10. Below Filter Plant to Picnic Rock Access Wild

This is the beginner run on the Poudre, named for the old Fort Collins water filtration plant at what is now Gateway Natural Area. There are only a few named rapids with swift moving water in between. In the low water season of late summer, this is a popular tubing destination. It's wider and shallower than the sections upstream, giving it a shorter boating season. Filter Plant sits between two diversion dams, making it hard to measure its flow. The Pineview Rock gauge is above the Northern Poudre Supply Canal diversion (upstream of the put-in), and the Canyon Mouth gauge (shown on this page) is below the Poudre Valley Canal diversion (downstream of the takeout). Hey, all river beta is guesswork anyway, right? See *Colorado Rivers and Creeks II*, by Banks and Eckardt *(The Bible)*, for info on this and most of the other Colorado runs. See also: Big South (Class V/VI), Joe Wright Creek (Class V), Spencer Heights (Class V/VI), South Fork (Class IV/V), White Mile Run/Upper Rustic (Class III), Grandpa's Gorge/Lower Rustic (Class III/IV), The Narrows (Class IV/V/V+), Upper Mishawaka (Class III/IV), Lower Mishiwaka (Class III), Poudre Park (Class IV), Bridges (Class III/IV), Upper North Fork (Class IV/V), Lower North Fork (Class II/III), and Filter Plant (Class III).