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| Big South
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Big South is the finest expert run in Colorado. For the first few miles the river marks the western boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park, the rest of the river all the way to the takeout is in the Cache La Poudre Wilderness Area. Big south runs through 12 miles of pristine wilderness with more than a dozen classic Class V, V+, and VI- rapids. The beauty of it is you can have any kind of day you want there. If you’re there for the scenery and the experience you can easily portage the hardest rapids and have a relatively relaxing Class IV+/V- day. If you’re there to test yourself and run some big stuff you will have a couple of big technical hair-raising drops to run.
Pinball Wizard, Rock Lobster, Starter Fluid, Barroom Brawl, Bonk, Nitrogen Narcosis, Prime Time Gorge, Pincushion, The Rush, and Tubular Balls are all V to V- at reasonable water levels, and can be run without scouting if you have a good guide to lead you down.
Taco Bobs, and Fantasy Flight are in the Class V territory, but they have some really ugly lines you want to check out before jumping in. Slideways is another good scout, it’s a classic long and steep Class V studded with big holes.
The truly big Class V+/VI- rapids of the Big South are Cool World, Meltdown, and Double Trouble. Cool World is especially dangerous because it looks like it’s just another Class IV rapid from the top. Be very cautious until you’re past it! The final drop of Cool World slams directly into an undercut cliff on river right. Meltdown is a two-step cascade with a sieve at the bottom. It’s the hardest rapid to portage, so sometimes it seems like it’s "almost" easier to just run the rapid! Double Trouble is a big double waterfall. The hole at the bottom is considered by many to be in the top five scariest hydraulics in Colorado, which is saying a lot!
The only real negative to Big South is the short season. The Forest Service keeps the road to the Long Draw Reservoir (the put-in) gated until all snow has melted from it, even in a big year there is sometimes only a week or two of water left after the gate finally opens. This leaves you with two unpleasant alternative to bag the big water of early summer. One, you simply hike upriver from the takeout as far as your lungs and legs can carry you. Two, hike down from the source of the Poudre near Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. This alternative is far easier than hiking up from the bottom, and Trail Ridge Road is guaranteed to be open for the tourists by Memorial Day at the latest, but requires a 4+ hours of shuttle driving.
Flow Information:
The gauge is visual, there is a painted board located at the Big South Campground (the takeout). It was washed away in 2003 and replaced and needs to be recalibrated. Until then a good guess is that below 2' is low, 2' to 3' is medium, and above 3' is high.
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Starter Fluid
Paddler:Eric Bryant
Photographer:Paul Hemming
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| | Put-In
To drive to the put-in head towards Cameron Pass about a mile until you see a well marked Forest Service sign to Long Draw Reservoir. The put-in is on the Weird Creek just below Long Draw Reservoir, found by driving 5.1 miles up from the take-out on Highway 14 to a left turn onto FR 156 and continuing 8 miles to Long Draw Reservoir. | | | Pinball Wizard (Mile 1.0) Class IV
First of the tougher rapids on Weird Creek, the gradient will tilt steep all of a sudden, not much of a line, just bounce off the round rocks. | | | Rock Lobster (Mile 1.7) Class V-
Starting left of center moving left to avoid a pin rock, then move back right. | | | Starter Fluid (Mile 2.6) Class V-
Sweet little waterfall that starts of the goods! |  | Taco Bobs (Mile 2.9) Class V-
Very different at different water levels. I do know of severe vertical pins at low water. Higher water improves your route options. | | | Bar Room Brawl (Mile 3.2) Class V-
The river splits around a large rock island. The left channel doesn't go, the right side slams into a wall. |  | Fantasy Flight (Mile 3.3) Class V
The entrance to this waterfall has a right and a left line, I refer to them as ugly and uglier. |  | Cool World (Mile 3.8) Class V+
Tricky entrance that gains momentum before launching into and undercut cliff. | | | Bonk (Mile 4.2) Class V-
Steep drop that pushes into a cliff on river left. |  | Melt Down (Mile 4.8) Class V+
Two stage drop. The first drop has a hole at higher water that looks like a jet engine. The second drop sieves. Often has wood problem, particularly in the entrance. | | | Nitrogen Narcosis (Mile 7.0) Class V-
This isn't one of the more distinctive rapids, it kind of blends in with the continuous IV above and below, but is a shade harder. | | | Prime Time Gorge (Mile 8.0) Class V-
Very fun rapid in a small gorge. Frequently has wood problems. |  | Double Trouble (Mile 8.8) Class V+
This is the big daddy of the Big South. Epic hole rides are too be expected. | | | Pin Cushion (Mile 9.6) Class V-
Pin spot, hard left boof required. |  | Slideways (Mile 10.0) Class V
The best rapid in Colorado. It has a busy lead in, a 7 foot waterfall, several well placed eddy catches, a demanding ferry, and a stompy must hit hole backed up by an undercut and a long run out. What else could you want? It may be straight forward at medium levels if you don't jack it up. The swim would likely be life changing. | | | Tubular Balls (Mile 10.7) Class V-
The pace seems to quicken after Slideways, not sure exactly which rapid is Tubular balls but do keep an eye out for wood. | | | The Rush (Mile 11.1) Class V-
Keep and eye out for increasing amounts of wood, you may want to just bag it at some point and start hiking downstream. | | | Curtain Call (Mile 11.7) Class V+
This has been run at high water, not advisable at any water level. Only for sickos with a lack of good judgment. Waterfalls pouring into sieves. Be sure to start the portage well upstream. | | | Take-Out
The takeout is at the Big South Campground on Highway 14.
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