# what school in Colorado is best for boating?



## Doty (Apr 29, 2007)

So I just have been accepted into the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, and Fort Lewis College, located in Durango.

Would anyone care to share either their input on what boating is like in these areas(like quality and driving distance), or what college would offer the best boating selections?

I'm used to doing class 4 and 5, with a little 5+ down here in the S.E. so Anything with good class 4 and 5+ is good to go. both schools have my desired major, but just curious.

thanks.


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## ManuelHung (Jul 28, 2005)

What ever you do dont go to Greeley. I made that mistake.


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

Over the two you mentioned.............I'd pick Durango hands down. You'll find the boating, scenery, and outdoor activities in general...... spectacular.


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## rwhyman (May 23, 2005)

My daughter went to UNC and while she had a great college experience and got her first job with one of the best school districts in the state, if it were my choice, I'd go to Durango in a heartbeat. No comparison for the boating, outdoor enthusiast.


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## Dave Frank (Oct 14, 2003)

Maybe you should go to Greeley, so you can just stay inside and concentrate on your studies.

Seriously the place just stinks of stockyards. I've head you get used to it, but..... 

Definitely head for Durango if you enjoy the outdoors much, let alone boating.


Greeley is a haul to everywhere except the Poudre and some parts of Wyoming.


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## Tiggy (May 17, 2004)

Fort Lewis, Durango. Piedra is sick, upper A, town run, San Juan, Dolores ETC.. close access to Arizona too. Fort Lewis also has an excellent chemistry department and alot of new amenities.


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## Doty (Apr 29, 2007)

Cool, sounds like Durango is a hit. right now im used to jumping on the green narrows for good steep creek training.

are any of you guys familiar with a good class 5+ plus run thats a quick drive and a quick run?

if so, whats the drive time and the run(s) like?


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## David Spiegel (Sep 26, 2007)

If you are going to school strictly for boating purposes, you have chosen poorly. Enjoy the 2 month long boating season, part of which occurs after the school year.

Honestly, the boating here is great but expect to have to do other sports too. The boating season is short enough that you will need to ski in the winter and probably climb/bike in the fall although you can run the Black Canyon and sometimes the Upper Animas in the fall as well as Gore.

If you are really looking for a boating school you want either VT, UNC Asheville, University of Oregon in Eugene, University of Washington Seattle, or University of Puget Sound. Those are pretty much your bets for year round boating. Colorado isn't going to let you boat more than 2-3 months out of the year.

The real value of going to school in Colorado (as far as location goes) is that at different times of the year you can back pack, climb, bike, boat, ski, all in huge beautiful mountains.

Regardless, I would recommend Durango.


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## Ture (Apr 12, 2004)

I think the boating season is long enough in Colorado. My season is about 1st week of April to about mid-August. That's 4 full months. I know people who keep going even later but I'm tired of paddling by the end of August.

If I drove more I could paddle even longer but I find it hard to travel to paddle when there is so much stuff close by. I might hit up New Mexico for some early stuff this year but with an early season creek 10 minutes from my house (Bear Creek) it is easy to say forget the trip for 2 days of paddling and just paddle every day here.

I think you would be really happy in Durango. I'd go to school there if I had a time machine.


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## [email protected] (Apr 26, 2006)

the boating season in colorado is plenty long, I have boated in every month of the year in colorado except january. I would go with Durango for school that place has got the goods.
-Tom


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## Doty (Apr 29, 2007)

4 months is awsome, perfect really. ive visited my sister living in durango for some mt. biking, but never was able to explore the kayaking.

as long as their are some 'local' hair runs to hit befor/after classes, which sound like their are.


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## Snowhere (Feb 21, 2008)

Most definitely Durango FTW! 

The whole front range is becoming one giant traffic jam. I went to school in the late 80's early 90's, and I could get to good skiing in 1 hour to 1.25 hours, from Denver, any day of the week or weekend, no matter what time I left. Nowadays, if you go at the wrong time of day on the weekends, it can be a 4 hour drive. Greely is another hour or two on top of that. Summer traffic can be as bad or worse. Just picture trying to get anywheres to paddle, away from the front range and you get the picture.


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## one_elk (Jun 10, 2005)

I went to Fort Lewis many years ago and have friends kids who are going there now and I would most certainly head to Durango. The school is pretty well funded and has some very good academic programs. For the outdoor opportunities there is simply no comparison between the two with Durango winning hands down fun place to be all year round may not have the water of the southeast but plenty of places to boat(several months out of the year), mountain bike, ski,,,,,,,,,,,and you may even have time for school if you plan your schedule well. Good Luck


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## Jahve (Oct 31, 2003)

Go to Durango.. The boatin season started a week or two ago and the rest of the rivers around there will go off way earlier than the rest of Colorado. Add on a summer job in Buena Vista like one at CKS and you will have the best boatin Colorado has to offer. I went to Durango for 9 years!.. The boating season is a easy 4 months and with a bit of rain rockwood or pandora's can be 6 months long.

Also I would stay away from the Front Range schools and avoid Colorado Springs and Pubelo schools like the plague..


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## Cbrown327 (May 30, 2007)

*schools with paddling*

As a former resident of Georgia and an FLC student I can tell you that paddling in Durango is top notch. The play park is one of the best in Colorado and the Upper Animas is considered by many to be the best and most beautiful paddling in the country. The rockwood section of the upper is runnable pretty much year round and offers some good 4 and 5 with about an hour walk in (parking is about 30 minutes from town). The creeking here is great too. Vallecito (V+) is widely considered to be the best mile of whitewater in colorado. 

Durango in general is just a kick ass town. Anything you want to do outside can pretty much be done from town. Climbing is good, mtb is world class, fishing, hunting, whatever you're into Durango has it. 

Can't say much for Greeley but I hope this helps a bit.



Doty said:


> So I just have been accepted into the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, and Fort Lewis College, located in Durango.
> 
> Would anyone care to share either their input on what boating is like in these areas(like quality and driving distance), or what college would offer the best boating selections?
> 
> ...


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## gh (Oct 13, 2003)

Easy there Rdnek, avoid colorado springs for sure but I think we have two excellent colleges.


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## Cinnamonster (Jan 3, 2007)

Durango's got the sickest creeking around if you like gorges and waterfalls and what not. And it isn't tooo far from everything else so the season is a little more flexible. 

GH is there any boating near colorado Springs? I like CC but the town scares me and I'd kinda like to be able to boat in College


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

Paddling near Colorado Springs? The short answer is yes, but I don't think there is a in-town run like Durango has. 

Colorado Springs is within 2 hours of probably 20-30 different sections. The Arkansas, Clear Creek, Bear Creek and South Platte are about an hour away, South Boulder Creeks sections are closer to two hours. And the central mountain runs aren't much further- stuff like Gore, the Blue, tenmile and others. Also the Cache la Poudre is probably 2:30-3 hours away.

One big plus to Durango is that you are closer to early season boating in Arizona - stuff like the salt and all the crazy stuff that the hardcore yakers are doing right now. You are also close to Moab for Westwater and Cataract trips, and New Mexico for the Rio Grande and creeks in that area. 

One big difference with Durango compared to the front range is simply people. The Front Range has lots of people, Colorado Springs is 500,000 people, The Denver Metro Area is around 2 million people. Durango is 14,000 people. The nearest larger city, Farmington, in New Mexico, is an hour and 40,000 people. And the nearest "big" city is Albuquerque at about 4 hours. Some people will love this 'relative' isolation and living in a small city, others won't. Just something to know.

Greeley is far from Durango both in distance and perspective - much more of a ranching and farming town. The people in Greeley are more likely to be the hunting, fishing, shooting, 4 wheeling types than the mtn biking, kayaking, climbing crowd that you will find in Durango. That said Greeley is only about an hour from Denver if a big city is a draw for you. And it isn't that much further from skiing and boating than most of the front range, probably an extra 45 minutes. But I wouldn't generally recommend Greeley, Colorado Springs is a much better town, and that means something coming from a Boulder native.


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## TakemetotheRiver (Oct 4, 2007)

Technically there's 40,000 people in Durango- only 14,000 in the city limits.


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## BastrdSonOfElvis (Mar 24, 2005)

Raftus, your shuttle rig must be a ferrari because your driving times are way short. Way short. The closest thing to Colo Springs (excluding 11mile) is the Royal Gorge and it's an easy hour fifteen to the takeout and then a shuttle to run and that's if you live on the south side of town. The others you called an hour are at least 2 and probably some change.


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

The Pueblo play park is 45 minutes from town........or does that count?


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

BastrdSonOfElvis said:


> Raftus, your shuttle rig must be a ferrari because your driving times are way short. Way short. The closest thing to Colo Springs (excluding 11mile) is the Royal Gorge and it's an easy hour fifteen to the takeout and then a shuttle to run and that's if you live on the south side of town. The others you called an hour are at least 2 and probably some change.


Yeah maybe I am being a bit optimistic, and yeah I don't really love Colorado Springs, but you can make Canon to C Springs in an hour, although it does involve passing the slow people. 

Either way your signature by jack handy is one of my favorites on the buzz, right behind yeti.


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## hanz (Feb 20, 2007)

i am going to school at fort lewis at the moment and it really has excellent boating opportunities. i have heard from more than one person that greeley sucks. durango is sick and the school is really chill. go durango. there is plenty of opportunity.


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## Doty (Apr 29, 2007)

ok, Durango is a hit for sure. from what ive read, their are indeed great hair runs for locals....... and thier close, cool.

now i just have to decide if the cold and snow are worth it. my sister said she got 8 feet in the downtown area this winter. i guess thats good in a way..

Ft. lewis and University of N. Carolina at Asheville are my only options left, but Im sure I'll be good to go in Durango. ill just be sacrificing runing the green narrows EVERY day..


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## dogalot (Jul 6, 2005)

I'm a Fort Lewis grad. Though I wasn't a boater while attending FLC, my time there was among the best of my life. Great mountains, great skiing, easy access to Canyonlands, etc., and a very cool town as well. The faculty at FLC is stellar too because they can attract top-notch folks.


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

Unless you are going for education, there is absolutely no reason to go to UNC over Fort Lewis. Neither are the most prestigous, but for most that doesn't really matter. I guarantee you will have a lot more fun at Ft. Lewis then you will at UNC. UNC is only known as being a good teachers college, and Greeley is known only for its distinctive smell, driven by the biggest cattle yard in the country combined with sugar beet processing, which adds up to being completely disgusting. Oh, and Greeley is off in the plains well away from the mountains, so activities tend to require traveling.

Compare that to living in one of the most beautiful regions in the country, surrounded by gorgeous mountains, awesome rivers, and just about every outdoor sports activity you can think of. The only downside is that its relatively hard to get to compared to some of the other university's in the state, but its not horrible and worth it.

You could look at Western State in Gunnison too. Similar deal to Fort Lewis, maybe a bit smaller (they are both small schools no matter how you swing it). CU-boulder may be more well known, but its huge and living in Boulder has its ups and downs. So yeah, like everyone is saying, Ft. Lewis is the obvious choice.

JH


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## gannon_w (Jun 27, 2006)

*The smell in Greeley??*

OK are you going to college for a degree or to be near kayaking runs? That being said if its the degree its UNC clearly over Durango. If you want to be near after class boatin runs and don't care about the degree then Durango is your choice.

I go to UNC and its about 20min to Big T and 45min to the poudre river. So plan on day trips. Contrary to what you've heard greeley doesn't smell unless the winds blow from the south...then you can smell denver big time and those plants in north denver STINK! As for the cow smell...there aren't any cattle yards near greeley so the wind has to be pretty big before the smell from some of the surrounding areas reach greeley.
GREELEY HAS NO OUTDOOR LIFE; I know of 3 kayakers in town and one of them lives with me, but its 20min from FTC and 45 from Denver.

If your into outdoor life then Durango is the clear choice.


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## jeffro (Oct 13, 2003)

gannon_w said:


> OK are you going to college for a degree or to be near kayaking runs? That being said if its the degree its UNC clearly over Durango.


 
UNC is that great of a school? We're talking about UNC in Greeley, right??


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## gannon_w (Jun 27, 2006)

Depending on what program your going into...its average for most but a few programs are really good...The undergrad business school is ranked #1 in the nation for all universities. Audiology and some teaching programs are also highly ranked...I assumed you wern't going for a grad degree but grad degrees are determined with who you work under and the pedagogy dept has one of the nations lead researchers and I work with one of the best biomechanists for gait research. The grad stat dept is highly ranked also other than that its all average....I just happen to be in one of the top areas! 



jeffro said:


> UNC is that great of a school? We're talking about UNC in Greeley, right??


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## howlie (Nov 24, 2003)

> The undergrad business school is ranked #1 in the nation for all universities.


Ummm...are you forgetting Penn, MIT, Virginia, Michigan, etc?


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## tress33 (Jan 5, 2007)

gannon_w said:


> The undergrad business school is ranked #1 in the nation for all universities.
> 
> 
> What?


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## gannon_w (Jun 27, 2006)

howlie said:


> Ummm...are you forgetting Penn, MIT, Virginia, Michigan, etc?


 
Nope I'm not forgetting when I said ALL universities...you just forgot to read! If you know your business degrees, what can you do in business without an MBA??? not much. UNC has the best UNDERGRAD degree they don't have a MBA program. Personally I've not heard of any of those schools above having a decent undergrad business degree? BUT places like harvard, stanford etc (all your known top schools) have the best Graduate business degree (MBA) and weak undergrad programs. I have no idea why there is a difference? But if you want to go into those top tier grad programs UNC is a good choice.

They also have one of the top cancer research centers but I'm not a fan of killing animals for research.

BUT I'm not into business I am in biomechanics and study under a Penn alum.
ALSO did (those of you who read research) you see the research artical on shoulder joint kinetics during kayaking?....It was flat water paddling so it was kind of boring.


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## gannon_w (Jun 27, 2006)

Anyways, lets shutup about schools (this is a kayaking forum) and talk about whats flowing next week during spring break??? Lets get some paddling in!


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## doublet (May 21, 2004)

Gannon - 

Something tells me you're talking about University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Greeley doesn't make the top 100:

Undergrad - BSchools


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## KSC (Oct 22, 2003)

Maybe it's #1 for a specialty in the meat packing business. Ya better source that claim.



doublet said:


> Gannon -
> 
> Something tells me you're talking about University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
> 
> ...


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

gannon_w said:


> Depending on what program your going into...its average for most but a few programs are really good...The undergrad business school is ranked #1 in the nation for all universities.


"The Monfort college of Business at the University of Northern Colorado has been ranked 126th by the US News and World Report "America's Best College" placing it among the elite business schools in the U.S." 
from: http://www.greeleygov.com/CMO/UNC.aspx

So by #1 did you mean #126?


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

gannon_w said:


> OK are you going to college for a degree or to be near kayaking runs? That being said if its the degree its UNC clearly over Durango. If you want to be near after class boatin runs and don't care about the degree then Durango is your choice.
> 
> I go to UNC and its about 20min to Big T and 45min to the poudre river. So plan on day trips. Contrary to what you've heard greeley doesn't smell unless the winds blow from the south...then you can smell denver big time and those plants in north denver STINK! As for the cow smell...there aren't any cattle yards near greeley so the wind has to be pretty big before the smell from some of the surrounding areas reach greeley.
> GREELEY HAS NO OUTDOOR LIFE; I know of 3 kayakers in town and one of them lives with me, but its 20min from FTC and 45 from Denver.
> ...


Dude, you are freaking delusional if you think Greeley doesn't smell. There are not only one but two huge cattle feed lots close by to Greeley, one in Kersey (just to the east) and one in Le Salle (just to the south). I can't remember a time when I've been outside in Greeley where the smell wasn't very noticeable. Yeah, the gasoline refinery down in Commerce City does smell pretty horrid, but it hardly accounts for Greeley's stink. Maybe you should look into things a bit more before making statements.

JH


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## gannon_w (Jun 27, 2006)

It smells just like most every other city when its windy and I've lived in tons of different cities.

Once again why aren't we talking about paddling? or is this smellycitybuzz.com?

I'm lookin for some good runs next week and the poudre isn't flowing yet  so what is and where its at??? Lets get some :-D


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## Doty (Apr 29, 2007)

originaly I was talking about the University of North Carolina at *Asheville.* not the school in Boulder or Fort Collins.

I can afford asheville and Fort Lewis, but those others are too expensive. right now. Im a out of state transfer

besides, UNC at Asheville kicks ass. period. but im ready for the change in scenery and whitwater.


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