Colorado, Colorado, US

02. Gore Canyon

Usual Difficulty	IV-V (for normal flows)
Length	9.5 Miles
Avg. Gradient	35 fpm
Max Gradient	120 fpm

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
COLORADO RIVER NEAR KREMMLING, CO
usgs-09058000	375 - 2000 cfs	IV-V	36d06h06m	532 cfs (rc= 0.1 )

River Description

This is the post-season run for advanced intermediates and experts in Colorado. Usually runs strong 1000+ cfs from July until September and maybe October. It is the site of Colorado's biggest ww festival/downriver race, usually held at the end of August. At prime level, 1000 to 1200 cfs, this run is a solid Class IV run with 2 IV+'s (Pyrite and Kirshbaum) and 2 solid V's (Gore and Tunnel). The one big negative is the long paddle in, 4 miles or so of lake-like flatwater. For most people the big question is: Should I paddle my playboat? Well, in my humble opinion, you should take a creek boat until you have the lines down. Once you get comfortable with where you want to be, the run is actually quite forgiving to playboaters; you melt through most of the big stuff. The best flows for playboating are 1000 to 1200 cfs. Above that creek boats are recommended. Very few paddlers run this over 2000cfs.

Check out Mike Albrecht's and Ed Hanson's photos of Gore Canyon.

Shuttle Directions About 1 mile south of Kremmling head west on Trough Road (1 rd). Take a right 1/2 mile down this road, before crossing the river, to get to the put-in. The take-out is about 10 miles further down Trough Road at Pumphouse Campground. There is a small fee at Pumphouse to maintain the facilities.

Reaches of the Colorado River:
01. Hot Sulphur Springs to Hwy 40 bridge (Byers Canyon) (CO, IV)
02. Gore Canyon (CO, IV-V)
03. Pumphouse campground to Rancho Del Rio (Pumphouse) (CO, III)
04. Hanging Lake Exit 125 (I-70) to Shoshone Power Plant Exit 123 (I-70) (Barrel Springs) (CO, IV-V [V+])
05. Shoshone Power Plant, Exit 123 (I-70) to Grizzly Creek, Exit 121 (I-70) (Shoshone) (CO, III-IV)
06. Cameo Dam (Big Sur / Lucky 7) (CO, III)
07. Loma to Westwater (Ruby / Horsethief Canyons) (CO-UT, II)
08. Westwater to Rose Ranch (Westwater Canyon) (UT, I-IV)
09. Cisco (Rose Ranch) to Moab (Professor Valley) (UT, I-III)
10. Moab to Powell Reservoir (Cataract Canyon) (UT, I-IV)
11. Lees Ferry to Lake Mead (Grand Canyon) (AZ, I-V)
12. Black Canyon (AZ-NV, I)