Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area

State Park in Salida, CO

Hours:

Park:  Open 24 hours a day, year-round

Visitor Center:  Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Closures

Entrance Fees:

Daily Vehicle Pass: $​10
Individual Daily Pass: $4

Animals Permitted:

  • Leashed Dogs
  • Service Animals
  • Horses

Park Address:

307 West Sackett Ave.
Salida, CO 81201-1654
United States

Contact:

719-539-7289

[email protected]

Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area

State Park in Salida, CO

Hours:

Park:  Open 24 hours a day, year-round

Visitor Center:  Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Closures

Entrance Fees:

Daily Vehicle Pass: $​10
Individual Daily Pass: $4

Animals Permitted:

  • Leashed Dogs
  • Service Animals
  • Horses

Park Address:

307 West Sackett Ave.
Salida, CO 81201-1654
United States

Contact:

719-539-7289

[email protected]

Navigate to:

Closures: Fisherman's Bridge, Ruby Mountain -

Fisherman's Bridge Recreation Site is under complete closure until 4-15. Ruby Mountain Recreation Site is closed through 5-18. There is a full road closure of County Rd. 300 near MM 2.2 at the entrance into Browns Canyon 8am-12pm & 1pm- 6pm daily. For more critical access updates (including wait times), see Closures.
 

Waterflow Readings

High Water Advisories

Numbers

No

It is recommended that the Numbers (Section 1E) not be run when the river is flowing over 2400 cfs at the Numbers/Below Granite gage as read at 7:00 am for full day or morning trips and at 12:00 noon for afternoon Numbers trips. 


  1. Helmets must be worn at all water levels. 

  2. Wetsuits/dry suits are optional at all water levels depending upon weather and water conditions and advised when water levels are above 900 cfs as measured at the Numbers/Below Granite gage. 

Pine Creek Rapid

No

It is recommended that Pine Creek Rapid (within Section 1D) not be run when the river is flowing over 1250 cfs at the Numbers/Below Granite gauge as read at 7:00 a.m. for full day or morning trips. 


  1. Helmets must be worn at all water levels. 

  2. Wetsuits/dry suits are optional at all water levels depending upon weather and water conditions and advised when water levels are above 900 cfs as measured at the Numbers/Below Granite gauge. 

Royal Gorge

No

It is recommended that the Royal Gorge (Section 5) not be run at flows over 3200 cfs at the Parkdale gauge as read at 7:00 a.m. for full day or morning trips and at 12:00 noon for afternoon Royal Gorge trips. 


  1. Helmets must be worn at all water levels. 

  2. Wetsuits/drysuits are optional at all water levels depending upon weather and water conditions and advised when water levels are above 2800 cfs as measured at the Parkdale gauge. 

Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area

Colors of Water

View the Colors of Water report on the Arkansas Basin Water Operations Dashboard.
 

Announcements

September 23, 2024

Increase in Twin Release

From USBR: 

It looks like we got some rain on Saturday. We’re going to increase the release from Twin by 40 cfs at 08:30 this morning (23 Sep). After the gate operation, we’ll be releasing 127 cfs- 62 cfs of account and the rest native.

September 19, 2024

Increase in Twin Release

From USBR:


We are going to increase the release from Twin Lakes by 25 cfs today (9/19/24) at 1:30 pm. After the gate change we'll be releasing about 88 cfs, about 62 of which is account water and the rest native. 

September 18, 2024

Water Order FAP 24-37

Mount Elbert Powerplant 


GENERAL 
There is enough water in Mt Elbert Forebay for Unit 1 testing. 


Sugarloaf Dam 
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 08:00 Hrs. Reduce the release from Turquoise to the Mt Elbert conduit to the normal bypass. Maintain until further notice.

September 10, 2024

Water Order FAP 24-36

Mount Elbert Powerplant


General
Water is needed in the Forebay for Unit 1 testing.


Sugarloaf Dam
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 11:00 Hrs.
Begin to move 300 cfs from Sugarloaf Dam to Mt Elbert Forebay through the Mt Elbert
conduit. Maintain until further notice.

September 9, 2024

Decrease in Twin Release

From USBR:


We’re going to decrease the release from Twin Lakes by 50 cfs on Tuesday, 10 Sep 24, at 08:00. After the gate operation, we’ll be releasing 65 cfs.


USGS is sampling for water quality at Lake Fork this week. We’ve reduced the flows from Turquoise to 9 cfs to aid their efforts. When they finish sampling, we’ll maintain the release at 9 cfs until we know whether or not we’ll get the power generating unit back at Mt Elbert at the end of the month.

Waterflow Levels

The information below depicts the Flow Program Target and the flow of the Arkansas River as measured in cubic feet per second (cfs) at the Wellsville Gauge near Salida, CO. This page also tracks, in acre feet (af), the amount of water released as part of the summer component of the Voluntary Flow Program. For reference, a flow of 1 cfs for 24 hours is 1.98 af.

Waterflow Summary

Program Water

1000

Flow Program Releases

793

Estimated Program Water Remaining

207

Waterflow Gauge Locations

Wellsville

356 cfs

View Dashboard