Colorado Whitewater upcoming events

Cruise - Lower Blue, Blue River, III (08/22/2026)

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Cruise leader is River Lathers.

A CW cruise is a fun river meet up for members to meet other paddlers and have a good time on the river.

There is no instruction available during the cruise. Be confident your skills are appropriate for this section of river.

You must have appropriate gear for cold water.

Please plan to help with boat shuttle. This is almost always a challenge.

As the event gets closer and the leader has confirmed your skill level and confirmed appropriate water flows, the cruise leader will share specific details of meeting location.

All participants must be CW members and sign a waiver.

Cruise - Foxton III/ III+ (08/30/2026)

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Cruise with Colorado Whitewater (CW)

Please register for the cruise if you would like to attend. For all cruises, please have some experience running the class of whitewater that is listed with each cruise. If you have any questions about the skill level required for the cruise you wish to attend, please contact the cruise leader for that cruise, or send an email to cruises@coloradowhitewater.org.

See full list of cruises and waiver information here.

Cruise leader is Eric Gillaspy. As events get closer, he will reach out to those who have registered and confirm details of the activity.

A CW cruise is a fun river meet up for members to meet other paddlers and have a good time on the river.

There is no instruction available during the cruise. Be confident your skills are appropriate for this section of river.

You must have appropriate gear for cold water.

Please plan to help with boat shuttle. This is almost always a challenge.

As the event gets closer and the leader has confirmed your skill level and confirmed appropriate water flows, the cruise leader will share specific details of meeting location and time.

All participants must be CW members and sign a waiver.

Bailey Fest 2026 (09/04/2026)

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 22:00:00 GMT

It's time for BaileyFest 2026!

Since it's Labor Day weekend, we have the land for the festival and camping for THREE nights! Friday/Saturday/Sunday nights, 9/4-9/7. Please register asap. We are under a strict participant number cap and fully expect the event to sell out again this year. $45 gets you 3 nights of camping including toilets and live music + DJ on Saturday night.

This is a land-based event. All paddling will be outside of the event & at your own risk.

There will be a food truck on site Saturday for the purchase of tasty treats. Breakfast burritos in the morning and a full menu for lunch and dinner throughout the day. We do have a vendor minimum of 65 orders, so please plan to enjoy this treat of convenience!

Venue coordinates: Coordinates: 39.385509, -105.438501

NO dogs. We love them, but not the place. Strictly enforced.

Leave no trace - Pack out your trash.

RESPECT THE NEIGHBORS - DO NOT TRESPASS - QUIET HOURS after 11PM

EVENT SCHEDULE:

Friday afternoon:

Event check-in: 4pm - 9pm

Show up without dogs. The festival area will be on river left again this year. Look for the Colorado Whitewater banner at the entrance. Check-in is required at the tent for everyone. The registration time is strict. If you need to arrive outside of this window, please contact (Collin).

Saturday:

Event check-in: 7am - 10am

Food Truck: ALL DAY! Nani's Bowls will be offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. Get your day started right with a breakfast burrito, a meal between laps or dinner during the festivities!

Duck Racing: 5:15pm 4Corners Riversports has chipped in for prizes for this event! The ducks will race downriver to entertain and win swag! Can your inanimate object beat another inanimate object?!?! Who knows! But surely if you yell more, it will float FASTER! Winners will get sweet, sweet 4CRS swag while the losers will grumble at their stupid slow ducks.

BaileyFest Volunteer of the Year Award - 5:45 Sponsored by (TBD).

LIVE MUSIC: 6pm.

Sunday: Paddle, paddle, paddle!

Monday: Boat and clean up after yourselves and get packed out by 1pm. Hope you enjoyed yourself and come back next year!

Prices: $45 in advance. Space is limited, so please register asap. This event will sell out in advance. Kids under 12 are free but MUST be registered as a "child guest" for the event. If you bring a dog, you will be asked to leave with no refunds. Bringing a dog or other pet could result in this event never happening again. Your conscience cannot handle that. If you have a service animal, we comply with ADA rules. Please share in advance so there are no misunderstandings. No refunds, unless the event is canceled.

Specials:

TBD

Sponsors

Thanks again to Colorado Whitewater, 4Corners Riversports, Golden River Sports, Colorado Kayak Supply, for making this happen!

Notes:

1) Bailey Fest participation is capped to ensure that there will be fewer than 150 people (participant + volunteers) as required by Park County.

2) Bailey Fest is an event that only occurs on the Berger residence. DO NOT trespass on anyone else's property. Being respectful of the neighbors is imperative to our ability to continue hosting this event.

3: If you are one of Bart's neighbors and have concerns or complaints during the event, please contact Nate Halpin (719-581-0861) and let's work though addressing and resolving your concerns to the best of our ability.

Requests for volunteers:

1 or 2 folks to bring/set up: CW Tent, banners, "Paddle at your own risk" signage, wristbands, other supplies from storage locker in Golden and to arrive by 3:30 on Friday

2 folks for Event Registration Friday from 4-6:30

2 folks for Event Registration Friday from 6:30-9

2 folks for Event Registration Saturday from 7-10

2-4 folks to help cleanup late Monday morning

Contact Collin to volunteer and you might even find yourself with free registration.

Colorado River Weekend 2026 (09/18/2026)

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Colorado River Weekend - September 18 - 21, 2026!

Join us for the last river weekend of 2026 on the Colorado River!

We have reserved the two group sites at Pumphouse and looking forward to a fun weekend for all! Come on Friday, stay until Monday. Must pay the BLM for day use at the kiosk upon entry.

Important: Please register each individual separately, including all family (including minors) or group members. This helps us accurately track attendance and coordinate our volunteers effectively.

Dogs are allowed but must be kept on leash and picked up after!

Participants will be required to pay a $10 parking fee on-site per vehicle per night to the Pumphouse Recreation Area. This will give you access to park at the campground overnight and park at the boat launches / take-out both days. BRING CASH!

Potential for runs on the Upper Colorado below Pumphouse and Lower Blue depending on flows.

Planning to bring back the Saturday night pot luck dinner to show our community spirit. Interested in a dutch oven cooking. We are considering a dutch oven competition for the pot luck....

More details to follow, but please register to confirm your spot!

Any questions, please email Chris Zeller and include CO Weekend in the subject.

Note: This event registration is non-refundable.

Cruise - Pumphouse, Colorado River, Class II+ (09/18/2026)

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Cruise with Colorado Whitewater (CW)

Please register for the cruise if you would like to attend. For all cruises, please have some experience running the class of whitewater that is listed with each cruise. If you have any questions about the skill level required for the cruise you wish to attend, please contact the cruise leader (John Leventhal), or send an email to cruises@coloradowhitewater.org.

See full list of cruises and wavier information here.

As events get closer, we will reach out to those who have signed up and confirm details of the activity.

A CW cruise is a fun river meet up for members to meet other paddlers and have a good time on the river.

There is no instruction available during the cruise. Be confident your skills are appropriate for this section of river.

You must have appropriate gear for cold water.

Please plan to help with boat shuttle. This is almost always a challenge.

As the event gets closer and the leader has confirmed your skill level and confirmed appropriate water flows, the cruise leader will share specific details of meeting location.

All participants must be CW members and sign a waiver.

2026 CW Fall Dinner (10/29/2026)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMT

Colorado Whitewater 2026 Fall Dinner

Join us at the Buffalo Rose in Golden on Thursday 10/29 for this year's Fall Dinner with two special guests John Armstrong (Adventure film maker) and Nancy Wiley (Expedition kayaker)

About the Director: John Armstrong 

John Armstrong is an award-winning cinematographer and filmmaker with a 35-year career capturing some of the world’s most extreme adventures and compelling unscripted television. His work spans both groundbreaking expedition documentaries and major reality competition series (think Survivor, The Amazing Race, and American Ninja Warrior). 

Armstrong’s cinematic achievements have earned him three Primetime Emmy Awards and four Sports Emmy Awards for Cinematography. His adventure films have also received top honors, including the Grand Prize at the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival for Bashkaus: Hard Labor in Siberia and Best Documentary for Curtain of Ice. 

In recognition of his lifetime contributions to the field, Armstrong was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Unscripted Camera Operator by the Society of Camera Operators in 2025. His career and impact were further highlighted in a feature by Harvard Magazine, reflecting on his journey since graduating from Harvard in 1974. 

Through decades of work behind the lens, Armstrong has helped define the visual language of adventure storytelling—bringing audiences into some of the most remote, challenging, and inspiring places on Earth.

About the team member: Nancy Wiley

Nancy Wiley started kayaking at 13, after her father--who needed a boating buddy--tried to teach her how to roll. She was out of her boat before her head got wet, so dad sent her to Roger Paris’s Kayak School in Carbondale-–better idea. She was hooked.

During her college years at Colorado University, she alpine ski raced in the winter, and summers were spent teaching kayaking and raft guiding for World of Whitewater in California and Sundance Kayak School in Oregon. This is where she realized that kayaking would be her life. After college she started a kayak school and her father suggested they also open a retail store and a mail order business. Four Corners Riversports was born.

In 1984 after college graduation, and before getting to work, Nancy went to Chile to kayak with two women, traveling in a small Suzuki minivan. They had very little beta, as rivers were just starting to be explored in Chile. This trip piqued an interest in paddling adventures and exploration.

The next 18 years were full-on paddling (or mostly working!): running and managing the store and kayak school; self-publishing the mail order catalog (every year); hosting whitewater events in Durango, including the Champion International Whitewater Races, U.S. Junior Slalom Team Trials, Animas River Days, and Open Canoe Nationals. Nancy feels that her greatest legacy is having started the kids paddling school that is still in operation today.

During these years Nancy was invited to participate in the second expedition and filming of the Paucartambo River in Peru, a Mutual of Omaha kayak and raft expedition on the Boh River in Kalimantan, Indonesia, Project Raft in Costa Rica, kayaking with filmmaker Roger Brown in Sulawesi, and a Survival of the Fittest competition, where against all odds, she finished first.

After selling Four Corners River Sports in 1998, Lars Holbek decided Nancy finally had time for a relationship. He moved to southwest Colorado and Nancy and Lars built a passive solar off-grid adobe house. While Nancy finished the house by building cabinets and concrete countertops, Lars converted their diesel vehicles to run on vegetable oil. Of course, they took time to kayak, bike, ski, and walk in the mountains with their dog Boojie.

About the Movie

Step into one of the most daring river expeditions ever captured on film.  Paucartambo: The Rest of the River follows a team of legendary American kayakers on a perilous 19-day descent of Peru’s remote and unmapped Paucartambo River—plunging 13,000 feet from the Andes to the Amazon Basin in what was, at the time, the greatest sustained vertical drop ever achieved in kayaking history. 

Filmed in 1986 and hailed as one of the earliest expedition kayaking documentaries, this award-winning film (including the People’s Choice Award at the Banff Mountain Film Festival) goes far beyond adrenaline. It captures the raw reality of expedition life—grueling portages, unrelenting rapids, and the ever-present risk of isolation where rescue is impossible. Along the way, the team encounters the Quechua people, offering a rare and human glimpse into life along this powerful river.  

Now beautifully restored from its original 16mm film to stunning 4K, this new version reveals breathtaking detail and depth never before seen, paired with a rich, immersive soundscape crafted specifically for the journey.

Date: Thursday, October 29, 2026

Time: 5:00pm-9:00pm

Location:

Buffalo Rose

1119 Washington Ave, Golden, CO 80401

Cost

CW Members: $10

Non-CW Members: $25

A cash bar will be available for those who want to purchase alcohol.

Evening Agenda

5:00 - 6:00 Check-in and Reception

6:00 - 7:00 Dinner

7:00 - 7:30 Club Business & Elections

7:30 - 8:30 Introduction and viewing of the film

8:30 - 9:00 Q&A with Nancy and John about adventure film making

Please note

Tickets must be purchased in advance.
Smoking or vaping of any kind is not allowed at The Rose. The City of Golden also has a Smoke-Free Ordinance which does not allow for smoking on downtown sidewalks.
Pets are not allowed.

This event is heavily subsidized and there will be no refunds.

Please let us know if you register and later find out you are unable to attend so that the club can adjust the amount of food being purchased.