Customer Reviews

Paddling Colorado: A Guide to the State's Best Paddling Routes (Paddling Series)

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This book looks to be a good choice for those of us looking for rivers in Colorado with Class 1 - 3 ratings. Most of the other current guidebooks are focused on Class 3 - 5, which rules out most of us casual boaters. The information on rivers I am familiar with seems accurate and I have found a bunch of runs I want to try out next spring and summer.

On thing that appears to have been omitted in some of the description is contact info for land management agencies when a permit is required. This can probably be found pretty easily online, but it is still an oversight.

The section on lakes looks good for canoeing/kayaking but it's small size really emphasizes that paddling an CO is all about the rivers.

I bought this book to provide me with ideas for local float trips. I've been a river guide in Colorado for more than 20 years, and found the information on runs that I knew quite slim, and commonly misleading (eg: to say the Granite Gorge of the Arkansas is a class II-III run is going to get someone hurt! III-IV is more appropriate, and no mention of the mandatory portage at the diversion dam!).
In addition, there is no information what-so-ever about runs harder than class III (e.g.: on the Arkansas: Numbers, Royal Gorge, Pine Creek are not in the book).
Several of our local runs on the Uncompaghre are not even in the book, but floating Chatfield reservoir is.
Overall, this book is probably ok for inexperienced canoeists, mostly because they'll probably never find the put in with the directions provided. but don't trust the grades that are given.