Dustin Urban In Buena Vista Whitewater ParkLast week, Mike Harvey of Recreation Engineering and Planning spent time making adjustments on several of the river features in the Buena Vista Whitewater Park. Jed Selby says that because of the dynamic environment of the river, it is necessary to make changes over the period of a few years after the construction of a new whitewater park in order to dial in the behavior of the features perfectly. Harvey constricted a few of the features, providing better hydraulics at lower water. Surfer’s right of the upper hole was modified because last year kayakers were not able access it. The lower hole was modified to flatten the drop, creating a “friendlier” hydraulic.

Flows this spring and summer should be excellent for floating the Arkansas River. The USGS won’t begin updating their site to report river flows until April, but based on the snowpack, the river should be flowing high this year.

The Buena Vista River Park will play host to the first annual Buena Vista River Festival, a series of paddling events lasting from May 16 to May 24. The festival begins with Paddlefest which is being held in Buena Vista for its third year.

The Town of Buena Vista collaborated with Chaffee County and The Buena Vista Whitewater Project to make changes to the features. Mike Harvey donated his design and project management time for this work to be done to the Buena Vista Whitewater Park. To get an overall view of what the park will look like when completed, download the pdf of the plan here. Check out the following links to see why whitewater parks are creating a buzz around the country: The Way of the Whitewater Park and All the Rage

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