Yampa River Steamboat Springs Town Section

Steamboat Springs is blessed to have the Yampa River flowing straight through it’s downtown.  Annually, the community of locals and tourists rate the Yampa River as a high priority resource, garnering love and support thru a variety of local, regional and national efforts that look to maintain and enhance this amazing resource.

The Steamboat Springs town section of the Yampa River begins at River Creek Park which is near the Walton Creek Road and Highway 40 intersection just south of Steamboat Springs. This section of the Yampa River ends at the Steamboat Stockbridge Transit Center, approximate four-miles downriver.

This section is a beautiful tour through the Steamboat Springs downtown, featuring playful whitewater (Class I-II+), a riverside hiking and biking Yampa River Core Trail, and numerous put-in/take-out opportunities. It is a fantastic fishery holding ample rainbow and brown trout with an occasional, native Colorado Cutthroat thrown in.  All users including boaters, fishermen, tubers, swimmers, bikers, walkers, picnickers, birders, and others enjoy this stretch of river.

 

From an environmental side of things, the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs connects this municipality to a healthy, robust and mostly intact resource.  The riparian habitat of cottonwood and willows trees the line the river allow for osprey, red wing blackbirds, water oozle and a variety of birdlife. This critical habitat supports elk, mule deer, moose and black bear that move thru downtown from Emerald Mountain to Buffalo Pass and beyond.  Muskrat, beaver and an occasional river otter sighting are a testament to the health of this resource.

Here are some resources to learn more about the environmental heath of the Yampa River:

• City of Steamboat Springs River Health Assessment and Streamflow Management Plan – This plan was adopted by the City of Steamboat Springs in 2018 and identifies multiple ways to help the Yampa’s river health, it’s flows, temperature and dissolved oxygen issues related to climate change and drought.
• Upper Yampa River Watershed Plan – This plan is a review, inventory and outlines project to maintain and enhance the health of the Upper Yampa River watershed.

Runoff starts in March when the Yampa River opens up due to snowmelt in the river valley.  As spring sets in, the Yampa River starts to really flow in April, May and peaks in early June.  Typically, by late June/early July the Yampa in Steamboat Springs has run its course as base flows set in.

As a boater, this section is a perfect class I-II+ float in a kayak, raft, or tube depending on river flows. This run will typically take anywhere from one hour to two hours.  At peak flows (1500 to 3000 cfs) this section isn’t for beginners as waves, holes and fast moving, cold water will create difficult swims for anyone out of their boat. As the river recedes post peak, the Yampa River in downtown Steamboat Springs is a prefect place to learn how to kayak or raft due to the tame nature of this run. Click here for update river flows in Steamboat Springs.

There are four notable rapids or holes on the Steamboat Town Run that were created as part of an effort to build a Steamboat Springs boating park, supported by numerous locals, and bolstered by the Friends of the Yampa’s leadership.

The first rapid you can expect to experience is the Ambulance Hole, or A-Hole, located roughly 100 meters downstream of Backdoor Sports directly adjacent to the Ambulance Barn at the footbridge over the Yampa River between 10th and 9th Street. The A-Hole feature is more of a wave after a rebuild occured in 2015 that looked to engineer a glassy wave and fix a recirculating hole that was created in the late 1990’s.

Shortly after the A-Hole, you can expect to reach the Double Z wave.  This river feature was also created in the 90’s and is a river wide feature with surfable waves on either side of a center rock pile.  At flows of 1500-3000, kayakers can post up on the Double Z wave for a nice front surf.

The next rapid you will reach is Charlie’s Hole, or C-Hole, located directly adjacent to the Bud Werner Memorial Library at the 13th Street Bridge. This river feature was created in the mid 2000’s and is the hub of boating activity on the river.  At high water this is the spot in NW Colorado for kayaking and raft surfing. ONce high water subsides, the C-Hole becomes a beach like experience with hundreds of children and teens swimming in the deep pool and boogie boarding the hole. It’s a wonderful place to post up and have a picnic, riverside while your kids experience the Yampa River.

The Charlies Hole is the main venue for the Friends of the Yampa annual Yampa River Festival.  With it’s recirculating water, and riverside space, we have embraced this area as a perfect venue for this event that celebrates all things Yampa River.

After the Charlie’s Hole, you can expect to reach the last notable river feature, the D-Hole. The D-Hole was also built in early 2000 and is a large lateral wave spreading from river right-to-left; therefore, the easiest way through this rapid is on the river-left side, where the lateral wave eventually collapses and flushes itself out.

One interesting caveat of the Steamboat Springs Boating Park is that the Charlie’s Hole and the D-Hole were decreed as a Recreation In-Current Diversion water right with the State of Colorado. In layman’s terms this means that the City of Steamboat Springs has a water right that protects river flows in the range from as high as 1400 cfs in early June to as low as 95 cfs in August. Learn more about this RICD here.

After floating through the whole four-mile Steamboat Springs Town section, take-outs are on river-right shortly after passing by the Dream Island trailer park at the Steamboat Stockbridge Transit Center.  Friends of the Yampa, along with the City of Steamboat Springs are looking into creating a designated take out for trailered vehicles at the Bear River Park that is downstream of the James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge.