# Flat water on the Yampa, info please.



## raferguson1 (Feb 13, 2007)

*Nice trip*

Should be a nice trip. When we did it, we put in near Craig, and took out in the middle of nowhere, at a kind of tricky take out with a small hole in the tamarask, and a rapid current. For a class 1 trip, a challenging take out. We camped out one night.

You probably know that this whole area is part of the state park system, and that you should be able to get information from the rangers.

Yampa River | Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Have fun,
Richard


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

I've floated Craig to Maybelle once at flood stage once long ago. It took us three days and we were ignorant of where private/public lands were. If you put in at Craig and take out above Juniper Canyon, that should be a good 3-day float in a canoe provided you can find campsites on public land or have permission from landowners.

Have a good trip!


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## melted_ice (Feb 4, 2009)

check this site for GPS coordinates of public land

BLM Colorado | Little Snake Field Office | Information | GPS Coordinates


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Just returned from this trip. It was a relaxing self-support kayak float. Definitely suitable for a canoe.



There was lots and lots of birds. Probably the highest concentration of Bald Eagles I have ever seen. Also many deer and signs of mountain lions.



It was a little difficult to distinguish between private and public land, but there certainly wasn't a shortage of options for campsites. The biggest downfall imo was that much of the canyon was open grazing land..... so there were cow patties in abundance, but the sites we chose didn't appear to have been grazed yet this year. Lots of soft, green grass.



Not too many good options for hiking, but there were a few places to explore. The scenery wasn't top-notch, but it was pretty and served it's purpose as an escape from everyday life.





I would recommend taking out at Duffy Mountain. The stretch from there to Juniper is 12 miles of open ranch land that are entirely on private property. The first few miles below the put-in at South Beach were very open, with an unpleasant view of the Craig coal fired power plant.... I would suggest making a few miles the first day to get away from the development...... round bottom also sucks. Lots of cows and relatively poor scenery.

Hope that helps!


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## mrkyak (Jul 11, 2005)

Juniper Springs rapid, if that's the correct name, is a site where a former 
Man made diversion was built. In recent years it was partially removed, blown up. I was told there was rebar present but we didnt see any. When we rafted Craig to Maybell at 20,000 this rapid was in my eyes a class V. It comes around a tight left hand corner, blind horizon line, very little time to boat scout, set up and maneuver. It was big and bad. I was prepared for a far right line, being the part of the structure which was removed supposedly for easier passage. we ended up on a center run? Almost had an issue (16' hrs cat). We had motored the last day because I remember the last 20 some miles are all private land. 
Maybe someone can verify my info, it was quite a few years ago we went.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

mrkyak's info is correct. Not sure if it's class V, but most of the information out there calls it a portage. It is below the Juniper Springs access though, so you could take out above it. Not much point in that though since the last 12 miles before Juniper Springs is unattractive private land. Around 50 miles total if you float all the way to Maybell.


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## bmiller (Jun 6, 2010)

Thanks for the info. 

I did check out the BLM site for the campsites. Was wondering if they were marked at all on the river.

Based on the responses might be best to take out at Duffy. How many miles from Duffy back to the put in near the power plant? I'm guessing 30ish?


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

bmiller said:


> Thanks for the info.
> 
> I did check out the BLM site for the campsites. Was wondering if they were marked at all on the river.
> 
> Based on the responses might be best to take out at Duffy. How many miles from Duffy back to the put in near the power plant? I'm guessing 30ish?


Some of the campsites were marked, some weren't. I would say it was about 50/50, but they were easy to identify. There were many more potential camps than shown on the map... we didn't use a designated site on our trip.

We also saw Colorado Parks and Wildlife employees. I wouldn't count on seeing a ranger, but they were out on motor boats shocking the river with electricity. They were pulling non-native fish....... not sure about the side effects of this (saw lots of dead crawfish), but I wouldn't suggest this stretch for a fishing float right now.

The CPW employees we saw were very friendly and didn't have anything to say about our campsites.

I want to say the shuttle was a little more mileage than the float since you have to drive like 12 miles of dirt road off US 40 to get to Duffy... but the river trip was 32 miles. We did it in 3 days. You could easily take more if you like camping by the river.


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## 3d3vart (Apr 15, 2010)

Craig to Duffy or Juniper are both great floats. The stretch between Duffy and Juniper is a lot of ranchland, but has its perks. One of them is the great developed campground at Juniper hot springs (hot springs are closed). The diversion dam in Juniper is not to be taken lightly, but was no problem during high water in 2011 (see video below).

Little Yampa Canyon is an unheralded and excellent flat water float through a wild little canyon. The private/public lands are well-marked with red and blue signs, so you should have no problem there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRL28RzAhFQ


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