Drought-stricken streams in western Colorado have suffered low water flows for the past six years, but the biggest snowmelt in more than a decade has transformed many rivers and creeks as the Memorial Day weekend approaches.
Even as residents scurry to fill their sandbags against the danger of swollen waters, the combination of strong flows and warm weather will surely prove alluring to whitewater enthusiasts.
They must take care. Rivers are expected to remain high at least through the first week of June. The Animas River in Colorado’s southwestern corner rose to 8,054 cubic feet per second Wednesday, compared with 4,000 cubic feet per second a year earlier.
The heavy volume and accelerated velocity of some streams make them more treacherous than they may seem to boaters or swimmers. There is plenty of invisible risk. Debris piled up over years of low flows can break loose and make rivers especially dangerous for water sports.
Last Saturday, 29-year-old Richard Trout of Denver drowned after falling into the fast-flowing Dolores River west of Grand Junction while trying to rescue another man. Only last summer, the Dolores was but a muddy trickle. A 45-year-old Illinois man drowned after his raft overturned on the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs. And 51-year-old Jay Levins from New York died Sunday after falling into the Arkansas on a commercial rafting trip in Chaffee County.
American White-Water, a non-profit group dedicated to the sport and based in Ashville, N.C., offers some sensible advice for those lured by the rivers:
