Yampa River Rafting Vacation

The Yampa River is a great family rafting adventure!

Yampa River - The Yampa is the LAST MAJOR FREE-FLOWING RIVER in the entire Colorado River system, and at prime in May and early June when there are large playful waves from first day to last. But then we come to Warm Springs Rapid,considered one of the west's "Big Drops.

The Yampa River is a tributary of the Green River, approximately 250 mi (402 km) long, in the U.S. state of Colorado.

It rises in the Flat Tops in northwestern Colorado, in the Routt National Forest in southeastern Garfield County, and flows northeast, past Yampa, and north to Steamboat Springs, where it turns abruptly west. It then receives its chief tributary, the Elk River, near the small town of Milner. It continues west in the plateau region along the north side of the Williams Fork Mountains, past the town of Craig. It is joined by the Little Snake River in Moffat County, just east of Dinosaur National Monument. Inside Dinosaur National Monument, it joins the Green near the border with Utah.

The Yampa forms a noticeably wide, shallow stream throughout much of its course. The lower three fourths of the Yampa, from the Elk river down, is navigable by small craft. However the meandering, shallow nature of the river can render the river unnavigable during late summer in low water years. The discharge of the Yampa varies from about 600 cfs during low water summers to 20,000 cfs in spring floods. Average flow at it's confluence with the Green is about 2500 cfs.

The Yampa is one of the finest Northern Pike and Smallmouth bass fisheries in the United States. However for several years now, the US Fish and Wildlife, along with the Colorado Division Of Wildlife, have been killing bass and pike and throwing them on the banks to rot by the thousands. This is because the river is home to endangered species of fish, though the fish are not popular, nor highly valued for food or sport. The introduction of bass and pike has been stipulated to have contributed to the decline of the native fish. These actions are ongoing, despite much controversy and strong public opposition.