Boulder – With Boulder Creek closed to rafts and inner tubes, the only things floating down the muddy, fast-moving creek Wednesday were tree branches, debris and eager kayakers.
Under dreary skies on the first day of the ban on inner tubes and other inflatable watercraft, people at Eben Fine Park still exercised and relaxed along the creek banks.
Ann Muscle, 48, a tourist from Princeton, N.J., came out to the creek with her husband after reading about it in the paper.
“It’s just beautiful,” she said. “But I’d be a little scared to do anything in it.”
Chris Popovich and Vince Greene saw the high water as an opportunity to kayak.
“I wouldn’t swim in there, but this is great for kayaking,” Popovich said. “This is probably more dangerous, and there are a lot more consequences … ”
“But it’s more fun,” interrupted Greene, clutching a Red Bull energy drink.
Bright-orange warning signs stapled to trees along the creek advised would-be floaters of the ban put in place by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and Boulder police. Neither agency had issued any citations for violating the ban as of 6 p.m.
The creek was flowing at nearly 800 cubic feet per second Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The creek typically flows at a rate between 100 and 300 cubic feet per second.
Organizers of the annual Boulder Creek Festival said they are keeping an eye on the water but are continuing with the event as planned.
In Larimer County, sheriff’s officials stopped short of closing the Poudre River to floating but advised water users to exercise extreme caution.
Water levels are expected to continue running high across Colorado for the rest of the week but should start falling by this weekend, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Daniels.
Staff writer Daarel Burnette II can be reached at 303-820-1473 or dburnette@denverpost.com.