#Arkansas river cfs parkdale drivers#

Just below, the river hits the right wall and bends left. It is a tight canyon here, so scouting can't be done legally (I assume it is illegal to use the train tracks, it would certainly be dangerous). At the viewing platform for the now defunct vernacular, is a nice rapid that starts as read and run boulder garden but ends in a ledge that packs a punch. The rapids are just class I to II until Fishbowl, but the scenery is top notch.ДЇishbowl (III to IV). You round the corner and are greeted with awe inspiring scenery. At our flow it was just a class III but I could see potential for the holes packing more punch at high flows. A double drop that we ran down the left on. I think you could run anywhere, but you would want to boof. A riverwide ledge, we ran down the right side which had a curler coming off the wall. We were able to do this via boat scouting on the right from the lip. We entered on the right which was a folding s-turn and then ran the rest of the rapid down the middle, boofing a small hole. Raft companies take pictures on the left. The trickiest rapid of the run, you can scout or portage on the right. We ran down the middle, punching some laterals. The signal is the old concrete structure on the river right just before it. This is the first fun rapid that indicates the difficulty of stuff below.

These first few rapids are generally easy read and run but offer a nice warm up for the fun that awaits below. Highway 50 Bridge crosses overhead and you know you will quickly get to the good stuff. The first mile is mellow and in the valley. I could see the potential for some of the rapids to be more of a class IV feel which the boils become bigger, holes stickier, and rapids flushier. For us, the run was basically just class III, maybe a smidge of III+ though that could be just us boat scouting our way down as figuring out the lines yourselves always makes a run seem a little harder. But I would love to see the canyon with double the flow as I imagine that is when real fun occurs. We had 846 cfs, which was a perfectly fine lower flow. Once the walls are tight you will have a few more substantial rapids before the river bends right and opens up, freeing you from its grip. Below, the action sustains as the walls rise and lock you into the canyon. The biggest rapid comes around mile 2.5, before the walls rise to an intimidating level. Oh well.ДЇrom put in, the rapids gradually pick up. To the more advanced boater, it is a shame that the railroad is there as it takes away from the beauty and of course the people getting the sites for a fee rather than earning it through effort and training. To ease the intermediates mind is the railroad tracks that is never more than 15 feet off the river in the narrows. There aren't many runs in the world that have this relatively mellow difficulty but put you at the base of a deep, inescapable canyon. This run is a classic, not as much for the whitewater, but for the scenery. We played with Aster at the playground for an hour before then driving up to have my mom drop us off. We met up with my parents on the first day in Canon City, at the whitewater park (AKA Centennial Park) in late morning. We are very grateful for their accompaniment on this trip as 1) it made it possible but also 2) Aster loved hanging out with them and spending quality time together and 3) we had a lot of cold mornings and their trailer was a great way to get out of the cold and not have any suffer factor on the cold mornings, rainy afternoons, or windy evenings.

#Arkansas river cfs parkdale drivers#

They were to be our shuttle drivers and baby sitters while we were on the water.

Additionally, my parents would drive out from California to meet us in the middle, with their trailer. The plan was for Diane and Aster to fly out, and for me to drive our car with all out gear. So instead, we used that block of time for a road trip to Colorado, a trip we had planned and canceled in 2020 in the early days of the pandemic. However, due to Covid, that still was not a possibility. Originally, we planned to go to the French and Italian Alps with Harry Glanz again. This was the plan B for the spring this year.