Boulder Creek, Colorado, US

02. MM 32 to Blue Bridge (Upper Canyon Run)

Usual Difficulty	IV-V(V+) (for normal flows)
Length	2 Miles
Avg. Gradient	375 fpm
Max Gradient	431 fpm

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
BOULDER CREEK AT BOULDER, CO
codwr-BOCOBOCO0	200 - 500 cfs	IV-V(V+)	01h13m	6.84 cfs (rc= -0.6 )

River Description

As with any roadside creek in Colorado, this is a fast and manky run. At medium flows this is a pretty stout run. At high flows it is insane, and at low it is much more manageable but bony as hell. The mile above Boulder Falls (Boulder falls is on the North Fork Boulder Creek just above the confluence, there will be ton of tourists there) is pretty much one giant Class V+/VI rapid with just about every hazard you can think of. Below Boulder Falls the creek mellows out a bit to IV+ spiced with the occasional V to V+. Even this lower section is pretty much nuts at high water so usually we end up paddling it at low water when the holes are painless <300cfs.

The "sane" put-in is about a few hundred yards above Boulder Falls, near mile marker 33. Sick Birds can put-in at mile marker 32 and get a mile of sick V+ and VI with lots of wood upstream of the "sane" put-in. The takeout is at an obvious Blue bridge. Hwy 119 follows the creek.

See Colorado Rivers and Creeks II, by Banks and Eckardt (The Bible), for info on this and most of the other kewl runs of Colorado.

Lat/longitude coords are approximate, from TopoZone.

The various reaches of Boulder Creek,
Jasper Creek (Class V+/VI),
The Source (Class V),
Upper Boulder Canyon (Class V/V+),
Lower Boulder Canyon (Class IV),
Boulder Town Run (Class II/III),
North Fork Boulder (Class V+/VI),
Alto-Alto (Class IV),
Upper South Boulder (Class V+/VI),
Lower South Boulder (Class IV/V+/VI),
Eldorado Canyon (Class V+).