AVA White Water Rafting Blogs
Posted in Whitewater Rafting Blog
If you’re looking for a whitewater rafting adventure in Southwest Colorado, AVA has several rafting trips to choose from in the southwest area of Colorado. While most rafters are familiar with the whitewater of the Colorado and Arkansas Rivers and Clear Creek, there are some lesser-known, but just as thrilling, whitewater rafting trips for all ages and skill levels. AVA has been providing rafting enthusiasts the most exciting, safe and affordable whitewater adventures in the area for well over a decade now, and we want to tell you a little bit about some of our southwest, Colorado whitewater rafting trips.
Animas Whitewater Rafting
The whole family can enjoy Animas River rafting near Durango as it offers a wide variety of rafting for all ages. The Lower Animas is perfect for families and beginners. You can book a half-day or full-day trip down the Class II-III Lower Animas rapids and take in all the beautiful scenery of Durango, Colorado. Your friendly, knowledgeable rafting guides will give you a history lesson as you roll through these mild rapids that even 4-year-olds can raft! If you take the full-day Lower Animas rafting trip, lunch will be provided.
For more seasoned rafters, the Upper Animas may be the best choice for you. You have to be at least 14-16 years of age (depending on the flow and time of season) to participate in the Class III-IV Upper Animas whitewater rafting trips, which are full day or overnight. The peaks of the San Juan range will astound you! The one-day Upper Animas rafting trip is 12 miles of gorgeous whitewater with a shuttle in and out on the Durango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad for easy access. You’ll hit the Class V Broken Bridge Rapid and then navigate through a number of Class IV rapids. At lunchtime, you’ll get a delicious meal and a short hike to a historic mining cabin. This Animas rafting trip just can’t be missed!
If you opt for the overnight Upper Animas River rafting trip, you will raft 24 miles of some of the best, most continuous whitewater in the country. As you head into the Animas River Canyon, you’ll raft Class III, IV and V rapids including Ten Mile and No Name.
Durango provides year-round recreation for outdoor enthusiasts. Kayaking, hiking, rafting, fishing and biking are just a few of the activities you can partake in while in Durango, and, of course Durango rafting is amazing. The Colorado Trail, spanning 500 miles to Denver, crosses seven national forests, five rivers, six wilderness areas, and eight mountain ranges. Durango is one part of southwest, Colorado that must be seen to be believed.
Dolores River Whitewater Rafting
Dolores River Whitewater rafting is an experience you’ll never forget. AVA offers 3-day, 6-day and even 10-day trips, but you have to be at least ten years old to ride these Class II-IV rapids. Plan your Dolore
s River rafting trip in May and June and enjoy breathtaking scenery, yummy meals, and campfire fun under the beautiful Colorado sky.
The 3-day trip is a 47-mile run for ages ten and up. The adventure starts 12 miles below the McPhee Reservoir and runs from Bradfield Launch to Slickrock. The 6-day trip follows that itinerary and then you will continue to Bedrock through 50 more miles of Class II and III rapids. The 10-day trip takes you through the entire 175-mile corridor of Dolores to the confluence of the Colorado River at Dewey Bridge. This 10-day AVA adventure is for the true rafting addict and many call it a “life-changing” adventure.
Salt River Whitewater Rafting
The Salt River in Arizona provides a truly unique rafting experience. Salt River whitewater rafting trips are one day, two days or five days, and trips run from late February to May. You must be 8-12 years of age to raft the Salt River (age depends on time of season and water levels). The one-day Salt River rafting trip will take you through Class III rapids including Baptism, Kiss and Tell and Mother Rock. Finish the day with a delicious meal after working up a huge appetite. The two-day overnight trip brings you deeper into the wilderness where you will camp, eat and sleep like a log after your exhilarating day on the Salt River. The five-day Salt River rafting trip will allow you to experience even more of the amazing scenery and camping on the sandy beaches will make for some great memories. AVA has partnered with Mild to Wild Rafting for the one and two-day trips and Wilderness Aware Rafting for the five-day adventure.
Book now to reserve your spot for the whitewater rafting adventure of your lifetime. AVA offers specials deals throughout the year, so visit our specials & packages page or contact us today!
Posted in Whitewater Rafting Blog
When you combine two or more of Arkansas Valley Adventure’s exciting outdoor activities, you can create a Colorado vacation package custom designed to make everyone in your group happy. When creating the perfect Colorado vacation package, you can choose from a number of fun, challenging activities such as the very popular AVA zipline tours, AVA rock climbing, and AVA whitewater rafting. Arkansas Valley Adventure will combine these thrilling outdoor events into one adventure vacation package you will never forget!
An AVA zip line tour is one of the most exciting and popular mountain adventures for men, women and children ten years and older. You will zip through breathtaking scenery including the beautiful snow-capped mountains and crisp, rolling Arkansas River. Zip line tours are safe and exhilarating, and you will definitely be back for more after just one run! With our amazing hands-free system, you simply sit back, relax and enjoy the thrilling ride!
Rock climbing fans will surely never forget their rock-climbing experience with AVA, offering guided half and full-day trips for the beginner and intermediate rock climber. Our experienced guides put safety first, and you can rest assured that you’re in good hands with AVA rock climbing guides.
Colorado rafting trips hosted by AVA promise to be the whitewater rafting experience of a lifetime. Regardless of your experience level, we have a white water rafting trip for you. Our knowledgeable, friendly and safety-focused whitewater rafting guides will provide a safe, but exhilarating, whitewater rafting experience second to none.
Colorado adventure vacation packages with AVA allow you to custom design how you spend your outdoor vacation. Contact AVA today to see which activities you or your group can participate in, when and at what price.
Posted in Whitewater Rafting Blog
AVA’s Commitment to Your Safety
Snow, snow everywhere! Colorado’s runoff so far has been beautifully slow and steady but with some (finally) seasonally warm weather things are starting to melt and the whitewater rafting in Colorado is getting to be exceptional. The trips so far have been awesome and fun.
How high will the rivers peak? It is all dependent on how quickly the weather warms up and melts the snow.
The white water rafting this year is going to be truly fantastic and legendary. If you go rafting in Colorado this year, you’ll be a part of history! And for the whitewater lovers out there, this is the time to get out and enjoy it.
But for those less experienced in Colorado white water rafting – and all of our guests – we have your best interest and safety in mind at all times.
As always, AVA is dedicated to the safety of our guests and to delivering exceptional, world-class experiences. As leaders in our industry, we have been proactively planning and training with our staff for a high-water year.
Because we run so many sections on several rivers in Colorado, we can provide you with a wide range of trip options even when the rivers are high. Throughout the season, we’ll continually find the safest, most appropriate and most enjoyable experiences for you. Unlike many companies that only run one river, we have tons of family-friendly alternatives to trips that may become too high to run. With options on the Colorado River, Blue River, Clear Creek, Arkansas River and several others, we will be working hard this summer to find you the best and most appropriate trips.
Not intimidated by lots of whitewater? There will certainly be some outstanding high-water trips for you this summer!
The strong snowpack also means we should be able to run our Clear Creek trips and more of our advanced Arkansas River trips (plus all of the Brown’s Canyon rafting trips!) through Labor Day. We’re ready for a fun, exciting and safe season. Join us!
Posted in Whitewater Rafting Blog
Did you know that the snowpack in Colorado this year is breaking records? After a strong winter, the snowy and cold spring has left us with a ton of snow left to melt into Colorado’s rivers.
What does this mean for Colorado whitewater rafting? Well, a lot of things. It means our rivers are going to rock! There is going to be some phenomenal whitewater rafting this year. But to us at AVA, we consider ourselves the leaders of our industry, so we’re creating proactive strategies right now to address how to provide our guests with the safest and most appropriate rafting trips on our Arkansas River rafting trips and Clear Creek rafting trips, which will in all likelihood be the most affected.
Stay tuned as we see how quickly (or slowly, preferrably) Mother Nature fills our rivers …
Posted in Whitewater Rafting Blog
Yet ANOTHER snowstorm hit Colorado this week, adding to our already fantastic snowpack across the state. Why do we care? Because the river levels for Colorado white water rafting are directly affected by the amount of snow we get during the previous winter. Don’t you know the old joke?
Where does the snow go when it melts? It becomes WHITE water!
This recent storm will help our Arkansas River Rafting Trips, our Clear Creek rafting trips, and our Colorado River rafting trips. Don’t miss a great summer of white water rafting!
Posted in Whitewater Rafting Blog
Global Spotlight: Siang River Trip
November 2009
By David Dill, Global Descents guide
Fellow Global Descents guide Matt West and I arrived in Delhi Nov. 3rd and were met at the airport by Global Descents owner Duke Bradford. In the morning, the three of us set off with our driver at 4 am for Rishikesh, the Yoga Capital of the World, and the Ganges River, determined to get in some of our own kayaking before beginning our commercial Siang expedition. The 7-hour drive was unlike any road travel I have experienced. Our gracious hosts at Snow Leopard Rafting had us set up with first class accommodations on the banks of the Ganges. Our first day of kayaking we paddled by a funeral happening right along the river and saw monkeys, cormorants and what looked like a night hawk. The next day we paddled the stretch from camp down to Rishikesh-with some big class IV rapids-and that evening we attended the nightly ganga aarti ceremony at a riverside temple. The Snow Leopard has three amazing camps with very comfortable accommodations and a great staff that sets the bar in guest service. We hated to leave but it was time to get back to smoggy Delhi to reorganize and meet our clients, and we opted for a flight from Dehra Dun instead of the return drive.
After our first night’s dinner with the Siang River Expedition clients (Jim, Wally, Ted, Wiley, and Jim) at the luxurious Trident Hotel, we discussed the plan for the next few weeks and what to expect. The logistics of getting to our put-in at Palsi in the state of Arunachal Pradesh where challenging, to say the least. Thanks to our inside man Roland Stevenson of RiverIndia, who met us at the airport in Dibrugarh after our flight from Delhi, things went as smoothly as can be expected in India.
From Dibrugarh we hopped on a ferry for a few hours, crossing to a ghat on the other side of the Brahmaputra River. From here we took a Coach to the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. At the border we had to switch to different vehicles and continued on to Pasighat for the night. The next morning we got an early start and started up into the mountains for Jengging. It was a long day on the road but with incredible scenery, as we passed through villages and crossed many crystal clear tributaries and the occasional view of the Siang River.
We stayed in Jengging at the Circuit House, which typically hosts government officials. After another early start and long day on the road we finally reached our put-in at Palsi and met up with the rest of the crew, who had been rigging the boats and getting all of the gear ready.
Camp in Palsi was a little tight but we knew from our drive that the Siang was loaded with gigantic beaches and that this would be our only tight camp. After a good night’s rest we were finally ready to get on the water. But first we had to line the boats upstream in order to set up for Palsi Rapid. The plan for running Palsi was to enter left of center and move right to avoid the explosive laterals coming from the left. Jeremy’s boat with Graham, Roland and Bodke went first so they could set up for photos. We gave them a few minutes then Matt-who was rowing a cat-dropped in, followed by me in the 16 ft. paddle boat, then Rick in an 18 ft. oar rig. It seemed like we were on line in the paddle boat but out of nowhere we got the smack down and flipped. Between our two safety kayakers and Jeremy’s boat the mess was quickly picked up and we pulled in for lunch. But bad news: at lunch we found out Matt had had a swimmer in the rapid. One of the chickens he was carrying on the cat got out of the basket and took a bad swim. Evidently chickens don’t swim so well and sadly we lost a good chicken that day. Back on the water, we were blown away by the scenery, with waterfall after waterfall dropping into the Siang. The rapids continued and can be described as Lava Falls on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, only bigger, longer and more powerful. The estimated flow was roughly 40,000-60,000 at Palsi. After multiple large rapids we started looking for camp but weren’t finding much. Suddenly we entered another large rapid and again the paddle boat received a healthy smack down. Flip #2 on Day One! The river gods were angry that day, my friends. We finally found a large sandy beach and settled in with some wine and whiskey.
Day 2: More waterfalls and big rapids. We pulled in to lunch and camped above our possible portage at Marta Rapid. We had a relaxing afternoon and enjoyed the sight and sound of a very powerful and intimidating rapid.
Day 3: In the morning a few local villagers wondered into camp to check us out. They left and returned with a bunch of guys with guns. They passed by Rick sitting on the groover (toilet) and we all got a good laugh. They were just curious about us and we all posed for a photo with the armed villagers. The villagers roamed around near camp collecting some kind of beetle they like to eat. We spent the morning getting boats through Marta by lining the paddle boat and rowing the oar boats with a rope attached to the stern in order to belay them into the eddy at the bottom. We lunched at the bottom of Marta then headed directly into the next big rapid. Below the next rapid we crossed under a sketchy hanging footbridge and continue to enjoy waterfalls dropping in to the river. Things finally eased up for a bit and we pulled into camp near Gette.
Day 4: We stopped to scout Yingkiong rapid which was a bit challenging as the rapid seems to go on and on. After a lengthy scout and lunch the paddle boaters decided to walk and Dave Kashinski towed the paddle boat out behind his kayak, set it up for a good line and turned it loose. The paddle boat ran a clean line and Dave towed it to shore at the bottom. All day, there were truly impressive sights to take in.
Day 5: We passed by two of the most beautiful surf waves I have ever seen. The first wave had a nice fluffy pile and the second wave had a beak on top. It was a wet and rainy day so the paddleboat ran conservative lines in an attempt to stay warm. At this stage we experienced unseasonable rain fairly steadily for the remainder of the trip. As a result of the rain, we decided to push downriver and set up for either a layover at our last camp or to get off a day early if the rains continued. Sadly the rain continued and we opted to take out a day early. The rain continued for the next two days while we stayed in Pasighat, so in the end it was best we got off the river early.
We awoke the last morning on the river to find the river rising fast. We hurriedly moved the kitchen and a few guide tents and did so just in the nick of time. It was difficult to say what kind of flow we had on the last day. Estimates amongst the guides ranged from 60,000 cfs to over 100,000 cfs: who knows. No USGS river gauges there! Every day we experienced big volume, intimidating and powerful rapids, mean eddylines and deep seams. Every day we also experienced stunning scenery, waterfalls, hanging bridges, flora and curious locals.
Sadly, late in the trip upstream from Boleng we started seeing what I believe were benchmarks from survey and engineering crews looking for a suitable dam sight. The Siang River is a world-class river trip, unlike any other river I have seen in the world. Take advantage while you can, who knows how long before the dam construction begins. This trip can be described as an exploratory expedition style trip. The section from Palsi to Yingkiong sees very few river trips each year and the rapids change from year to year and have varying flows. Special thanks to my fellow crew members who put so much time and energy into this trip before, during and after. Also special thanks to Jim King, Wylie Greig, Ted Fouts, Wally Limburg, and Jim Martin for all your efforts and great attitudes.
Looking forward to my return to the Siang River next fall, Dave Dill.
