colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado rafting towns
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
Colorado rafting jobs
Colorado rafting guide school
group rafting in Colorado
Colorado rafting information
Family Activities
Mountain Biking
Youth Group Rafting
colorado whitewater rafting
 
   
colorado whitewater rafting

Plan Your Colorado Adventure:
By Location:
By River:
By Activity:
Difficulty:
   

Aspen Rafting

Many people feel that Aspen is Colorado’s most beautiful mountain town.  One of the most popular ski destinations in the Rockies, Aspen is also known for its dining, nightlife, art galleries, shopping and for its rich and famous residents, giving Aspen the nickname, "the Hollywood of the Rockies."  Aspen is also home of the spectacular Maroon Bells, one of the most picturesque and most photographed mountain ranges in the world. 

In addition to skiing, Aspen offers a wealth of warm weather outdoor activities. And when it comes to outdoor adventures in and around Aspen, rafting is one of the best, most exciting and most fun adventures of all!

Aspen Colorado white water River raftingAspen Rafting Options
Highside Adventures Tours offers a number of Aspen rafting options.  Our closest Aspen rafting offering is a variety of trips down the Arkansas River.  Rafting the Arkansas can be the whitewater adventure of a lifetime or a relaxing scenic river trip. Our Aspen rafting trips can accommodate all ages, all skill levels and all preferences from a calm and relaxing beginner trip to exhilarating and challenging whitewater rapids.

Our Aspen rafting options include half-day trips, full-day trips and multi-day options that include riverside camping for those interested in an extended river vacation. The Arkansas River is the most popular commercially run river in the United States — and for good reason! Please click here for complete information about our Arkansas River Rafting Trips.

Getting There - Arkansas River/Buena Vista
From Aspen, rafting clients for Arkansas River trips meet at our offices on the river in Buena Vista.  A gorgeous 1.5 hour drive from Aspen, the ride takes you up over Independence Pass, the highest paved pass in North America, and includes some amazing scenery along the way including the Collegiate Peaks range, which is the largest collection of 14,000 foot mountains ("fourteeners") in the Continental United States and one of the top 10 prettiest drives in America. 

whitewater rafting near Aspen ColoradoUnlike other rafting companies who like to charge exorbitant fees for transporting you to the river, we encourage you to drive there on your own, not only saving you money, but enabling you to take your time to thoroughly enjoy the ride, and to make this incredibly scenic drive an integral part of your Aspen rafting adventure.  From Aspen to our Buena Vista office, take CO-82 East over Independence Pass Take a right onto Hwy 24 East toward Buena Vista.  We’re located two miles north of Buena Vista on the right hand side of Hwy 24. 

Following your Aspen rafting adventure, you may want to explore all Buena Vista and its surroundings have to offer.  180 degrees from the Aspen experienced, BV is rustic and largely undeveloped with nothing glitzy or fancy about it.  However, like Aspen, the surroundings are beautiful (Buena Vista means "beautiful view" in Spanish.  And don’t miss Cottonwood Hot Springs and Mt Princeton Hot Springs, both just minutes outside of town.

Other Rafting Choices from Aspen
The Arkansas River is not your only option for Aspen rafting.  Your choices also include:

  • whitewater Rafting on Clear Creek near Aspen ColoradoThe Colorado River -This Aspen rafting trip meets at our Frisco office, which is approximately 2.25 hours from Aspen. Then together we drive roughly an hour to our river put-in in a remote canyon. The Colorado River is one of the classic rivers in the United States. Starting high in the Colorado Rockies, and eventually flowing through the Grand Canyon, the Colorado is the setting for some great mountain and canyon scenery, natural hot springs, old pioneer cabins and more.
  • The Blue River - Blue River rafting trips also meet in Frisco, but then the river is less than 10 minutes away.  The Blue River is Summit County’s only river and one of the few opportunities for high country river rafting in the state.  Exquisitely scenic, our Blue River Rafting trip boasts some of the most gorgeous views of some of the highest peaks in Colorado, including the stunning Gore Range. 
  • Clear Creek -This trip starts in the historic mining town of Idaho Springs, about 3 hours from Aspen, but only 45 minutes from Denver, so it’s a great option for an end-of-trip adventure on your way down from Aspen to Denver before you head home or a first day adventure starting out.  Full day and half day trips are offered as well as some terrific combination trips such as rafting combined with mine exploration or rafting combined with a soak in Idaho Springs famous healing hot springs.  Idaho Springs is an historic mountain town with a charming main street full of shops and restaurants, the Indian Springs hot springs resort, Mount Evans, wildlife sightings and the Argo mine.  In fact, our office is right in the Argo Mine building, so make a tour through town part of your adventure.

For more information about our Aspen Rafting Trips, call us today!
Highside Adventure Tours
1-800-997-3448
All rafting trips include: rafts, helmets, persona flotation device, basic instruction and a professional and highly-skilled river rafting guide in your boat.

More About Aspen
Aspen is a beautiful mountain town with so much to offer. Most people know that Aspen boasts four ski mountains - Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass - but many people don’t realize that Aspen is also one of the oldest mining towns in Colorado.  Unlike Vail, which grew up solely in response to the ski mountain, Aspen is an authentic old Colorado town that  was a mecca for miners coming to excavate the rich silver ore in the area in the early 1880s. 

Aspen was known at one time for producing about 1/6th of the silver in the United States and about 1/16th of the world’s silver.  However, like many "boom and bust" mining towns, in 1893, about 80% of Aspen’s business went bankrupt when the bottom fell out of the silver market. But rather than becoming a ghost town like so many others, Aspen held on, due in part to the refined citizenry that had settled there and created permanent (brick!) buildings and an unusual number of cultural offerings, including the historic Wheeler Opera House and the elegant Hotel Jerome.

Aspen is still known today for its culture, concert halls, art galleries, theaters, numerous festivals, artists’ workshops, amazing art glass, fine dining, and, of course, gorgeous scenery and mountain charm. Visitors can conveniently fly directly to Aspen or take the ride through majestic Glenwood Canyon with a stop in the world-famous hot springs pool of Glenwood Springs.

For more information about Aspen rafting options and the adventures that await you, call us today and let us help you plan a memorable Aspen Rafting adventure today.

Highside Adventure Tours
1-800-997-3448
three convenient Colorado locations to serve you
Idaho Springs, Summit County, Buena Vista
www.RaftingColorado.com
Email Us at info@raftingcolorado.com