The Arkansas Came Up: Fall High Water in the Royal Gorge

The short version

Our season report found the Arkansas at Parkdale, at the top of the Royal Gorge, under 500 cfs on 161 of 162 days from April 15 to September 23. Then, in the last days of September, the river came up.

The numbers

• The week before: at Cañon City, at the bottom of the gorge, the Arkansas ran about 170 to 190 cfs a day from September 24 to 28.
• The rise: the Parkdale gauge averaged 441 cfs on Wednesday, September 30. Its last reading before it shut down for the season, at 1:00 AM on October 1, was 531 cfs and still climbing.
• The peak: the Cañon City gauge topped out at 583 cfs on October 1 and 571 cfs on October 2, about three times what the river carried there the week before, and more than double the July and August average at Parkdale.
• Saturday, October 3: the river was easing back, at 366 cfs at midday in Cañon City, still about double the late-September flow.

What it means on a raft

Under 500 cfs the Arkansas is low and technical, with rocks showing. Between 500 and 2,000 cfs is the range most groups find ideal, and for a few days the Royal Gorge was in it for the first time in months. More water covers rocks and gives rapids like Sunshine Falls and Sledgehammer, under the Royal Gorge Bridge, more push.

Check the river before you go

The Parkdale gauge is off for the winter. For current flows, use the Colorado Division of Water Resources station at Cañon City, ARKCANCO. Rafting season on this stretch runs April 15 to October 15, so only a few days are left this year.

The full story

Royal Gorge Rafting, who run trips through the gorge, wrote the full account: The Arkansas Came Up: The Best Water of the 2026 Season.