# Lodore at high water?



## sea hag (Mar 24, 2006)

Ran split mountain at 22k. Came in from yampa side. Scout Moonshine, Read and run on the rest, was big water, but straightforward. Probably couldn't have stopped to scout most rapids. pushy pushy, stay off the walls, square up and go.


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## kayakfreakus (Mar 3, 2006)

Coming from a kayaker's perspective and will check my notes.


We had it at 8+ and I remember it being awesome. Upper/Lower Disaster were bigger but manageable. Think we only scouted Hell's Half Mile and Triplet. Still the same line for the rafts that I remember. Almost floated past Echo Mtn as it was underwater. Mostly big wave trains and a lot of fun. Split Mtn was I think around 19,000 maybe more and we hit it in the afternoon with wind. Nothing whitewater sticks out in my mind through there only the wind.


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## kazak4x4 (May 25, 2009)

Wow dude, looks nasty.

Two years ago we experienced similar winds on the flat section of Lodore before Upper/Lower, just the 1 mile stretch took us around 3 hours to push through. We ended up dragging some of the boats along the shore.


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## lodore (Mar 24, 2012)

kazak4x4 said:


> Wow dude, looks nasty.
> 
> Two years ago we experienced similar winds on the flat section of Lodore before Upper/Lower, just the 1 mile stretch took us around 3 hours to push through. We ended up dragging some of the boats along the shore.


Island Park is always a bear. All you can do it hope for high water and hit it as early in the day as possible.

I've done Split a ton at high water. There's a giant standing wave at the top of Moonshine and SOB softens up a lot; stay off the wall. Haven't seen Lodore at 8k but I will in a couple days! See ya there!!!


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## Maxident (Feb 1, 2011)

We did it at 9.5k in 2011? I only really remember Hell's half being super pushy- got bounced down the left channel towards the end of the run and pin balled through. Triplet (near flip) and Upper/Lower were big but doable. Split was at 35k+. It wasn't too bad. Wave trains mostly and some flippy laterals. Had a flip on whiskey rock (which was a HUGE hole) by a sleeping captain- plenty of room either side to miss it.


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## dgoods (Jul 15, 2013)

I've done Lodore at around 13k with the Yampa putting in another 12K. Really easy to make miles in Lodore. I remember Triplet being pretty big and Hells Half was big, but Split was certainly Grand Canyon scale at around 25,000. Moonshine very big (scout it) and the rest super fast, big and hard to regulate boat spacing.


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## BetterNot (Mar 11, 2014)

I kayaked it last year when it was at a constant 9k for a week or so. Hell's Half was huge from my perspective, was tons of fun! Triplet had a fun line where the birth canal is, I got friendly with the hole... But didn't get surfed. Upper and Lower disaster I don't remember much of, but one of the rafts had a swimmer.

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## treemanji (Jan 23, 2011)

The above is pretty spot on ran Lodore at 4.5k triplet will push right the rest is easier than 800, then got to Split and had 22k. Scout Moonshine if you want to the hole is big saw an 18 footer flip there the rest is pushy SOB comes to mind the flow in those lower rapids wants to push at the left wall pretty good. The last rapid was an easy left run with a big pourover river center.


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## mania (Oct 21, 2003)

sorry kazak I don't think you understand what is high water. 11k is not high water. that might be the max this year.


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## Gremlin (Jun 24, 2010)

Isn't Lodore 2500 or less 44 weeks of the year? That's all I've ever seen before the Yampa comes in. I would love to run Upper and Lower Disaster, Hell's Half Mile and Triplet at 8k and appreciate the first-hand accounts.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

Gremlin said:


> Isn't Lodore 2500 or less 44 weeks of the year? That's all I've ever seen before the Yampa comes in. I would love to run Upper and Lower Disaster, Hell's Half Mile and Triplet at 8k and appreciate the first-hand accounts.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


More like 50 weeks a year. I got to run it at 4,500 last year and it was a heckava lot better than the 847 I've run it at before. There were a few years back in the 2000s when it seems like it never got above that and the first time at 1500 seemed really plush.

In spring they do a special release and sometimes it gets up to 8000 or 9000. The Yampa puts in a bunch and Split Mt. is great.

Don't know when I've ever even heard of the Lodore section getting over 9000.

-AH


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## treemanji (Jan 23, 2011)

Andy H. said:


> More like 50 weeks a year. I got to run it at 4,500 last year and it was a heckava lot better than the 847 I've run it at before. There were a few years back in the 2000s when it seems like it never got above that and the first time at 1500 seemed really plush.
> 
> In spring they do a special release and sometimes it gets up to 8000 or 9000. The Yampa puts in a bunch and Split Mt. is great.
> 
> ...


I always thought high water was if you were lucky enough to get on it above 800.

Its been above 9k a couple years, the guy I bought my boat from ran it at 13k in 1986 and at 11k in 1997.


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## treemanji (Jan 23, 2011)

Never mind the above this is wrong, he was looking at the wrong gage when he told me this, not too internet savy although those were high water years. I do see the most recent years it was over 11k was up to 11,200 in 1999 and 13,700 in 83, probably why not many remember that and for those who do its fuzzy. Interestingly it was up to 19,600 in 1957. He did say that construction on the dam began in 1958 and was completed in 1964 which explains why 1957 and 62 were the last 15k + high water years.


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## kazak4x4 (May 25, 2009)

mania said:


> sorry kazak I don't think you understand what is high water. 11k is not high water. that might be the max this year.


I don't think I've ever seen Lodore at 11k in my rafting career yet.


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## palidog (Apr 28, 2005)

Rafted last year at 9K. I thought the left diagonal at the top of Disaster was the biggest potential for flipping a raft not paying attention. Everything else was very straight forward. The mosquitos at Island Cove were as bad as I have ever seen. If you are camping at Jones, send a kayaker ahead to make sure nobody misses camp. The eddy is small.


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## Diane in Sedona (Mar 27, 2010)

*Putting in Lodore on May 30*

We've got a 5-day trip starting May 30. Anyone just taken off that has stories/tips for us?


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## boatdziner (Jul 7, 2005)

*Not going to be a problem.*

By the time May 30th rolls around you will be back down to normal flows. The USBR says that they will start cutting flows back on the 21st and it should be down to traditional flows (~1200) by June 1st.


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## kazak4x4 (May 25, 2009)

Diane in Sedona said:


> We've got a 5-day trip starting May 30. Anyone just taken off that has stories/tips for us?


How did you manage 5 days?

By May 30th, it should be down to low cfs


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## boatdziner (Jul 7, 2005)

*Here is the USBR report if you are interested.*

Bureau of Reclamation - Upper Colorado Region Water Operations: Current Status: Flaming Gorge Reservoir


You can apply for an extra day on Lodore if sites are available.


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## kazak4x4 (May 25, 2009)

boatdziner said:


> Bureau of Reclamation - Upper Colorado Region Water Operations: Current Status: Flaming Gorge Reservoir
> 
> 
> You can apply for an extra day on Lodore if sites are available.


Boated that canyon for a while and never knew about 5th day, thanks, good to know!


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## Osprey (May 26, 2006)

Think I've gotten it a couple times and been turned down for it a couple times. Don't think I've ever gotten it where they didn't give Wade & Curtis as camp 1. You can ask for an extra day on the Yampa side too.

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## Diane in Sedona (Mar 27, 2010)

Thanks for the info. I knew 8,000 was too good to be true.

When I sent in my final permit information, I sent a check for $35 and asked for 4 campsites. We got Pot Creek and Limestone, which I requested, and State Line and Big Island, which I did not.


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## JohnPowell (May 19, 2011)

I rafted Lodore just below 10k and 22k after the confluence in 2011. For rafters the biggest change was between upper and lower disaster (not really a rapid at lower flows). A raft flipping wave forms river left with some tricky laterals above pushing right into it and big spillover protecting river right just upstream. HHM I would say goes from Class III to IV. Everything else was similar but with a big water feel. Below the confluence, whirlpool canyon had some very big wave trains.


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