The Animas River was the highest it’s been all year on Saturday, just in time for the 2025 Animas River Days, an annual event where river sports enthusiasts hit the Animas River for kayaking, canoeing, surfing and rafting.
The event started Thursday and runs through Sunday.
Events at Santa Rita Park and Durango’s Whitewater Park started at 8 a.m. with the Canoe & Kayak Slalom, which was followed by the Downriver SUP Race, the R4 Raft Slalom, Boatercross and SUP SURF with and without paddles, before the River Parade.
Josh Bell, Emily Abbott and Hunter Dorathy were members of the Broa R4 Raft Slalom rafting team, and they were happy to be out in the sun.
Abbott is in Durango for the summer, working for Colorado Outback Adventures, Dorathy said. He just graduated from rafting guide school.
He said he’s participated in the River Parade since he was 5 years old, but this year will be his first time participating in the competitive events.
Bell said the team is as ready as it will ever be for the R4 Raft Slalom.
Animas River Days is all about making a “hurrah for the river,” he said.
“It’s our big kick off, our big send off (for) high water,” he said. “As you see today, this is the highest the river's been all season. Usually it lines up. Everybody’s just out enjoying the river.”
Dorathy said the river’s higher than when he’s ridden on it before.
“We’re at 26 to 30 cubic feet per second, which is the season high for now,” he said. “We do still have a lot of pretty high water upstream, so we might even see it climb some tomorrow. I would hope to see it get higher until (Animas) River Days are over, at least. Looking like chocolate milk because of that high water.”
Area residents Haakon Samuelson and Ben Capelin said they rode in the canoe/kayak slalom, and the river’s height made the event more challenging than they were anticipating.
“The water’s high. It changed the slalom, of course, it made it way more difficult than we were planning, but it was fun. It just was more of a challenge than it was originally designed to be,” he said. “We all stayed up right in our boats, so I call that a win.”
Samuelson said it’s been years since he’s participated in anything at the Animas River Days because he moved to Montana for a long time, but he was glad to be in Durango on Saturday.
He said Animas River Days is all about celebrating the community.
“Lots of happy people, people I’ve known my whole life. It’s a cool social event,” he said.
Darren Cioppa, clutching a surfboard under his left arm, had just climbed out of the river. He was also loving that the river was the highest it’s been all year.
He was looking forward the surfing competition later in the day. He’s with Animas River Surfers, a nonprofit raising money for a feasibility study to determine if a low flow wave would be possible on the river in Durango. It’s also raising surfer safety awareness and trying to introduce people to the sport.
He said loves Animas River Days for the party atmosphere and seeing people he knows around town.
cburney@durangoherald.com
