04. Diversion Dam to Dam Store

The final plunge of the Big Thompson.  This is a narrow canyon that drives a tight sluice between a massive cliff wall and a road.  One side will be beautiful natural big wall and the other man made ugliness.  The put in is immediately below the diversion dam.  Take out before the big pipe crosses the river.  DO NOT die and boat up to that pipe.  It sits right at a giant low-head dam that would first crush you then recycle your body for hours.  That is the Falls you can see from the Dam Store.  So don't be stupid and don't go that far. The majority of the river at most flows will be minimal width class III tight creeking.  This part of the Big Thompson can be boated at incredibly low flows even 50cfs is enough most of the time.  It is hard to truly figure out the flow since the diversion dam at the top drains most of the water out of the river.  Oddly enough due to the pinched nature of the riverbed and the diversion this is one of the last whitewater rivers to stop flowing on the Front Range. There are several tight drops and when the river is actually pumping with real flows these can make big holes and undercuts. Access can be hard so prepare to park your car downstream of the diversion dam at the next river right pullout.