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South Platte River     Union to Florida Avenue
   5.1 miles     class II+     suitable for river canoes and kayaks

The South Platte river begins in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado. It starts as a small mountain stream, gradually growing in size until it merges with the North Platte at North Platte, Nebraska. The section from Union Avenue to Florida Avenue in Denver is still very scenic. The thick growth of the greenbelt, combined with the numerous golf courses and parks that follow this section, keep the city at bay.

This section has several class II drops, so river canoes and kayaks are a better choice than flatwater boats. All drops can be portaged.



C-470 to Union Avenue     6.5 miles     class II
Union Avenue to Florida Avenue     5.1 miles     class II+
Florida Avenue to Confluence Park
Confluence Park to Commerce City
Commerce City to Brighton
Brighton to Ft. Lupton   9.5 miles   class I
Ft. Lupton downstream

Union Avenue to Florida Avenue

Distance - 5.1 miles
Difficulty - class II+
Paddling Time**  2:03 at 200 cfs*

Paddling Season:
The South Platte can be paddled year round, as long as there is sufficient water and the river is not frozen over. The river can be floated at levels as low as 200 cfs*, however it is a more enjoyable trip at flows over 500 cfs*.

Type of Craft:
Whitewater Canoes and Kayaks: Sea kayaks and touring canoes may have to portage some drops, or risk scraping their sterns.

How to get there:
From Denver, take Santa Fe Drive south to Union Avenue. Go west on Union Avenue to the river. Park in the parking area just east of the ballfields. The takeout is at Overland Lakes Park, on Florida between Santa Fe and Platte River Drive.

Paddling Conditions:
The river alternates between glass flat and 13 man made drops. The drops are easily portaged, but great fun to run. It is due to these drops that we discourage longer touring boats from this section, since they will have to portage or risk damaging their boats.

There are two drops that can rate a class II+ difficulty. The very last drop of the Union Chutes (photo on right), and the drop at Florida Avenue. The last drop at Union Chutes is a large hole that can grab boats. It's best scouted, and is easily portaged by carrying over the dam. We ran it left, cutting off most of the hole.

The 10' drop at Florida is immediately before the takeout. It can be portaged on river right, either from a small platform 100' above the drop, or from a platform at the edge of the drop, or you can takeout at the drop and carry your canoe an extra 50 yards. It is run on the extreme left of the dam, the cleanest line was right down the tongue. This is the easiest drop to re-run, because you can paddle up to the base of the drop (river right) and carry up the steps to the top of the drop.


Brian standing next to the Florida Avenue Drop

Hazards:
The most obvious hazard are the drops. Most of the drops are straightforward and if you flip you will be in a pool. Three drops are compound drops with one right after the other, and flipping through the first will probably result in swimming through the second.

There are some strainers, and the current can push into sweepers in some areas. In the glass flat sections, there can be rocks lurking under the surface that do not give any indications of their presence in the slack current. They say jump up and say hi when you hit them.

The Englewood Sewage Treatment Plant is just downstream from Dartmouth. The water above the plant seemed fairly clean, the water below the plant has a unique industrial smell. While not a river hazard as such, the poor water quality should be noted. At the plant outlet, the smell of the river burns ones nostrils. This burning sensation lasted for about 1/2 mile, but the smell of the river was never clean below the plant.


Geese at the Union Chutes

Private Property:
The river between Union Avenue and Florida Avenue flows through private property and along the bike path.

Camping:
There is no camping along the South Platte between Union Avenue and Florida Avenue. Camping is also prohibited at the put-in and take-out.

GPS Coordinates:
Union Avenue put-in   N 39 37.924'  W 105 0.906'
Florida Avenue take-out   N 39 41.356'  W 104 59.973'

Maps:
USGS 7.5 min quads
Fort Logan, CO
Englewood, CO

The following map was created using National Geographic TOPO! Colorado software which offers complete 7.5 min maps for the entire state of Colorado.

Trip Photos:

These pictures are from a July 10, 2005 trip from Union St to Florida Ave. Trip participants included Eric Nyre, Brian Curtiss, Nickolas Curtiss, Eric Niles, John Licht and Joanne Ponomo.

Union Avenue Put-in

The easiest access to the first drop is a small concrete ramp near the bridge.

Starting Out

After you go through some bushes, the trail brings you to the river right above the first chute.

Brian in first Drop

The first drop is straightforward. Just go straight down the concrete slide.

Nickolas in first Drop

Nickolas was the only kayaker on this trip. Where the rest of us stayed generally dry, he would get slapped by waves.

Clem in first Drop

The actual slide is marked by the boiling water on both sides of Clem.

Eric Niles in first Drop

Let's get Wet!

John and Joanne in first Drop

This is Joannes first time in a canoe, and first time on a river. She started to have fun after a while, but there was some terror in her eyes for the first couple of drops.

Second Drop

The drops throughout this run are marked by large boulders. If you go between the large rocks, you're in the right place.

Second Drop from Below

You can see Eric Niles, Brian and Nickolas playing in the first drop, which is directly above the second. If you flip in the first, there is plenty of room to recover before going over this.

Clem entering second Drop

The main group is still playing in the first drop, but Clem is coming to join me in the second.

Clem getting soaked in second Drop

There are some nice waves in each of these drops. On a hot day, it's a cool refresher.

Nickolas in second Drop

Just slide down the ramp into the waves at the bottom.

Brian in second Drop

The waves are large enough to come over the bow of faster boats. The whitewater canoes had the dryest ride.

John and Joanne in second Drop

Joanne is becoming more comfortable, but it takes time. She was having a good time by the end of the run. Right now she's still not sure what a canoe can do.

Eric Niles in second Drop

If one of my captions says "Eric", assume it is Eric Niles. I had the only camera on this trip, and there are no photos of me.

John and Joanne in 3rd and 4th drops

The 3rd and 4th drops combine, and for most boats you are going so fast from the first, that you're immediatly sent into the second.

Joanne having more fun in fourth drop

She's starting to relax here. She's seen Eric Niles flip in the first couple of drops, but she's starting to understand it was deliberate.

Clem in fourth Drop

As Clem enters the fourth drop, Brian is entering the third. We tried to space ourselves enough that each person could clear a drop before another person entered.

Brian, Nickolas and Eric Niles entering 3rd and 4th drops

Brian is in the fourth drop, Nickolas in the third, and Eric Niles is getting ready to enter the third. It was like a game of follow the leader.

Nickolas getting wet in fourth Drop

One advantage of the canoes, if we got wet it was from a big wave. Nickolas was soaked most of the time.

Boat ramp at bottom of sixth Drop

This boat ramp is just above the last drop of Union Chutes. When you see this ramp, scout the next drop.

Eric Niles in fifth and sixth drops

Like the third and fourth drops, the fifth and sixth run together.

Clem in fifth drop

Brian can be seen in the background playing in the third and fourth drops. John and Joanne are waiting in the pool with Nickolas, as Clem comes down the fifth and sixth drops.

Sixth Drop

Brian can be seen in the background playing in the fourth drop. The closer drop is the sixth, directly connected to the fifth.

John and Joanne in fifth drop

These drops are smooth concrete ramps. There is a green algae that grows on them, providing a little extra slide in the shallow water.

John and Joanne in sixth Drop

Joanne is relaxing more during these drops, remember this is her first time in a canoe, and we started her out right at the chutes.

Brian in fifth drop part 1

He's finally finished playing in the fourth drop

Brian in fifth drop part 2

Taken two seconds after the previous photo, this shows the speed of the drops. The GPS measured it at 11mph

Brian in sixth drop

Taken a couple seconds after the previous two photos, Brian is already through the sixth drop. You can really get some good speed.

Nickolas in fifth Drop

Yes, for some odd reason he likes to get wet. However with the 101 degree temperature we had later this day, wet isn't so bad.

John lining the seventh Drop

This drop has a keeper hole. You can see in the photo where the end of his canoe is getting sucked into the hole and pulled away from where he wants it to go. This drop is easy to portage on the other side, just walk down the dam.

Looking up at the chutes from the trail

We walked up the boat ramp at the bottom of the sixth drop to get a better look at the seventh. This is the view from the bikepath looking upstream from the seventh drop.

Clem in seventh drop

We cut the hole off by staying left of center. You can see Clems stern getting pulled, but he has enough speed to come out of the hole.

Brian in seventh Drop

Brian went closer to center. If you take the center line, bury your paddle to catch the outflow which is near the bottom.

Eric Niles approaching seventh Drop

He gave his We-no-nah Rendezvous a good workout on this trip. The skidplates on the bow and stern got a good workout on these shallow ledges.

Nickolas approacing the hole

Had he been two feet to his right, he would have been swimming. Fortunatly he was able to stay out of the hole.

Flatwater

Most of this run is glass flat, with the exception of the thirteen drops. The current was flowing about 2.2 mph in this section.

Looking up at seventh drop

This is the last of the Union Chutes. From this point we were entering unknown territory.

Eighth Drop

This neat little drop was 3/4 mile below the put-in, just before we reached Oxford. Since it was difficult to see without committing, we stopped to scout.

Eric Niles scouting eighth Drop

Our concerns were that it could have a hole like the seventh drop, or it could have some sweeper/ strainers. It was a clean run.

Looking up at eighth Drop

This is actually a series of two drops, one right after the other, but the second drop is minor and so we didn't count it as a drop.

Clem in eighth Drop

It's a direct path once you get around the corner.

Clem in second part of eighth Drop

This second stage is really a line of rocks across the river.

Brian in eighth Drop part 1

The approach

Brian in eighth Drop part 2

The waves

Brian in eighth Drop part 3

The exit

Nickolas in eighth Drop part 1

Nickolas had an interesting approach to this drop

Nickolas in eighth Drop part 2

He decided for some reason to turn around

Nickolas in eighth drop part 3

And so he ran the last little drop backwards

Eric Niles in eighth Drop part 1

Each of these photos was taken within seconds of each other

Eric Niles in eighth Drop part 2

You can see the speed at which the boats move through the drops

Eric Niles in eighth Drop part 3

Green hospital scrubs make for good paddling clothing. It was hot enough Eric was already dry from his previous swims just upstream.

John and Joanne in eighth Drop

Now they are having fun! That is a smile on her face.

Oxford Street Drops

These are drops nine and 10, compound drops with one leading into the other. This photo is from under the Oxford bridge.

Ninth Drop

You can see everyone getting ready to join me in the ninth drop.

Tenth Drop

There is a small pool between the ninth and tenth drops. Here Brian is getting ready to slide down the ramp.

Brian in tenth Drop

There were some nice waves at the bottom of the tenth drop.

Clem, Eric, John and Joanne in ninth and tenth Drops

Oxford street is in the background. The ninth drop feeds into a small pool before the tenth drop slides off the side.

John and Joanne in tenth Drop

Now she's getting the hang of it!

Eric Niles in tenth Drop

The green algae is clearly visible in this picture. The two sides of the ramp converge to create a deep channel in the middle, which in turn makes the standing waves at the bottom.

Leaving the ninth and tenth drops

There are no drops between Oxford and Hampden Ave.

Approaching Hampden

We all know the drive in theater at Hampden and Santa Fe, here is what it looks like as you approach from the river.

Hampden Bridge

There were several shallow sections in this area by the bridge.

Eleventh Drop

This is a small drop by Dartmouth. It is very easy, but we noted it because it's the only thing between Oxford and the Power Plant

Approaching the Power Plant

My camera battery died after this photo. There is a nice drop at the power plant, and another at Florida Ave. We hope to add some pictures of the Florida drop in the next report. It is one that should be scouted.

* River Gage Information for the South Platte can be found at the USGS Englewood gage 06711565 http://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/uv?06711565

CFS refers to Cubic Feet Per Second. The South Platte at Union Avenue can be run at flows as low as 200 cfs, though over 500 is ideal. The photos on this page were taken at 200 cfs on the Englewood.

** Paddling Time reflects how long it took us to paddle this section. It is not float time, but the time taken while paddling at a moderate pace at the given flow rate.

 

Written by Eric Nyre

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