The North Platte River

The Freestone Section
The freestone section begins in the North Park region of northern Colorado at the confluence of Grizzly and Little Grizzly creeks near Walden. In this high rangeland country, the river is born as a meandering meadowlike stream that grows and changes character as it drops down a steep gradient at the Northgate Canyon area near the Wyoming state line. The whitewater section gives way as the river flows through the breathtaking scenery of the Medicine Bow National Forest.

The North Platte River is the jewel of the Saratoga valley. The river upstream and downstream of Bennett Peak (shown above) is a world-class rainbow and brown trout fishery with heavy hatches through the summer.

The river again changes character as it flows through the ranch bottomland of the Platte Valley and the town of Saratoga. From there it winds through the semi-arid, high-desert plains and into Seminoe Reservoir. This entire 90 miles of river is a true freestoner.

The river upstream of Saratoga has a healthy population of wild rainbow and brown trout with occasional cutthroats and walleye (introduced into Seminoe Reservoir and now found as far upstream as the state line). This upper section of the North Platte has the densest population of trout. Although the other sections may hold fewer fish, their fertile hatches provide excellent dry-fly fishing.