Lazy river/calm kayaking (Denver, Lakewood: rental, camping, agricultural)

[EricBabula]

I know, I know, mountains and lazy river don't exactly align. But, I'm wondering if there are any good places in CO for what we want to do. My wife and I like to kayak, but really only on lazy, lazy rivers (no rapids) and/or lakes (no motors). It's about enjoying a peaceful, quiet day on the water and experiencing nature more than the excitement of rapids, etc.

We would love some thoughts on lazy rivers where we could park our truck, get in the water easily, travel upstream for a couple/few hours, and then turn around and travel back downstream until we reach our truck. Or, if a lake, a nice, peaceful lake/reservoir with no motors, that may have little tributary streams that we could possibly explore. Not concerned with a specific area of CO - just anywhere that you might know of. Once we are retired and move to CO, we'll figure out how to get there! We plan to do a lot of camping, and would have time to travel all over CO!

I'm sure there are some options for us, somewhere. Admittedly, I haven't done the research yet. Thought I'd post here first, and start a Google search also. I didn't really see any posts on C-D with same kind of request - most of those have suggestions for at least some sort of rapids, which we're not looking for.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Eric

[brightdoglover]

Ridgway State Park has a fine reservoir, five miles from town.

[Vision67]

Look here: https://www.milehighmamas.com/blog/2...orados-rivers/

[waltcolorado]

Im probably going to try this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7TG1p-sF8U

[waltcolorado]

A couple of the mountain lakes that are sailing oriented will have power boats but they tend to be fishing boats and not obnoxiously loud. Some examples..

Lake Granby is a beautiful lake. I have only sailed there mostly with a Hobie TI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IROEhJyVts8

I havent done this but you could launch in Grand Lake and kayak to Shadow Mountain lake through a channel and under a bridge.

Lake Dillon likely has some great places to kayak.

The North East shore of Elevenmile reservoirs is one of the coolest places in the state to kayak, just be very cautious of the wind. Get in and out early or watch for a calm day. We have kayaked, stand up paddle boarded , but mostly sailed with the hobie TI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43L2GxJ5Lb8&t=9s

[Mike from back east]

Note of warning, the water in COLO mountain lakes is usually very cold, often snow melt.

[sunsprit]

Mike's warning about cold water is very understated. The thermocline in just about every mountain lake is a matter of a foot or two below the water surface, and frequently is barely above freezing temps. Absent wearing a wetsuit, you literally have well less than a minute in the water before hypothermia can set in.

Having sailed many of the mountain lakes for well over 50 years, I'd caution you about the winds that present here. Dillon Reservoir, where I spent decades racing keelboats and dinghy's, can frequently have "nice" summer days where the winds range from very calm to blow-out gusts of over 40-50-even 60 mph for awhile ... and do this type of up & down wind velocities and radical changes in direction several times through the day. I won't sail Dillon in my Laser without wearing at least a shorty wetsuit and bib overalls ... and always, full time, my PFD. This lake can be downright treacherous when the winds and chop/swells pick up. I've had many a day on Dillon where I was out in the middle reaches of the lake in moderate to light sailing conditions and spotted the boiling whitecaps coming up from the dam ... typically, we get a first couple of puffs on increased velocity dancing up the lake as a precursor to them becoming stronger and more closely spaced with deep/steep chop resulting.

Carter Lake, Granby, Horsetooth Res's ... all present similar wind conditions and cold water. I've had the same on Reudi Res when sailing there. Effectively, these conditions can and do present at virtually all of the mountain lakes in Colorado.

As well, the lower elevation lakes can present with white-capping conditions although the water is much warmer. I've been fishing the Front Range and Eastern Plains lakes for a few years now in a 16' aluminum deep vee boat and have had more than a few days when an otherwise gorgeous day on the water turned into a challenge with deep chop and whitecaps. Once the winds reach 15-18 in the gusts, it's time to head to shore. At 25 mph gusts, it's pretty daunting just to have boat control to reach the shore; fishing is done for the day. When Bonny Reservoir was still open, I've had an almost evenly split number of days with nice tolerable sailing conditions and days that were strong gusty wind blow-outs.

IMO, it pays to closely watch the weather and wind forecasts for the area you're considering being out on the water. Of course, some days will be uneventful and a real pleasure ... but you need to know and be prepared in advance for the prospect of what may be survival conditions on these lakes that can present for even just a short period of time on a day.

[COcheesehead]

There are many places up on the Grand Mesa - 300+ lakes. There on rental concessions near a few of the lakes as well. Season is May ish to October ish.

[pikabike]

Part I:

Your quest for flat calm rivers in CO is a little like asking about good skiing in FL, which incidentally has wonderful, slow-moving rivers you can paddle both upstream and downstream. There is a short stretch of the South Platte River in Englewood along the bike path that people I knew would paddle 16’ to 18’ sea kayaks in sometimes. But I think even that stretch had a little drop in it, so I don’t know how suitable it is for going both ways.

The only other river stretch that was advertised as being beginner-calm and flat was actually what sounded like a small impoundment in CO River State Park near Grand Junction. From what I saw of the map of it, it was tiny. You need to realize that non-WW kayaking in this state seems to be treated as kiddie play. One of the five (?) lakes that belong to the Granby complex is strictly for nonmotorized boating. It, too, is ridiculously tiny. So I think the answer to your river question is “Try a different state.”

Part II:

Lakes are mostly reservoirs, and mostly they allow powerboats. Besides the bathtub dinky pond mentioned above (in the Granby system), very few prohibit motorized vessels. Some do have hp limits or allow only electric trolling motors, but generally if you paddle reservoirs in CO, you’d better put up with the presence of powerboats and, in the worst scenario, jetskis and their ilk.

On the bright side, not all of the reservoirs are supercrowded, though this has been getting worse every year for a long time. I remember paddling on two different reservoirs in SW CO back in 2000 and hardly any boats were there—and one of these was on a beautiful Labor Day! But now, forget it. Both places are much more crowded and only getting worse.

Eleven Mile, Granby, Grand, Dillon, Blue Mesa, McPhee, Nighthorse, Turquoise, and Twin are pretty, if you like medium-large mountain lakes. Powerboats will be at all of them, and likely wind. Though I have not paddled at Steamboat or Pearl or Stagecoach—all near Steamboat Springs—you might try those. All allow powerboats.

There are some smaller and less-known reservoirs in CO that I’m not going to post the names of, because they’re already crowded. (No, they are not my “stash”; I don’t have one.) The COVID “stay home” period was like some perverse opposite in western CO! Horrible mobs leaving trash piles, human poop, dog poop, completely denuding grass from driving where cars were not supposed to go, illegal campfires. RVs, tents, junkheaps being used as “campers” for weeks at a time with equally trashy people having domestic “incidents” and parties...nice.

If you’re going to visit the Front Range, Gross Reservoir near Coal Canyon is relatively quiet. No swimming or “body contact with water” allowed there. Don’t bother with Boulder Res, though it’s a good place to get an idea of how zooey some reservoirs get. Ditto Chatfield and Cherry Creek and Pueblo State Parks. Also in the Front Range, Big Soda Lake (Lakewood) is nonmoto; the associated Bear Creek Lake has a hp limit for motors. They, too, are small, but at least paddler-friendly. There is, or WAS, a pond within Chatfield that was strictly for human-propelled boating. It was often very crowded years ago; I can only imagine it as having gotten more so.

The warnings about wind are no exaggeration. The combination of midlatitude, midcontinent climate and bounding by the Great Plains and high wall of the Rockies can make some extreme conditions. Even where reservoirs are forested, there just isn’t much shelter from wind.

But really, maybe the worst factor of all is how severely drawn down the reservoirs become. ALL the lakes and reservoirs are subject to the effects of sun, wind, and prolonged drought. The reservoirs also shrink thanks to water consumption both for agricultural and household supplies.

Bottom line: In a period of plentiful snows and rains, things look good. More and more, those periods are less common or lengthy than droughts. Don’t be deceived by seeing reservoirs at a good time.

P.S.
Care to delve into the zebra mussel situation?!?? Sorry to bear all this bad news; as a paddler, it bums me out, too.

[otowi]

A lot of people kayak and tube on the South Platte in Denver near Chatfield State Park. https://www.uncovercolorado.com/rive...-platte-river/

I also see kayakers on the Arkansas River below the Lake Pueblo dam or in the lake and upstream from it.