Water and the west

Table of Contents

How is the water coming down in

Lodore in the summer of 2022?

This poem is a great intro to how the water is going to go down in the Gates of Lodore this summer and many to come, “Cataract of Lodore” written by Robert Southey and published in 1823 based off of a waterfall in Cumbria, England was the inspiration for the name Lodore by Andy Hall (19), one of John Wesley Powell’s recruits on his 1869 expedition.

“How does the water
Come down at Lodore?”
My little boy asked me
Thus, once on a time;
And moreover he tasked me
To tell him in rhyme.
Anon, at the word,
There first came one daughter,
And then came another,
To second and third
The request of their brother,
And to hear how the water
Comes down at Lodore,
With its rush and its roar,
As many a time
They had seen it before.
So I told them in rhyme,
For of rhymes I had store;
And ’twas in my vocation
For their recreation
That so I should sing;
Because I was Laureate
To them and the King.

Water Issues

Many have heard that the Western United States is in a severe water shortage and drought. The amount of water in the reservoirs is scarce and at very low levels requiring a different way of managing water. Growing populations and climate change are big factors in this scenario. Knowing what we know now, the infrastructure put in place as early as 1931, the Hoover Dam and those that followed, Glen Canyon Dam (1956-1964), Flaming Gorge Dam (1958-1964), and other smaller dams/reservoirs not named, were not necessarily the best decision made to address water needs in the west. However, what has been done is done and so we are making the most of what we have at this moment in time. That being said, the water resources needed to manage the water further south than Flaming Gorge are requiring bigger more consistent releases from Flaming Gorge.

Dam Releases

Historically speaking for several years Flaming Gorge Dam has released extra flows on the Green River to initiate the Larval Trigger Study Plan put in place by Fish and Wildlife Service. It is optimally timed to meet the Yampa River Peak (near end of May/Early June) mimicking a more natural flow for the reclamation of Endangered Fish Species like the Razorback Sucker. Alongside these flows for the Fish, this year we will be seeing an unprecedented amount of water released due to the high needs of the Lower basin, Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam. Some rebalancing of water supplies between the Upper Basin and Lower Basin of the Colorado River Systems includes Flaming Gorge Dam acting on that need. Communities like the LaChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation and other communities in the American Southwest rely on the water supplies and hydroelectric power. Solutions being made, are bigger releases from Flaming Gorge to backfill the lower basin reservoirs to try to meet those basic needs to keep things functioning. Flaming Gorge has a capacity to store nearly 3.8 million-acre feet of water. It is reported to be releasing roughly an extra 500,000-acre feet of water by the end of summer/early fall, dropping it 10-15 feet by fall. What does this mean for rafting on the Upper Green River below the dam and through the Gates of Lodore this summer?

Fun Flows and Great year for rafting the Green River

What does all of this mean for the less adventurists and the thrill seeking, river loving, outdoor adventurists? It means come go rafting because we have water and it’s going to be a blast. So, in all honesty, last year we had a low water year and it flowed at a pretty low water level all season (and we still had so much fun) this year we are going to see more water consistently throughout the summer. We want to take you on Lodore and give you the thrills and chills of a once in a lifetime opportunity that will make you want to come back over and over again. With higher flows, the rapids are still exciting and fun, we can often spend more time in camp, on hikes, relaxing on the beaches, and exploring our inner need to feel the peace of being in the middle of a beautiful place with nowhere to go or nothing to do except BE. You need this in your life, and we want you! To continue Robert’s poem with a little fun and child giddiness, as you enter the Gates and enjoy the Canyon of Lodore with as much enthusiasm as this poem, I can assure it is one of the best rivers to explore in the Western United States.

From its sources which well
In the tarn on the fell;
From its fountains
In the mountains,
Its rills and its gills;
Through moss and through brake,
It runs and it creeps
For a while, till it sleeps
In its own little lake.
And thence at departing,
Awakening and starting,
It runs through the reeds,
And away it proceeds,
Through meadow and glade,
In sun and in shade,
And through the wood-shelter,
Among crags in its flurry,
Helter-skelter,
Hurry-skurry.
Here it comes sparkling,
And there it lies darkling;
Now smoking and frothing
Its tumult and wrath in,
Till, in this rapid race
On which it is bent,
It reaches the place
Of its steep descent.

The cataract strong
Then plunges along,
Striking and raging

As if a war raging
Its caverns and rocks among;
Rising and leaping,
Sinking and creeping,
Swelling and sweeping,
Showering and springing,
Flying and flinging,
Writhing and ringing,
Eddying and whisking,
Spouting and frisking,
Turning and twisting,
Around and around
With endless rebound:
Smiting and fighting,
A sight to delight in;
Confounding, astounding,
Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound.

Collecting, projecting,
Receding and speeding,
And shocking and rocking,
And darting and parting,
And threading and spreading,
And whizzing and hissing,
And dripping and skipping,
And hitting and splitting,
And shining and twining,
And rattling and battling,
And shaking and quaking,
And pouring and roaring,
And waving and raving,
And tossing and crossing,
And flowing and going,
And running and stunning,
And foaming and roaming,
And dinning and spinning,
And dropping and hopping,
And working and jerking,
And guggling and struggling,
And heaving and cleaving,
And moaning and groaning;

And glittering and frittering,
And gathering and feathering,
And whitening and brightening,
And quivering and shivering,
And hurrying and skurrying,
And thundering and floundering;

Dividing and gliding and sliding,
And falling and brawling and sprawling,
And driving and riving and striving,
And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling,
And sounding and bounding and rounding,
And bubbling and troubling and doubling,
And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling,
And clattering and battering and shattering;

Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting,
Delaying and straying and playing and spraying,
Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing,
Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling,
And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,
And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing,
And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping,
And curling and whirling and purling and twirling,
And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping,
And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing;
And so never ending, but always descending,
Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending
All at once and all o’er, with a mighty uproar, –
And this way the water comes down at Lodore.