Originally posted May 14, 2018
By Dan Custer
This year the float between South Beach and Duffy Mountain on the Yampa River was very much like the trip in 2017. This year, just like last year, we got lucky with the weather. The days just before the float were stormy but the days for float were sunny and pleasant, with no significant wind and no rain.
The first day’s stretch runs through private ranch land before getting to BLM land, and it is on the private land where almost all of the eagle nests were spotted. The same bald eagle nest that had baby eagles last year had at least 1 baby this year. Geese, mergansers, mallards, killdeer, hawks, bald eagles and deer were common. We saw at least one kingfisher and maybe one mosquito. Mosquitoes were never a problem. The only people we saw on the river were biologists out getting samples of the fish population.
The river flow was between 3000 and 3500 CFS, which is close to the historical average. No one got high centered on a sandbar. The flow was so good that we only paddled about 3 or 4 hours each day to get our campsites. This year we took the same campsites as were used in 2017, because they were so good. Two and a half days were allocated for this float, but it could have easily been done in 2 days. While at the last campsite we saw an unassembled picnic table and fire ring that BLM was about to install. This year BLM is installing picnic tables and fire rings at several of the campsites.
After getting off the river, several of us went to check out the river downstream and take a look at Juniper Hot Springs. The trip could be extended another 12 miles, down to Juniper Hot Springs, however all of the land between Duffy Mountain and Juniper Hot Springs is private ranch land.