The Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is the heart and soul of Buena Vista and Salida in Colorado. The whitewater community is huge and incredibly welcoming! Both Buena Vista and Salida have water parks, where they have carefully crafted beautiful water waves within the river. So you can do anything your heart desires within the downtown areas: raft, float, swim, kayak, canoe, paddle board, boogie board, etc. This area is a wonderland of water and a playground for anyone who is willing to try!
While wine tasting (yes, we of course found a winery in Colorado), we were talking with the awesome lady pouring us wine. Turns out she had moved to Colorado and worked with a local shop to provide rafting tours. She recommended put-in/take-outs for us to paddle board the river, suggested we stop at an on-the-river bar and the best company we should go white water rafting with.
Well, she was not wrong! Paddle boarding the Arkansas River was more then I could handle (ie I fell off my board many times, banged up many body parts, and sent Loki swimming multiple times), Andy loved it (he has better skills)! We stopped at the local on-the-river bar, had a drink and decided I was done! Andy paddled the rest of the way into downtown Salida. Turns out the part I missed out on was the easiest!
The next couple of days were spent to determine the best day to go rafting! The water level is really low in Colorado this year but they were planning to open the levy and raise the water a bit. So our day finally came and we were on the river again! It was amazing! Nothing like rafting the Deschutes, but oh so much fun. It was a bit more technical and we had an awesome group who knew how to paddle!
I will say… It was hard to leave this area!
