Saint Vrain, North Fork (North Saint Vrain) - Apple Valley

Description

The Apple Valley run is a nice class II-II+ float from the Apple Valley Bridge just West of Lyons on CO-36 to Meadows Park in Lyons.

There are several fun surf waves. The flow is continous and there are quite a few fun rapids and drops, including the man-made drops through town.

Post fall 2013 flood, this run offers up an eye-opening float through the middle of one of the hardest hit areas in the state, including several previously-beautiful houses that were totally washed off of their foundations and/or mangled.  There are also more sharp/blasted rocks and (non-river-wide) strainers than before, so it is not a suitable run for complete beginners. 

One 4 foot drop in the middle section (right before the mini-canyon section and town) has hard-to-avoid piton rock(s) right at the base of the drop--you'll see rooster tails at the base of the drop indicating the rocks--it seemed like staying as far left as possible may be the best option to not take a bit of a hit.

All in all, a very pleasant, fast-flowing after-work float through beautiful country with enough whitewater to keep things interesting and maybe flip an experienced paddler without a solid brace, and several opportunities to surf. This ranks one step easier than Boulder Creek town run, to compare to similarly classed runs in the area.