Coloado -- Arkansas River Up... 16 May 2017

Hey Gold Adventurers...

I went over to the Ark yesterday to maybe get in some sample panning in a few new spots......to check for color.....before the snow melt water got too high...

Too late.

Even at 818 CFS at the USGS Granite, Colorado, water gauge..........the river was too high and those spots were already under murky, fast water.  

So, looks like the Ark is now basically "done" until the water level drops after the 15 August 2017 rafting/kayaking/float fishing season ends, and the water authorities lower the river back to native flow.

Here's a bunch of pics I took yesterday...

This is only 818 CFS.  With about 175% of average annual snowpack up on the 13ers & 14ersI suspect well see 4,000 CFS or more this year, like we hit on 18 Jun 2015!

Randy

P.S.  Really nice the BLM can put up boulders on CR 371, decommission several dirt roads down to the river and post new signs saying "CLOSED TO VEHICLE TRAFFIC" and "FRAGILE WETLAND AREA" in the open, dry, high Kolorado chaparral full of cactus and sage brush...  ANYTHING to deny us all access, use and enjoyment of OUR public lands. BUT, after 2 years they can't fix the washed out road up Low Pass Gulch for claim owners can get to their claims OR fix the washed out road to the Point Bar prospecting area either...

P.S. # 2 Look at the first pic and you'll see some white wood, sunbaked on top of a big boulder in the river.....showing you how high the water got back in 2015 at 4,000 CFS!
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To bad you don't set your pump and sluice alone on the bank and just long arm the hot spots!

Russ,

Ha. Too bad I don't just divert the entire Ark water flow and mine the bottom for every speck...........like the old timers did in Kalifornia to many of the Mother Lode rivers in the 1850 and 1860!

Randy C-17A