Rivers hitting their peak for whitewater rafting

Justin Smith, president of the Pikes Peak Whitewater Club, doesn’t wait for either hell or high water to head to the river.

He took his first whitewater kayak trip of 2009 in February and has been hitting rivers across the state several times a week ever since.

“I’ve been out on Pine Creek, Numbers, the Gorge,” Smith said, naming a string of expert-level Class IV and V whitewater runs. “I’ve been on Gore about four times. I’ve been out to Cross Mountain twice. I’ve been up to Elevenmile a few times.”

Still, he said, something changes when Mother Nature and the state’s water managers jointly decide it’s time to open the taps.

“As the flows start coming up, it’s going to be like, ‘Oh we’ve got to go hit this, oh we’ve got to go hit that,’” Smith said.

In late April, Colorado’s mountains got the biggest snowstorm of the year. Last week, that snow began trickling down the peaks, cascading through the state’s rivers. The deluge will continue through June, then gradually taper off through July and August.

“I think it’s going to be an exceptional year,” said Todd McMullen, business manager for Noah’s Ark Whitewater Rafting in Buena Vista. “Water levels are going to be spectacular.”

By “spectacular,” he doesn’t mean the water will be as high as last year, when a near-record snowpack produced the biggest water the Arkansas has seen in more than a decade. Last year’s high water was, in some cases, too much of a good thing, since it led to some voluntary safety closures of the Royal Gorge near Cañon City and may have scared away less-intrepid rafters and kayakers.

“We’re right in the pocket where we have good flows, but not too good of flows,” said Stew Pappenfort, senior ranger for the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area. “The season’s looking good.”

Business was off at rafting companies last year because of gas prices and the economy, said Tony Keenan, owner of Whitewater Adventure Outfitters in Cañon City. Many rafting companies are offering discounts in hopes of rebounding this year, he said.

“With the economy the way it is, I guess a lot of people didn’t take a Christmas vacation or a spring vacation, so we’re hoping that people will at least do a long weekend in the state,” he said. “This is a good year to bargain shop.”