The Little Thompson River is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the

Big Thompson River The Big Thompson River is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 78 miles (123 km) long, in the U.S. state of Colorado. Originating in Forest Canyon in Rocky Mountain National Park, the river flows into Lake Estes in the town ...

and thence the

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. It ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. The river's headwaters lie in the

Roosevelt National Forest The Roosevelt National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Colorado. It is contiguous with the Colorado State Forest as well as the Arapaho National Forest and the Routt National Forest. The forest is administered jointly wit ...

. It flows east through the foothills of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

in Larimer County through the town of Berthoud, Colorado, between

Longmont The City of Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder and north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Longmont' ...

to the south and Loveland to the north. The Little Thompson joins the Big Thompson River near that river's confluence with the South Platte River, near the town of

Milliken, Colorado Milliken is a statutory town in Weld County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,610 at the 2010 United States Census. History The town was named for John D. Milliken, a Judge. The first community located near the Milliken town ...

. The Little Thompson runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed March 25, 2011 from its headwaters to the confluence with the Big Thompson, and descends approximately in elevation in its approximately course through the mountains. Its run includes at least one

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

and numerous granite box canyons. The river had no man-made

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

as of 2007. It is managed as part of the Colorado-Big Thompson project. The river is considered a Class IV+ waterway, marginally navigable by experienced kayakers, and then only when it is in flood stage during the rainy Spring season. The most numerous

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

species observed in the river include brook trout,

mountain whitefish The mountain whitefish (''Prosopium williamsoni'') is one of the most widely distributed salmonid fish of western North America. It is found from the Mackenzie River drainage in Northwest Territories, Canada south through western Canada and ...

, rainbow trout, native

Greenback cutthroat trout The greenback cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii stomias'') is the easternmost subspecies of cutthroat trout. The greenback cutthroat, once widespread in the Arkansas and South Platte River drainages of Eastern Colorado and Southeast Wyomin ...

, and sculpin. On May 8, 2016, two boys, Paul and Daniel Foreman, drowned in a part of the river known as 'The Tubs' near Pinewood Springs. The boys, ten and seven, respectively, were playing in the river when they were swept away.

References

External links

Southwest Paddler website's kayaking/canoeing review of the Little Thompson River
{{authority control Rivers of Colorado Tributaries of the Platte River Rivers of Larimer County, Colorado Rivers of Weld County, Colorado

See also

References

External links