St. Vrain Creek (often known locally as the St. Vrain River) is a tributary of 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 ...

, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 25, 2011 in north central

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 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It drains part of the foothills north of Boulder and the

Colorado Piedmont The Colorado Piedmont is an area along the base of the foothills of the Front Range in north central Colorado in the United States. The region consists of a broad hilly valley, just under 5000 ft (1500 m) in elevation, stretching north and northe ...

area in the vicinity of

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' ...

. The creek is formed by the confluence of North and South St. Vrain creeks at Lyons. The creek rises in several branches in the foothills of the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered ...

northwest of Boulder. Middle St. Vrain Creek rises along the continental divide, west of St. Vrain Mountain. It descends in canyon to flow along State Highway 7 and past

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

. It joins the shorter South St. Vrain Creek about two miles below Raymond. Parts of the South St. Vrain Creek form a Class 5+ kayak run during normal flows. North St. Vrain Creek rises northeast of St. Vrain Mountain near Allenspark and descends in a remote canyon to the east along

U.S. Highway 36 U.S. Route 36 (US 36) is an east–west United States highway that travels approximately from Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado to Uhrichsville, Ohio. The highway's western terminus is at Deer Ridge Junction, an intersection i ...

. The two branches join at Lyons, at the mouth of the canyon. East of Lyons, the combined stream flows southeast through farmland and ranch country, passing south of

Hygiene Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

and entering Longmont. It passes through the south side of Longmont where it is rimmed by a greenway trail and several parks. East of Longmont it flows generally northeast, meandering through a wide river bottom in ranch country and passing under Interstate 25 south of the intersection with State Highway 66. It joins the South Platte from the west just upstream from the ruins of Fort St. Vrain and approximately northwest of Platteville. St. Vrain Creek is joined by Left Hand Creek south of Longmont and Boulder Creek east of Longmont. The stream was named after

Ceran St. Vrain Ceran St. Vrain, born Ceran de Hault de Lassus de Saint-Vrain (May 5, 1802 – October 28, 1870), was the son of a French aristocrat who immigrated to the Spanish Louisiana in the late 18th century; his mother was from St. Louis, where he was b ...

, a pioneer trader.

References

Rivers of Boulder County, Colorado Rivers of Weld County, Colorado Rivers of Colorado Tributaries of the Platte River {{Colorado-river-stub

See also

References