Running the Mighty Arkansas

Record snowmelt in the Rockies has pushed many of rivers in the West to record high levels. The Arkansas River, which originates near Leadville, Colorado, and runs east through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, before joining the Mississippi River, is no exception. In fact, the most popular whitewater rafting section of the Arkansas, the Royal Gorge near Canon City, Colorado, was closed for 23 days due to unsafe high water conditions. It just so happened that the river dipped below the unsafe threshold on the day we had reserved to raft the Gorge. Paula and I have rafted whitewater on numerous occasions, but the first section of the Royal Gorge on this trip was the most intense and challenging single stretch we have encountered -- and that includes the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. And the fact we were able to run the Gorge with my niece and nephew, and our friends Mike and Heather, made it a special day.

Your humble blogger in the front left seat getting ready to swallow a mouthful of ice cold Arkansas River water.