road less canyon, maybe a sweet overnigter? Not sure on access, maybe theres some near the diversion, maybe not? Campground at the bottom.

Heres some info on the project which all of these are part of: Project details - San Juan-Chama Project - Bureau of Reclamation

Ive got a list ive been compiling over a few years of possible runs left in CO, if you want i could scan n pdf it and email it to you


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## ChasetheWater (Apr 19, 2011)

Hiked the St Charles today outflow from the lake isabel. Mike theres quite a bit more water in it now. The pueblonians go up there in the heat of summer when the snow from those low altitude wet mountains is gone. Lets just say I'm going up there tomorrow to run the spill way(fuckin Huge" and some other rapids deeper down in the canyon. I think keeping a runsecret is bull shit unless there are access issues and you individually have permission from a land owner or you go on super stealth missions ex: deer creek wy or bakers box. Otherwise I think the tight knit groups with stashes are asses, share your shit. "oh no I dont want some one to find my water stash and boat it out before i even get there."


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## ChasetheWater (Apr 19, 2011)

Yeti I'd love to have that list It'd give me something to do in class. Also the canones near the brazos is my most recent find on google earth that could be very cool. if anyone decides to go check it out or knows anything about it call me or message me.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

cayo 2 said:


> Logan,
> 
> I am just telling you what it said in the book . It specifically mentions Blanco in regards to the diversion. That book is semi old things may have changed.
> 
> Sure it could be some secret stash. I satellite scouted it after Yeti chimed in,does appear to have a fair amount of whitewater,Blanco too. But you are both making your point and reinforcing mine. People keep shit secret but eventually they talk about it like they did on that thread . Lets hope there are good runs left to be revealed or discovered. That run in the pic looks/sounds sweet. All the III - IV stuff in that area is on the bucket list for sure.


Sorry if my reply seemed rude Jay. It just seems to me like there is a lot of decent III-IV boating in the Southern Rockies region that gets overlooked because all the attention falls on the class V runs....and that's fine, but there should be a good source of beta out there for these types of obscure runs as well, and at least some of it is slowly getting compiled on these threads....I'm just itching to boat, and I want to do something different than the same low-water runs I've been doing for the last couple months....wish I had more time off from work, I would be doing some exploring in NM right now.



yetigonecrazy said:


> Heres some info on the project which all of these are part of: Project details - San Juan-Chama Project - Bureau of Reclamation


Thanks for that Kit. It cleared up a few questions I had about the drainages...



ChasetheWater said:


> Hiked the St Charles today outflow from the lake isabel. Mike theres quite a bit more water in it now. The pueblonians go up there in the heat of summer when the snow from those low altitude wet mountains is gone. Lets just say I'm going up there tomorrow to run the spill way(fuckin Huge" and some other rapids deeper down in the canyon. I think keeping a runsecret is bull shit unless there are access issues and you individually have permission from a land owner or you go on super stealth missions ex: deer creek wy or bakers box. Otherwise I think the tight knit groups with stashes are asses, share your shit. "oh no I dont want some one to find my water stash and boat it out before i even get there."


Right on Chase! I appreciate your willingness to explore and enjoyed your videos on Eddyflower of the Concrete Box and the Rampart Res inflow. Make sure and share some video from your trip tomorrow....and I agree with the attitude that keeping runs secret is bullshit unless it's for some kind of touchy access issue.


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

Chase, glad to hear your enthusiasm. If you havent already, checkmout the threads "first descent and/or new goods madness 06" (or something to that effect) and "colo spgs creeks", both have good beta and some funny figting between me and folks. Theres always going to be some dong bags out there trying to get you down for doing this, but there are those who do appreciate it too. Some people are stoked to get beta out there. Ill scan that list and send it to you a bit later. For now......


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Yeti i would kind of like to see that list will pm email address later gettin ready to watch basketball. Does it include any of these bonehead runs ?:

James Creek a tributary of Lefthand which is itself tiny and doesn't run very much. There is one nice drop ,4+/5-?, and really tight ultra continuous 3 with no eddies and probable wood then a low bridge barely limboable followed immediately by a 4 ft.ish lowhead type dam boof. We were gonna run it when we cleaned/ ran Lefthand but there is another low bridge that is problematic.Lower Lefty has been done a long time ago,but it is an easier, wood infested,private property lined extension to a low quality [ i like it as do a few others] run.

Sand Creek,starts in Aurora with stuff like Chase's concrete box leading to a more open run with small aeriation ledges in close proximity to one another that might be play spots high ,out east of the old airport, and in an okay riparian area except it passes the Denver county jail. After that there are some 2 or 3 ft. little dams. Up to here the water is not too skank but gets much worse as it enters the most industrialized zone in the Rocky Mountain region. A few years ago they redid some old dam i guess. All of the sudden there was this block long fairly steep boulder mank rapid right at Quebec. I guess it is a combination aeration structure and faux scenic rapid. Looks like it could be anywhere between a long scrapey III up to fairly serious rapid depending on flow. There are some more interesting/dangerous manmade verts and slides downstream nastier water though. Juan de Confluence told me it goes underground before entering the Platte plus there is a oil/gas refinery leak ugh. Sand Creek has tribs like the concrete box. East Tollgate Creek has a long sliding section that would be fun at flash flood but no eddies above a 15 foot drop with concrete teeth at it's base. There are 3 or 4 of these. I tinkered with the idea of concocting a ramp over the teeth or a portable eddy,f'n stupid .


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

Theres not much on my list from the south platte drainage, i havent spent that much time exploring that area, either in person or digitally, mostly western slope, south, and central, but when i get the list scanned ill send it to you too


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

My bad, it is west tollgate..,.didn't realize it is part of Cherry Crk. Res. spillway's system..... can see clearly on google near Illiff and Chambers....not that anyone cares

So Chase u saying Isabel spillway is better than just the 20ftr. I remember..,.good luck today!


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Hey you guys be careful down around the Navajo/Chama /Brazos-Canones area there are aliens around there.Can you say kayaker mutilations.. wikipedia Dulce Base LOL, f'n New Mexico

Chase don't know about that Canones but there is another one that dumps into Abiquiu and it's partner Coyote Crk. that I wonder about, mostly because a friend's family has land around there, probably tiny and dry, does have some gradient.


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## ChasetheWater (Apr 19, 2011)

Definitely low water today compared to yesterday but I ran a couple rapids on the St Charles including a 70 foot spill way coming out of lake isabel. video eventually. If anyone decides to go do this run and thinks the level will be good please call me 865 eight 09 12 two 9


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Nice ! Something has changed up there apparently it's been a while. Look forward to the vid.


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## ChasetheWater (Apr 19, 2011)

https://vimeo.com/40479048

This is just the slide at the top. I'm gonna wait on the rest of the footage until I can put something legit up of the run at a better water level.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Right on Chase. I give you props for getting on stuff that no one has boated before....but it sure does seem as though you prefer to paddle over concrete...


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## ChasetheWater (Apr 19, 2011)

I dont prefer it, but there are some cool concrete drops on the front range. I dont discriminate. The canyon below the spillway is phenominal I'm just waiting on good water to be in it.


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Dude you should really check out Tarryall Spillway it is altered but mostly natural and like a 40 ft.? manky slide into semi vertical. You probably already know about it. Kind of a cool lead in mini gorge. No run below it . Low stealth. There are pics on google images and a video on Youtube of it crankin' with some fishing boat that barely beached itself at the lip of the drop. 

Still baffled by the discrepancy on that Lake San Isabel/Lake Isabel spillway that is definitely not what i was talkin' ' bout.


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