Arkansas

Ran for the first time at 2300 in summer of 2024 and it felt like it was pretty close to the perfect level. An incredibly fun, fast-paced, heart pounding run in our raft with big holes and many necessary moves. INCREDIBLY CONTINUOUS. There are certainly places to pull over but if you go in early July like we did, many are likely too crowded for larger boats. I would say expect to padle this one all the way through if you are going at flows above low water. At 2300 it took our 3 boat trip with no carnage less than 45 minutes. Despite 'only' being class IV-IV+, the continous nature of this run means this is probably not a good choice for the beginner-intermediate paddler and you shouldn't even think about it if you aren't confident in your ability to self-rescue in a rapid. I haven't run Royal Gorge at anything above 1200, so take this next statement with a grain of salt but I thought the Numbers were more challenging and much harder to scout. If you are confident in your skills this is an incredible run you won't want to miss with the Fractions right downstream providing a less intense but still very fun option to make this a full-day trip.

When we did this, we used 3 cars, parked one at Numbers Launch, one at Railroad with our lunch and other provisions in it, and one in Buena Vista. If I were to run this section again and had the option I would probably do it like this again as it was nice to take a break and decompress before another incredibly continous but fun stretch of river.

diversion channel on river right

~ 2300 cfs

Runout of #4. The bridge marks the transition to #5.

how is there absolutely zero beta on this run?

This is the start of Number 5.

Looking back upstream from the bottom of
Number 5.

Photo courtesy of and copyright by www.allaboutrivers.com.

Dropping into #5 rapid. Several nice eddys: two to the right, two to the left with a nice ledge boof. Watch for the two holes if you go sideways.

Father & son fun on Numbers.

Big ass version of this photo
big ass stompin' wave

Numbers put-in: Ken Ransford, Rich
Hoffman, Pete Skinner and Chuck
Estes celebrating the new access to
the Numbers on the Arkansas in
Colorado acquired through American
Whitewater's access program.

Numbers put-in: Rich Hoffman, Pete
Skinner and Chuck Estes standing in
front of the sign acknowledging
American Whitewater's role securing
access to the Numbers on the
Arkansas in Colorado.