The Arkansas Came Up: The Best Water of the 2026 Season

This was a low-water year on the Arkansas. From April 15 through September 23, the gauge at Parkdale, at the top of the Royal Gorge, read under 500 CFS on 161 of 162 days. Through July and August the river averaged about 260 CFS.

Then, in the last days of the month, the river came up.

The Numbers

• The week before: at Cañon City, at the bottom of the gorge, the Arkansas ran about 170 to 190 CFS a day from September 24 to 28.
• The rise: on Wednesday, the last day of the month, the Parkdale gauge averaged 441 CFS. Its last reading before it shut down for the season, at 1:00 AM on October 1, was 531 CFS and still climbing.
• The peak: the Cañon City gauge topped out at 583 CFS on October 1 and 571 CFS on October 2. That is about three times what the river carried there the week before, and more than double the July and August average at Parkdale.
• This weekend: the river is easing back. Cañon City read 366 CFS at midday on Saturday, October 3, still about double the late-September flow.

What More Water Feels Like

Our guides read the Arkansas in CFS, cubic feet per second. Under 500 CFS the river is low, rocks show, and the run is precise and technical. Between 500 and 2,000 CFS is the range most groups find ideal. For a few days this week the Royal Gorge was in that range for the first time in months.

More water covers rocks and gives rapids like Sunshine Falls and Sledgehammer, under the Royal Gorge Bridge, more push. It is the closest the 2026 season has come to classic Royal Gorge water.

Fall on the River

October mornings in the canyon are cool. Our Royal Gorge trips include a wetsuit and splash jacket when conditions call for them, and your guide will tell you what to wear.

Check the River Before You Go

The Parkdale gauge (USGS 07094500) is off for the winter, so for current flows use the Colorado Division of Water Resources station at Cañon City: dwr.state.co.us/Tools/Stations/ARKCANCO. Then call us and ask what today's level means for the trip you have in mind.

Book Before October 15

Our season runs April 15 to October 15, so there are only a few days left to run the Royal Gorge this year. Book your trip or read our first-timer's guide.