Submitted by zoe on Thu, 2011-06-23 13:41

Water levels are a hot topic with the rafters, kayakers and fisherman in Colorado this year. The great debate this week is whether or not water levels have peaked on the Eagle River. The consensus seems to be that we’ll just have to wait and see.

Just looking at the mountain peaks around the area, it’s more than apparent that there is still a significant snow pack waiting to melt and make its way down to Gore Creek and the Eagle River. The big questions are "when?" and "how fast?".

Cooler temperatures and even a bit of snowfall this past week makes forecasting the runoff that much more difficult. In the meantime, commercial rafting and fishing guides are keeping a close eye on the flows and advising clients to be flexible.

The USGS tracks river flows in cubic feet per second. The graph below shows a peak of nearly 4500 cfs on the morning of Friday, June 17th which then dipped below 4000 that same afternoon.

Translated by the pros, that means that a given section on the Eagle may have been too high one morning, only to drop enough for safe passage via raft that same afternoon.

Due to the constant and mostly unpredictable fluctuations in the rivers, rafting companies are not able to rely on booking trips on the stretches that they historically have. Area rivers are constantly being monitored by the professionals to determine where rafting is possible.

As you book your rafting adventure this season during some of the highest water levels in 100 years, know that the stretch of river you end up rafting may be changed slightly to make the trip as safe and as exciting as possible. You’ll still get a class II, III or IV trip on the best stretch of river possible given the day – and in some cases hour – of your trip!

Don’t miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity. Go with the professionals and have a phenomenal time!
Today’s rafting report provided by Timberline Tours (link), Defining Vail Rafting Since 1971!

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