Eagle River (Avon Whitewater Park)
| Stretch: | Avon Whitewater Park |
| Difficulty: | Class III |
| Distance: | N/A |
| Flows: | 200 to 5,000 cfs. USGS Eagle River below wastewater treatment plant at Avon gauge |
| Gradient: | N/A |
| Access: | Elk Lot Parking in Avon |
| Take-out: | N/A |
| Shuttle: | N/A |
| Season: | Spring off snowmelt |
| Written: | © 2021 |
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Colorado Road Trip 2021: Day 12 Afternoon
We did not park and play this feature, we boated through it while running from Vail on Gore Creek through the Eagle River's Dawd Chute and Upper section down to Edward. So we did not have playboats. But dang we wish we did! It wasn't the biggest park but it did have multiple great features at 1,900 cfs. The main one, below the bridge was fantastic and could have offered some amazing play if we had proper boats.
The irony of this park comes in that there are warnings every 200 yards upstream warning to scout or portage. Maybe at flood this becomes dangerous, but it was just a class III set of features at the normal flow. Anyways, for my money this feature at this flow was far superior to Vail's park on Gore Greek and even superior to the Colorado's Glenwood Springs Wave downstream at 5,600 cfs. It is relatively new, so I wonder if the word just isn't out beyond the region/state? I hadn't heard of this whitewater park but dang it was nice.
Waves:
- Bob Jr. Upstream of bridge, works best at flows of 1,000 or less.
Bob's Wave: Good for the mid range flows like we had. It is a bit fast and violent, but awful fun.
Bob Sr. Highwater over 3,000 cfs but it can be surgey at those flows.
Drop off Access: "Bob's Bridge Kayak Take-out" is located off of US-6. Exit I-70 at Avon Rd in Avon. Head south 3.5 miles, crossing the river and turning right at the roundabout. Take the immediate right into the dirt road leading to the access location. Just drop gear here.
Parking: Continue down US-6 for a few hundred yards and park at the Elk Lot on the left side of the highway.
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