Our river guides spent most of 2026 on low water. From April 15 to September 23, the gauge at Parkdale, at the top of the Royal Gorge, read under 500 CFS on 161 of 162 days, and July and August averaged about 260 CFS. Then, in the last days of September, 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: the Parkdale gauge averaged 441 CFS on Wednesday, the last day of September. 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, about three times what the river carried there the week before.
- Saturday, October 3: the river was easing back, at 366 CFS at midday in Cañon City, still about double the late-September flow.
What more water means in the gorge
Guides read the Arkansas in CFS, cubic feet per second. Under 500 CFS the river is low and technical, with rocks showing. Between 500 and 2,000 CFS is the range most groups find ideal, and for a few days this week the Royal Gorge was in it 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.
Check the river, then come before October 15
The Parkdale gauge is off for the winter, so for current flows use the Colorado Division of Water Resources station at Cañon City, ARKCANCO. Rafting season runs April 15 to October 15, so only a few days of it are left this year. See our rafting trips or build your trip.
The full story is on the Royal Gorge Rafting blog: The Arkansas Came Up: The Best Water of the 2026 Season.
