High spring snow runoff has the Durango rafting community excited about this year’s summer season. Durango Rivertrippers & Adventure Tours expects a big year for business while Mild to Wild Rafting and Jeep Tours said the summer should be a standard year for the company.
Owners of both companies say the spring runoff has sparked high interest in rafting this summer.
Animas River runoff is projected to hit 153% of normal through July, according to the Colorado River Basin Forecast Center stationed in Salt Lake City. That means faster waters during the early part of the summer and higher flows throughout the season.
Alex Mickel, co-owner and president of Mild to Wild, said high runoff can have a dual impact: Some customers are excited for the high water, but others are deterred by it.
“It is kind of offsetting, and bookings are turning normally for the Animas,” he said.
Mickel has found higher interest than usual for the company’s other trips in Utah and Colorado. Trips down the Yampa and Dolores rivers are seeing a higher demand because the season is shorter on those rivers.
“The Animas generally runs all summer long at varying levels but the Yampa is generally done by the middle of June, and this year we’ll go into early July,” Mickel said.
Durango Rivertrippers owner David Moler said the company has been experiencing a similar trend, but he expects it to be a better year than last year on the Animas.
Based on estimations made in past years with high spring runoff, he projects the rafting companies will generate $20 million in economic impact this summer.
The Animas River was running at 3,090 cubic feet per second as of Tuesday, a decrease from 4,500 cfs on May 28, according to data from SnoFlo. By comparison, the Animas was running at around 2,000 cfs during the same time in 2022.
The lasting impact of the heavy runoff is what Moler and Mickel are excited about.
Moler said high runoff should keep the Animas River flow in the medium to high range throughout the months of June and July, which are the most profitable months for rafting companies in Durango.
“We’re looking great. We’re having a great kickoff to the season and everybody’s excited about getting on the water,” Moler said. “The word is out and we’re hoping to take market share from the Front Range because we have a better snowpack on this side of the slope.”
In January, the snowpack in eastern Utah and Western Colorado was about 170% above normal, according to data provided by the National Weather Service.
The longtime Rivertrippers owner remembers the 2005 season when the Animas River ran as fast as 8,500 cfs. That year, the commercial raft companies had 52,750 user days on the water. He expects this year to be in the 50,000 range. A normal year brings 35,000 to 38,000 user days.
User days are defined by the number of commercial rafts that travels down the Animas River, Moler said.
He also noted that high runoff years tend to correspond to fewer chances of wildfires, which encourages more tourists to visit Southwest Colorado. During the 416 Fire in 2018, the Animas River saw just 28,465 commercial user days, according to the Colorado River Outfitters Association Commercial River Use Report. During the Missionary Ridge Fire in 2002, the river had just 12,000 commercial user days.
Moler said it is hard to measure whether the high runoff has had an early impact on business based on how customers book trips. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 55% of the company’s trip bookings came within 48 hours of the trip. But during the pandemic, people would reserve trips 30 days out in fear that all the trips would be full.
With less concern about the pandemic, he said customer tendencies are starting to return to reserving trips two to three days before outings. Comparing early season bookings with previous years is no longer an apples-to-apples comparison.
“Bookings are on par from what we’ve seen in previous years,” Moler said. “But we’re also seeing average, if not a little above-average, number of user days so far this season. It's looking like a very promising season and better than last year.”
Both companies report seeing increased interest from people wanting to be raft guides, which they attribute to this year’s high flows.
“We’ve had some folks who decided this might be a nice year to return to guiding after taking a break,” Mickel said. “There has certainly been enthusiasm generated from the folks who have been involved with the river community.”
Moler said the secret is out that Southwest Colorado is experiencing great flows, which has attracted nomadic raft guides who work seasonally on various rivers.
However, Moler said that when the water is high, the company uses fewer guides on the river. That is because when the river is high, the company can put more customers on a raft compared to when it is low. More patrons per boat means fewer guides navigating the river.
He said the number of people who can be on a raft is a calculation created by the state for safety purposes. The calculation takes into consideration how much each person weighs and what the river conditions are like.
“That could be two or that could be nine, but conditions change,” Moler said. “And since we’re a free-flowing river, those things can change almost daily. Right now, we predict that we can put between six and eight people on a raft as needed.”
Durango Rivertrippers and Mild to Wild offer multiple trip options, which means the Animas does not strictly determine how many guides the companies will have.
About 75% of Rivertrippers’ business comes from trips booked on the Animas River, while Mickel said about 50% of Mild to Wild’s business is related to the Animas.
“It’s a great year to enjoy rafting,” Mickel said.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
