Kayakers Ride Raging Animas River at Highest Flow in Decades

Kayakers paddled through the churning brown water of the flooded Animas River at the whitewater park in Durango on Friday, October 23, as the river surged to its highest level in more than half a century.

Footage released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s southwest region shows the swollen river roaring between banks of golden autumn trees, with a lone kayaker in a red boat bobbing through the waves and standing rapids.

The river reached 11,200 cubic feet per second that afternoon, just “400 cfs shy of the 1970 mark,” the agency said. The river typically runs at only a few hundred cubic feet per second in late October.

Durango police closed the river within city limits to all boating that morning because of the dangerous conditions, after days of heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Trudy.