The Creek
We welcome your comments on any and all aspects of the Clear Creek Corridor Master Plan. If what you have to share concerns issues surrounding Clear Creek itself, please leave your comment below. You can also comment on any of the topics at right or respond to comments. Thank you for your participation.
Thanks for providing a forum from which we can provide comments. Several comments:
1) I would like to see improved river access points along the south side of the creek. Ideally, it would be nice to have access points below each feature and at every river crossing. This will reduce bank errosion, increase swimmer/tuber/kayaker safety and provide increase river access to mobility impaired people.
2) I would like to see a river feature that is swimmer friendly. One that is deep, has low current, has easy access, and not filled with kayakers.
3) While it might be outside the scope of this plan, I would like to see work performed at the dam near Tunnel 1 to make it passable for an average boater. This is a saftey issue that needs to be addressed as we attempt to draw more and more people to the creek.
4) I support the city in their efforts to continuly upgrade river features to make them more usable for fishermen, swimmers, tubers and boaters.
5) I would like to see the continuation of bike paths along the river on the north side of the creek between Washington and Ford and along the south side of the creek between Highway 6 and Illinois.
6) I would like to see a long term plan that incoperates future trail development up Clear Creek Canyon. This will probably include increase parking upstream near Highway 6.
7) I would like to see more clothing changing stations for river users.
8 ) I would like to see infrastructure put in to support national level whitewater competitions.
I just wanted to take the time to say nice work City of Golden!! I grew up in Golden and moved away a long time ago. But because of the kayak park I have returned and enjoy the diversity of the park. I know that they are working on the bike path further up the canyon and feel that that would really add to the park. I really appreciate your continued work on the park and commitement to it’s developement. I agree that the dam just above tunnel one would be great to get modified to be safely navigated. Good luck with developement you should be proud of your efforts Golden is a place I love to hang out agian!!
Randy
Ditto on all comments from “Harshfield,” especially the swimmer area(s), and the whitewater competition insfrastructure. I don’t kayak but I get a kick out of the kayakers and think they give a kick to the city’s coffers. When they have organized events now it is quite intrusive to the parking and trail users. Something that gives them the room they need but can be used for other purposes the rest of the year would be great.
I would like to second point #3 from Harshfield. The dam above tunnel 1 is a safety issue and should be addressed. I would also like to see an adjustable feature to allow kayakers to use the park even as flows drop in july/august.
I’m a kayaker who moved from Boulder down to Golden specifically for the kayaking in Clear Creek. I am mostly a “creeker” who paddles in Clear Creek Canyon but I use the park during the preseason to practice my roll and I do some playboating at the park during the season.
Removing the remnants of the lowhead dam upstream of tunnel 1 is something I’d like to see. There are pieces of iron rebar in the water and the shape of the dam forms a potentially lethal hydraulic during runoff. It is located near the bottom of a long class IV rapid (the Screaming Quarter Mile) on the most popular section of the river for intermediate level kayakers. It increases the danger for this section of the creek. Anyone having trouble in the Screaming Quarter Mile absolutely must get out of the water before they float around the corner to the dam. It would be nice not to have this man-made hazard looming.
In addition to the kayakers in the vicinity of the low-head dam, there are a lot of young people (teenagers) who use that part of the canyon for hiking and hanging out and lots of them inner tube in the area of tunnel #1. The dam is probably looks scary enough to keep them from trying it in an inner tube but the temptation might be there for a young inexperienced person.
I think that tubers and kayakers do a good job of sharing the park without conflict but I’d like to see some “No Fishing” signs in the park. I don’t understand why a fisherman thinks it is OK to throw a hook into a crowded swimming hole. Fishermen belong upstream, above the play features. As an alternative to an outright ban perhaps fishermen could be restricted from fishing during peak hours, like noon to sundown. Or give some of the sections between the play features to the fishermen. Whatever it takes to keep them from casting into a feature with people in it.
The only other problem I’ve seen with sharing conflicts are dog owners who don’t clean up after their dogs and dog owners who have their dogs off leash or tied to a tree while they are in the water. I’d like to see stricter enforcement there.
Lastly, I’d like to see the pond in Lion’s Park filled in. It is a haven for mosquitoes. I cannot sit still in Lion’s Park in the evening without being annoyed by the mosquitoes. They infest that part of town and I think that filling in the pond would not only help with that, but it would give us a lot more room for those crowded days like 4th of July, etc.
I’d like to see the clear creek whitewater course improved in a few areas.
1) Improve / rework play features to have good features for freestyle kayaking. As is, there are multiple features that are not very good, which causes crowding at the 1-2 decent features. If clear creek whitewater park could have 4 excellent features, it would be a lot better.
2) Rework the dam above tunnel one to make it safe and passable for intermediate boaters. The dam is dilapidated and is a safety hazard. It would not take much work to improve the dam to make is easily runnable.
3) I think it would be nice to have some large boulders in faster current to make eddies for eddy hopping practice. There are a few large boulders in very slow current in the middle of the park. If the channel was narrowed to get faster current this would improve some of the river running practice features in the park.
I would like to see an adjustable “bladder” system in the kayak playpark! it would make the features usable for more than a few weeks and might even extend the season to 4-5 months.
I think that the best thing that Golden can do is look at the success of the Lyons and their amazing kayaking parks. Lyons has the following “features” that makes their parks one of a kind in the Denver area (thus stealing biz from Golden). The thing that I like most about Lyons compared to Golden is the crowd management that Lyons achieves through their locations of their parks and the ability to perform advanced features at very low water.
As far as crowd management, this is what sells Lyons for me.
Meadow Park
-perfect for tubers since the features are FRIENDLY and evenly spaced and not super shallow but shallow enough to walk safely
-perfect for families since there is a playground and large grassy field for young children to play in while the older ones go to the river
-almost zero walking time since the parking lot is directly in the middle between the beginning of the park and the end
-Great kayak park at very high water when tubers are encouraged to not enter the river (due to common sense and rules put forth by the city)
-multiple access points to access the river
-very mellow at med to low water
*****In a nut shell, Meadow park is set up perfectly for the tubing crowd thanks to all the amenities and features that the park has. It’s everything a family going tubing wants, so almost all tubers go tubing in Meadow Park. It is also a great place for beginner kayakers to do who want to brush up on downriver skills since they can lap the park almost all day without having to shuttle or walk extremely far
BB Hole/A-Hole
-designed for kayakers in mind
-2 features, both close to each other and each for a different level of kayaker (BB hole=beginner Ahole=advanced)
-ample parking and very close to the river (no need to lug a kayak very far)
-both are very good at low water and high water
-LOOPABLE in Ahole
-Big pools/eddys after both features for ample space to recover
-Nothing below the features so a swim isn’t threatening to life or limb
*****In a nutshell, this is a kayakers paradise since there are almost zero tubers in this area. This is because there are only two features and Meadow park is just up the road a mile. It is also friendly to the beginner and advanced kayaker since there is an advanced feature and a beginner feature. This means a group of kayakers with different ability levels can stay in the same place but can satisfy all appetites at the same time.
October Hole
-mile from town
-away from everything
-great low water feature that gives up a loop
-great fishing area below fishing weir that is below O-Hole (so kayakers rarely go below the weir)
*****in a nutshell, O-Hole area is a great area for the boaters that are wanting to get their heads wet during the low water season. It is also a great area for fishermen since all the traffic is above the fishing weir, and from what I saw, the area below the fishing weir is perfect for fishermen. It is also perfect for super beginners since there is practically zero current.
So with that in mind, here are some things that Golden can do to rival Lyons.
1. separate the tubers and kayakers
-Although this will be harder than the case with Lyons due to the way the river runs through the park, there are some things Golden can do.
a. Build a feature up river by the highway 6 bridge (and new ped. bridge). there are far less tubers up there and they are farther apart than further down river by the rec center and Library. The walk will discourage tubers from going up there, thus providing a better kayaking experience. It’s not that far of a walk for a kayak, and if the feature is world class then all kayakers will walk that way. There is good gradient up there, so a world class feature is possible.
b. Build a feature below Wash. Street near Coors. There are less tubers than up river, but still more than up river from the rec center. This area also has less gradient so a world class feature would be hard to build.
c. Strategically place more picnic tables and pavilians in the “tubers area” and less of them in the “kayakers” area.
d. Build a playground so kids that are too young to go into the river can have fun too (might cut down on scary moments too)
2. Make the park pleasing for all ability levels at almost all water levels.
-I’m a intermediate kayaker and and I am bored out of my mind when the water is low, but a little intimidated when the water is super high. Spread the features out, and make the pools bigger and calmer for beginner kayakers to have more time to recover. Also make the features deeper so advanced kayakers can do more than carwheel and spin.
-Make a feature that is dynamic and can almost be used at all water levels by just about any level kayaker (like Salida’s main feature). Something like a baldder system that changes the feature automatically with the flows would be perfect. and if you build one of these, put it in a spot where there are fewer tubers so kayakers can actually USE it.
3. More parking spaces and in a common area and in a better way.
-the parking situation right now is a zoo. Someone is gonna get run over and a car is gonna run into another. The middle parking area in the parking lot by the ball park is a nightmare (both for the cars that park in there and the cars backing out from the outside parking zone).
-Build a large parking lot that can accommodate lots of cars and without having to basically use mcgeiver skills to park the car.
-Build it in a central location to cut down on walking times to and from the beginning/end.
4. Make the park more family user friendly. This means better access points (ie not having to stumble down a steep muddy hill or over a bunch of rocks), more bathrooms downriver (I feel bad to have to use the librarys when I’m dripping wet), a path on both sides of the river to provide a safer way off the river (I have seen people freak out, and swim/paddle to a spot where there is no path, then what do they have to do…..get back in and go to the other side), and get rid of that mosquitto infested pond!!!!
5. spend the money to build a new quality feature. It’s annoying that for years Golden has been trying to “fix” some of the features, only to make them worse. Imagine all the money spent on “fixing” when you could have just built a newer, more modern feature. I’m not saying don’t fix something if it’s broken, but don’t put a bandaid on a gushing wound either. Look at bleacher hole, it still isn’t fixed and in some ways the fix made it worse (now you go flying into a rock that is barely visible). Just start over again, build new, don’t just fix something that is beyond repair.
6. Hold some kind of event each year that can raise funds to keep the park up to date without having to dig into tax payers pockets. A great idea would be a hooligan race in the summer during the Buffalo Bills Days (look at Salida and all the funds they raise solely from the Hooligan Race). Anything where a vast majority of the funds will go directly to helping keep the park up to date would be a brilliant idea (silent auctions, fundraisers at local restaurants, etc). Salida and Lyons both did something like this is years past to help build new features.
7. Better signage warning everyone of the dangers of tubing in the river and walking in the river. I have seen almost zero signs, but at almost every other park, right when you get out of the car you see a sign that says warning…….
I visit Golden 20-30 times a year to Kayak. Many times I buy gas and eat in the downtown area and have often thought of what a great economic impact the kayak park must have on the local economy. Thanks to the vision of Golden to create a gem of park overshadowing what Denver and Boulder have done with there river front parks.
As far as improvements go:
1) I’d love to see continued improvements to the kayak wave features. If all these features were equally popular it would really help in spreading out the users. Rodeo and Library holes are great. I’d love to see the others made just as interesting.
2) I’d also love to see one low water feature. Possibly using the inflatable bladders to focus the water. Vail has done this and it has really helped their park stay open longer with not near as much water as Clear Creek. I’d guess this could add 3-5 months of kayaking to this area.
3) I’d Like to see a PFD (lifejacket) law made for young children. I have watched many 3-10 year old kids going down the river without any safety floatation. This seems like common sense but I watched 3 small children fall off tubes and rafts and panic. The parents panicked and they needed help getting them to safety. This would be greatly minimized with a good PFD.
4) Parking could be improved. It gets pretty crazy on weekends.
5) I’d love to see some more features above and around the RV park. This would spread users out more. Maybe more boulders to make more of a river running section less focused on play-boating. This could be a good addition for the Slalom course.
6) Improved Bathrooms, They are just disgusting most of the time, dark, dirty and in need of more frequent maintenance.
I have lived and owned a house in Golden for the last 11years. One of the main reasons we moved to Golden, was for all the outdoor activities including the whitewater park. I was on the Clear Creek Whitewater Advisory board for 6+ years and organized and ran the Clear Creek Whtiewater Festival for 4 years( we gave all profits back to the park $3000+).
When the course was first built if was cutting edge and the best in the state. Now the main problem comes to the state of the park today, the park has slipped from the best park in Colorado to one of the worst parks for freestyle paddling in Colorado.(good for tubing)
Whitewater park features have changed a lot over the past 12 years and Golden has not kept up with new features and or the maintnance on the current features.
Here are a list of improvements I feel are needed.
1. We need at the minimum of one hole that you can actually do current freestyle moves in with out hitting the bottom and or braking boats Currently we do not have any good freestyle features.
Other towns like Lawson, Vail and or Lyons, all have low water rivers that are a million times better than Golden and have at least one very good feature. These towns also have great whitewater parks with good features, Salida, Steamboat, BV, Union St and Durango.
2. Vail uses a adjustable bladder feature that allows one feature to be good at many different water levels for freestyle kayaking and this would work great in Golden.
3. Dredging needs to be done along with maintnance of the existing features in the park.
The creek should continue to allow for all users who might use the area excluding one party from the water would be well ( Anti-American)
Improvment to the play park to enhance the features as well as provide for additional swiming / bypass areas for tubers and other non boaters would be great while still providing a superior play park enviornment for kayakers -
Sinage explaining river ettiquite would be most helpful for reducing conflicts
I agree with a few of the previous comments that reducing user conflict should be a priority – particularly at lower water levels. Not only do these conflicts affect the users’ enjoyability while at the creek, but there are (potentially) serious safety concerns for everyone in the water when kayakers, swimmers, tubers, and fishermen are all trying to use the same area at the same time . I am not a fan of time restrictions or area restrictions for certain users (as W Smith said above, this is un-American). At the bare minimum signage and additional education on etiquette and potential dangers for different users could go a long way. Even better would be to make certain areas of the creek more attractive for the different types of users and allow them to separate themselves by a creek experience that is designed specifically for the different types of users.
As a long-time Director on the Colorado Whitewater board, I have been involved at some level with the Clear Creek whitewater park since it’s inception, including a few years on the CCWP Advisory Board. Since many of the prior responses have very adequately addressed freestyle kayaking concerns, my comments will focus on kayak slalom training/racing.
First, I would like to reiterate what a tremendous resource the whitewater park is, particularly to the junior racers and those just learning to kayak. Denver has produced many racers who have attained high national rankings, largely due to the time they have been able to spend practicing at Clear Creek.
Second, I want to state that for the first 15 years I lived in the metro area, I visited Golden probably twice. After the whitewater park was built started going to Golden 8-10 times a summer, staying for dinner most of the time.
Improvements I would like to see:
1) We really need a way to put gates on a pulley system so that they are *easily* moved in and out of the current. As it stands, they are extremely difficult to move so either people don’t take full advantage of setting up different practice courses, or they leave them in the current. Or, as happened this summer, most of them were taken down entirely. When they are up, since they are so difficult to move to the side, they get in other people’s way and many are eventually lost or destroyed.
2) As stated in other comments, the course should be dredged, probably on a yearly basis. In years when this has been done, boaters have been able to use the course down to a much lower CFS level.
3) Create an area that can be used for slalom training and perhaps instructing beginners. Since the Bleacher Hole got re-worked (i.e. ruined), and the Rodeo Hole became more popular, it’s put the bulk of the freestyle boaters right in the middle of the park, meaning the tubers and slalom boaters have to work around them, which interrupts them as well. While I think everyone does a fantastic job of respecting other’s use of the river (which is honestly one of the best things about the park!), it would be helpful to segregate uses better.
4) Improve the features so that the eddies aren’t so fast moving. Unfortunately, any man-made course is not going to mimic a natural riverbed; but below the second and third drops, the eddies are so fast that they become intimidating to lesser-experienced kayakers.
5) Develop a path, and perhaps spectator viewing on the south side of the river. Besides the benefits mentioned in other comments, it would allow us to pull gates over to the lesser-used side of the river.
6) General signage & infrastructure – I agree with other comments that there should be increased safety awareness signage. It truly frightens me to see young children so close to such fast moving water, and at one point I had to pluck a very frightened 8ish year old off a rock in the middle of the river. Additionally, it would be nice to raise awareness on littering, including additional trash receptacles, as the number of beverage bottles in the river one Saturday afternoon was more than I could count.
Special thanks to the City of Golden for pursuing Clear Creek improvements.
When the best kayakers in the world visit Colorado, they travel to Salida, Glenwood Springs, Vail and Buena Vista. I live in Denver and visit Golden many times each week during the kayak season. However, Front Range kayakers almost always travel elsewhere on weekends to seek better play opportunities.
I also attend Denver water planning events on behalf of the Colorado Whitewater Association. Since Denver is reluctant to build a world class play feature with air bladders, Golden can be the first Front Range community to attract national attention from kayakers and kayak fans. Additionally, with an adjustable feature, the season would be extended by many months, thus bringing kayakers from all over the state into August, September and October.
Its obvious the Kayak park is an important asset to the Community.. Yes it could be improved nad supported more.. I also understand the budget system.. Could the community do a fund raiser for the improvements?
My perspective is that of someone learning and practicing basic river-kayaking skills. However, most of my comments pertain to general use and etiquette.
1. Please enforce the poop clean-up requirement. Literally every time I go to CCWP, there is dog poop left for others to step/bicycle on, get washed into the creek, flies to gather, etc. Not only is it disgusting to see and smell, it is a health hazard. If dogowners are too lazy to pick up after their pets–and they’ve had years of being “educated” about this–they should not be allowed there, period. Fine them for leaving the crap, and word will spread.
2. Signs reminding people of what should be common courtesy need to be posted. While I abhor the notion of proliferating signs and a heavy law enforcement presence, the park has become too crowded to continue to run on a laissez-faire basis. Swimmers and tubers often jump right into a hole without looking to see who is coming downstream. They carry beer cans while floating, some of which end up being tossed into the air, and then the water, when the floater loses control over a rapid. I have yet to see any of these folks actually retrieve their litter. Parents are tying ropes to an inflatable device and don’t care if the line crosses where other people might pass through or enter. I’ve seen a tuber grab a boater’s stern and force him to brace hard to avoid capsizing, and I’ve had to tell someone to get their hands away from mine as they were about to grab it. Again, this SHOULD be common sense and courtesy. I guess it has to be spelled out in signs now.
3. I lived in/around Golden for many years. Even though I started whitewater kayaking fairly recently, it looks to me as though the water park’s features have become degraded, naturally or otherwise. If maintenance is not done, could it be added? Perhaps a few days of volunteer work performed under skilled leadership would suffice.
4. I would be delighted if the park were good at lower flows, and till later in the year. Could an area with a deeper pool or two be added somewhere? If this area were in the upper part of the park, it could serve as a nice warm-up before proceeding onto the sections with more closely-spaced features or shallow, rocky bottoms.
5. Although I am presently most interested in the easier stuff, I also look forward to having places to advance skills. A play park is GREAT for those of us who like to just drive somewhere and paddle as much as we want without having to deal with logistics, time, or gas consumption of river shuttling. If the park were improved to handle the increased use it has undergone, well-maintained, and expanded to address a wider range of boater skill levels, it would keep even us locals in Golden for more hours per day and more days per season.
I would also like to add that the bathrooms are generally clean when I’ve gone. Please keep up the good work there. Golden is one of the few towns that actually HAS public restrooms. In addition, the library, the rec center, the museums, and the restaurants and shops are all in walking distance, which makes it an unusual treat in an increasingly suburbanized area. I hope that the park can be managed to stay aligned with its status as a wonderful municipal asset of Golden.
As a kayaker who moved to Golden for two years specifically for the kayak park, I am happy to see thought being put into the river and all it’s features. My hope is that designs can be develop which allow use for ALL groups, all of the time, even if it requires certain compromises.
The improvements I would like to see are as follows:
1. I liked what a previous commenter had to say about how the park in Lyons was designed and hope we can learn from this model to ease river conflicts.
2. I would also like to see an adjustable feature put in place, like the one in Vail, to extend the season of freestyle kayaking.
3. I would like to see a small diversion area replace what is now the pond for small children to be able to play in water. I would like the design to draw water into an area while kayakers are not using the river and drain while kayakers are using it. This would keep the water fresh and add flow at when it is needed.
4 I suggest the adjustable feature be put just above Main Street Bridge, next the built in amphitheatre. The current feature is not any good for kayaking. I also suggest we hit up the Golden Hotel for funds for the adjustable feature. Their outdoor deck would be a great viewing area and would bring in business for them.
5. It seems like an educational system is needed to explain to all users the dangers and conflicts that occur on this stretch of river. I propose developing a bilingual educational video be created which could be played on request at a permanently placed small venue.
I think banning smoking along the river would be a huge improvement. I hate walking along the river and being forced to breathe other people’s smoke. I feel especially bad for kids with asthma who can’t enjoy the park and the playground. There are also always hundreds of cigarette butts all over the ground messing up the beautiful park. If we don’t want to waste resources enforcing a ban, we can just put up signs that say thanks for not smoking, and other park users will speak up when they are bothered.