# Upper Colorado...Fire Pan...Groover?



## maxgsimon (Oct 4, 2011)

Looking at overnight camping with my three nephews on upper Colorado next Tuesday and putting in at radium and taking out a state bridge. I am hoping to stay at one of the bench spots. Does anyone know if there is a fire ring/pit and if there is a toilet? I have both, but I hate packing stuff that is already there. 

Thanks,

Max


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## rivergod (May 26, 2004)

I know there are no facilities there, so a groover is a must. Not sure about firerings, but I think their use is discouraged in any case.


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## jeffro (Oct 13, 2003)

There is no toilet. There are probably some ever growing fire rings. Please bring both. They will both be required when it is permitted in two years.


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## matt man (Dec 23, 2011)

Yes, please bring both.
This section really needs people to not use fire rings anymore, there are just to many people on it, to not be packing out all of our waste.

Have a great trip!

Heads up, State bridge gets pretty congested, so try to time your take out, and move quick, so you don’t have to deal with a mess at that take out.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

matt man said:


> Heads up, State bridge gets pretty congested, so try to time your take out, and move quick, so you don’t have to deal with a mess at that take out.


Like Mattman says, please bring both, the BLM got rid of the toilets a few years ago, and firepans are required up there these days IIRC. If there's a fire ring there, it shouldn't be.

Also, if you're launching at Radium and camping at the benches, another option would be to take out at Two Bridges, a few miles downstream of State Bridge. Flows should be pretty fast.

Enjoy!

-AH


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## ArgoCat (May 14, 2007)

Diddo, Radium to Benches is a really short float at these levels. If you are solid on camping at benches, then put in at Pumphouse to lengthen the day. I'm sure you know, but Eye of the Needle and Yarmony are ckass III at these levels and can have some decent consequences if you flip or eject a passenger.

There are some realy nice camps below State Bridge that should not have too much presure on them at these levels. Camps below State bridge are decent but not much shade and close to the road.

Have fun and be safe


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## maxgsimon (Oct 4, 2011)

*thanks for the reply*

ArgoCat any more information on the sights below state bridge. i.e., a map or some GPS points. I want to do as much e-scouting as possible. 

thanks again Max


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## Eagle Mapper (Mar 24, 2008)

39°51'16.56"N
106°39'47.11"W

A few campsites right after SB on river left. They can be driven into but also used as river camps.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

maxgsimon said:


> ArgoCat any more information on the sights below state bridge. i.e., a map or some GPS points. I want to do as much e-scouting as possible.
> 
> thanks again Max


There's nothing below State Bridge but sorrow, death, tattered rubber and mangled frames. The Colorado River flows into the "Hole of Doom" and runs underground through caverns until surfacing again just above Dotsero. Don't go there!

But seriously, start here: Check it out! Upper Colorado River Recreation Guide

EDIT - NEVER MIND - There's a great online guide to the Upper C by the BLM and Eagle County Open Space, but the BLM seems to have let all the links break. Anyone got a link to the guidebook? 

-AH


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## Nubie Jon (Dec 19, 2017)

Here's a BLM link....

https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/Upper_CO_River_20170815.pdf

Also I have some camp sites that may not make the maps but are certainly obtainable at these flows..... let me know.


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

*Bring both...*



maxgsimon said:


> Looking at overnight camping with my three nephews on upper Colorado next Tuesday and putting in at radium and taking out a state bridge. I am hoping to stay at one of the bench spots. Does anyone know if there is a fire ring/pit and if there is a toilet? I have both, but I hate packing stuff that is already there.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Max


I think the bench(that it is named after) is long gone too. Apparently you have been down there before, when there was a toilet, fire rings and picnic table were available. I would do Pumphouse to State Bridge, much nicer scenery with the canyons for your nephew's, plus you can stop off at the hot spring on river left before Radium campground, I think some sixties hippies stoned it in, in the late sixties, alot of long term camping in bright painted VW busses back then. When we started to run it commercially in 1973 it was there. If the Bench sights are full, Lone Tree river right, across from Bench campgrounds and 100 yards down stream might still be there. Have fun and enjoy, be safe. Oh ya, rain showers about 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm too.


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## noahfecks (Jun 14, 2008)

No need for a groover, there are lots of trees and bushes to poop behind


driftwood is too big to fit in a fire pan anyways, just make sure you throw it all in the river when your fire is over


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

*So true!!!*



noahfecks said:


> No need for a groover, there are lots of trees and bushes to poop behind
> 
> 
> driftwood is too big to fit in a fire pan anyways, just make sure you throw it all in the river when your fire is over


When we started commercial trips back 1973, private boating was none existed down there. Pumphouse still had the wooden pumphouse with two pumps, still in it and the pipes ran about 200 ft to the river. We had to whack out a place to make a launch for the boats, it was so over grown with six foot bushes, no real road. Radium bridge was wood with wooden beams and round wooden poles in the river for support and no boat ramp or real camp ground, except for along Sheep horn creek we also had a small ranch we would run horses back trips out of, up from sheep horn creek. When we pulled into Rancho the only thing there was, a general store with a gas pump, telephone booth and a couple old wooden cabins. Bud and Wanda who owned it back than were so surprised when 25 wet customers stormed in and cleaned their little cooler out of ice cream bars, candy and ice cold 3.2 beer. Bud was a hunting guide and outfitters, who also ran float fishing trips. They asked us if this action was going to happen every weekend, we said probably, so in about two weeks later they purchased a much larger freezer stock with icecream bars and a shit more beer. Cable rapid still had a cable across the river and small cabin with an old wooden burning stove, it's all gone to. The Bench only had a little clearing with a bench made from two one foot logs with an 8 foot slab accross the two stumps. State Bridge was a wooden bridge too, a little lower than the new one and we use to jump off of it. Get blasted at State Bridge bar with the customers than head back to Kremmling were we had one of our warehouses. If we only knew what was to follow us over the years, a little more than a few people shitting and disregarding the natural wonder of the river now. Oh ya, rain showers around 5:00 to 6:00 is what some old river guides always told the customers.


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## jrzoffroad (Oct 11, 2018)

Raymo, I do remember the old bridges... I bet you recall the switchbacks on the old road between pumphouse and radium.


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

*Yes I do...*



jrzoffroad said:


> Raymo, I do remember the old bridges... I bet you recall the switchbacks on the old road between pumphouse and radium.


Yes, it was on the left side and up hill, which became very slick when it rained because it wasn't graded or maintained, that's why they named that part of the Trough Road the New Trough Road now. Do you remember the hill climb and small switch back about one mile in on the Trough road after highway 9, before it was straighten out. I think that was done about 1976, way before the New Trough road was completed. Our school buses used for shuttle would slide all over the road and sink into the ruts, zero road up keep in those days. When did you start running that part of the Colorado. I think that's cool you remember those days.


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## jrzoffroad (Oct 11, 2018)

We first started running that stretch about 1978 so I think the improvements off hwy 9 were done before I got there. The afternoon cloud bursts would sure make that road a mess. I even recall it being a mess after they put the new road in. I don't think it had enough gravel on it for a while and sliding off into those steep ditches was an issue. I seem to remember a lot of railroad garbage in the canyon in those days. I recall seeing stacks of 55 gallon drums piled next to the tracks by the railroad tunnels. Do you recall that?


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

jrzoffroad, I don't recall the 55 gallon barrel's. It was a pleasure chatting with you and hope to do more, but I think were clogging up the original post, which I have a habit of doing. Hope you stay around MB.


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## zercon (Aug 30, 2006)

*Speed sign at Rancho*

Thanks for the post about about the store at Rancho. For years I wondered about the sign entering Rancho that said, "SLOW" speed checked by Wanda. Now I know who Wanda was.


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## OldandBitter (Jun 11, 2011)

If a fire ring and toilet are important, camp at Rancho. If you use the existing sites on the river you should bring a groover and a fire pan; do the right thing. I think of I were doing an overnight, I'd take out a Two Bridges, It's a much nicer place to load and I think it would be easier to de-rig.


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