In The Shadow of Longs Peak
North Platte exploratory above Glendo Reservoir
11 August 2023
The object of this trip is outing is to do a driving outing to scout the river above Glendo to see if it's possible to paddle the river into Glendo Reservoir.
I looked at maps of the Glendo Area on Google and noted there was a bridge crossing the North Platte about 10 or so miles north of the town of Glendo, on WY 319. From there the river makes a series of S turns as it makes its way toward Glendo. It then widens and becomes lake-like before narrowing again into another channel of S turns before flowing into the northern reaches of Glendo Reservoir. From the river-reservoir junction, it would be 2 miles across open flat water of Elkhorn Bay to the Elkhorn Boat Ramp and takeout.
In addition, Bill Ashworth had sent out queries to the Canoe Club and Poudre Paddlers inquiring if anyone had done any of the river about Glendo and/or in the Douglas area. This response came from Alan B.:
"My folks live up in Glendo, and they say the reservoir has been very high because Nebraska doesn't want the water yet. It's been going down just a bit. I put in at Orin Junction one time and paddled to Glendo and it was mostly flatwater and I needed to paddle the whole way. Maybe the first few miles had some flow but otherwise it was paddling.
Lovely stretch of river though, and there's another point between Orin and the reservoir where you can put in/take out. You'll see a few dirt roads that go to the river on satellite.
I hope this helps!"
Here is what we found:
We traveled north on WY 319 about 12 miles or so to the bridge that spans the North Platte and crossed over. On the north bank, there is a public access point created and maintained by the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish. The parking area is medium-sized. We looked at the river access between the railroad bridge at the west end and the highway bridge at the east end. The best put-in was underneath the highway bridge, on the downstream side, though there was a bit of a mud flat to cross so a couple of planks might come in handy.
There is also a large information sign with a map of the various access points between here and Douglas: Douglas City Park, Anderson Dairy Bridge, Anthony, Wills, Fitzgerald, State. Jim Burrell checked these out on Sunday. See his description below.
Of the river below this put-in the sign says: “Boaters should be aware of a measurement structure across the North Platte River located approximate 2500 feet below here….There is low flow notch thru the structure near the right bank of the river”
So if we were to float it, we would need to either keep to the right and find the notch and/or be ready to portage.
It goes on to say “There are no launch sites between here and Glendo State Park. It is not recommended to float from this site…”. I would expect this is due to the lack of established access points.
From here we headed south back toward Glendo and turned east at a road marked ‘Day Use Only’ (Position N42° 36.946' W105° 06.780'), a good gravel road that took us back to the river’s edge, near a parking area with a gate that allowed us to the edge of the steep bank along the river. Had we climbed down, it would have been down it would have been into a mud flat. We walked south along the bank but nowhere was the river more accessible.
Back into the truck and we continued to drive south. At one junction, we turned off the good gravel road, on a track that was wet and marginal in places, but along side the river. At no place was there a good place to climb down to the river’s edge without encountering mud. We continued until the track ran out, then returned to the main gravel road, then back to WY
On the way back, we stopped at the Elkhorn Area. Today, the boat ramp was closed due to low water. If we come to paddle here tomorrow, I hope we can get to the water’s edge without sinking into the mud! As it turned out though, the wind came up Saturday night and was blowing way too hard to consider launching.
Summary: I think paddling from the bridge into Glendo is doable, though it would be a long day and there is not hardly any current so we’d be paddling the whole way, and would include a couple miles at the end over flatwater, so a sea kayak would be the best option. Camping at the Elkhorn Campground would make the shuttle more efficient.
I did not mention that the landscape is stunning, very pastoral and green, numerous groves of cottonwood trees as well as abundant white cliffs. It would be an enjoyable paddling to see the whole length of that section of river.
This from Jim B. who explored areas further upstream from the WY 319 bridge:
I spent a couple hours on Sunday morning exploring the North Platte up to Douglas, checking out all of the intervening landing sites on the WY Fish & Game River Access map and that are shown on the signs along the river itself. Here's what I found:
These locations are grouped together on some maps/highway signs as the "North Platte River - South Douglas Public Access Area"
1) The only reasonable put-in/take-out locations are at (A) Riverside Park in Douglas itself - a beautiful landing spot with a park, shade trees, and picnic tables; (B) Anderson's Dairy Bridge; (C) Wills - exit from the paved road is pretty steep, but the overall spot has a broad parking area and a great gravel road ramping down to a gentle, broad put-in; (D) Orin Jct. Bridge - this is essentially the last take out before a reported (?) river-wide measurement weir. It's not in very good shape - the only physical access is small, and right at a bridge pier. (This location could be fixed up nicely with some weed cutting & shoveling, though, hmmm).
2) None of the other access points south of Douglas are worthless. It seems the State spent a lot of time and money building these access points, (leases, entry roads, parking, outhouses) but didn't think too much about actually trying to put a boat into the flow (through the willows, over a three-foot drop, on the outside of a bend instead of an eddy, etc.) or otherwise maintaining the actual shoreline for boating use. The last 3 southernmost parking areas shown on the attached pdf map aren't even there as far as I could find.
3) I didn't go further west from Douglas towards Casper. There are several (7) additional public access areas upstream of Douglas that might have potential for a trip (see attached map). I don't know anything about the river up there.
4) Most everything south of Douglas to the Wendover Canyon rapids seems to be flat-water (cottonwoods, etc.), with the exception of a rapid about 3.2 miles below the Anderson Dairy Bridge. There are of course other sections of riffles, and some big bars. Something called "Douglas Hot Springs" is about 5 miles below Anderson Dairy Bridge. Another set of rapids is about 6 miles below Anderson Dairy Bridge, and yet another two sets are about 7-7 1/2 miles below that bridge. (By the way, Anderson Dairy Bridge is about 3.4 miles below the put-in at Riverside Park in Douglas, where State Route 2 crosses the river; it's the first "parking area" south of Douglas on the attached pdf map.) ("Wills" is the 3rd parking area south of Douglas on the attached pdf map.)
5) There are several sets of riffles/rapids between Riverside Park and Anderson Dairy Bridge, the most significant being about 1/8 mile below the park itself.
6) Of course, I don't know if any of this will ever be useful information, but who knows?