Thanks everyone who joined us on the Float the Creek event last month on Cherry Creek! As you know, the water levels on the South Platte are dangerously high this year. Levels on Cherry Creek are way up as well, which means that it’s actually floatable! Mostly knee-deep, it was the perfect Hair Brained Adventure!
Seven intrepid adventurers set sail from the Four Mile Historic House in Glendale. The Four Mile House is ironically, Four Miles from Downtown Denver. Nestled on the banks of Cherry Creek, the Four Mile House was the last pioneer stage stop coming west to Denver along the Cherokee Trail, and is the oldest standing structure in Denver. A fitting start to our pioneering navigation of Cherry Creek!
Normal flow rates for Cherry Creek are about 15 CFM (cubic feet per minute). This day it was flowing at 225 CFM. Unlike the South Platte, Cherry Creek was never designed to be floated (most years it’s only ankle deep) so it doesn’t have the great features that were built into the Platte like the drops and chutes. That meant we did a LOT of walking around low bridges, spillways, and dams. Most serious injury of the day was blisters from walking in wet shoes full of gravel.
Stay tuned later this year, as the water levels start to drop, we may again visit the Platte when it’s safer.
