# South Fork of the Rio Grande, South Fork, CO



## winthrop (May 16, 2011)

Anyone know anything about this run as of July, 2011?


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Are you interested in the class V stretch, or the II-III lower stretch? The class V is all roadside and easily scouted, and you don't need to scout the lower....because it's II-III.


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## winthrop (May 16, 2011)

*So Fork of the Rio Grande*

I'm interested in the Cl II-III run. What do the flows need to be? What about obstacles?


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## cadster (May 1, 2005)

Here's the gage: Detail Graph

400 is my minimum and it's much better at 600.

If you put in at the class V takeout, there's a good chance of running into a fence in the first mile. There's a nasty manmade ledge below the Park Creek bridge where the river was moved for the highway. A few hundred yards above the Beaver Creek bridge there has been at times a single strand of barbed wire across the river. Kayaks can get under it by staying close to shore, but it's hard to see and someone could float into it.



winthrop said:


> I'm interested in the Cl II-III run. What do the flows need to be? What about obstacles?


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## spahle (May 26, 2011)

What about the class V section? How long is it, any major obstacles to look out for? I'm heading to BV for the 4th and would love to get something a little more interesting then the Ark at 300+. Thanks


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

Uhm......

Detail Graph


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## carnuba (Jul 22, 2008)

last time i drove the pass it looked a bit low, and your big problems are going to be wood, there was plenty of that as well dont think it would be worth the drive


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## Cutch (Nov 4, 2003)

It's not running. And, there is a log in the lead in of the first class V that could be removed to make the rapid better when it does run next year.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

carnuba said:


> last time i drove the pass it looked a bit low, and your big problems are going to be wood, there was plenty of that as well dont think it would be worth the drive


"a bit low?".....try melted out and unrunnable. The gauge currently show 56 cfs at South Fork, with 13 of that coming in from Beaver Creek which is below the run.

Here are a couple pics of it at 300 back in April....and that was just barely too low:



















If your going to be in BV around the 4th and want class V I would go check out the bottom 4 on Lake Creek, should be low but runnable.


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## spahle (May 26, 2011)

Yea, looked at that run last time I was up there. This time I'll be with my regular paddling crew so it's on the list. Kiss me looked nasty when we were there but the others looks fun.


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## fishface12 (Jul 22, 2012)

Any improvement up there yet? I didn't hear of a lot of rainfall out your way so I would imagine it might be even worse off by this point. Gorgeous stretch, but definitely not safe.


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## Jeff Johnson (Aug 20, 2011)

I tried to run the class V section at 150 cfs about a month ago and that was way to low. It needs to be at least 300cfs. The lower part is good at 300cfs, but is a whole lot better around 650.


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## Jeff Johnson (Aug 20, 2011)

I was talking about the South Fork of the Rio Grande.


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