Why should they have all the fun? Fly into Denver, rent a car, and you too can enjoy a bonanza of white water rafting, river kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, ziplining over a river... Read about these and more, including affordable Aspen, family-friendly farm-to-table eateries, and a cool new trend in Colorado: free river parks where surfing waves have been engineered.
The Roaring Fork Valley includes Aspen, Snowmass Village, Basalt, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs. Mount Sopris and the Roaring Fork River of course (which is a tributary of the Colorado River.)
Whitewater Rafting
White water rafting is exciting fun for teens, and even kids as young as six can get in on the act. Most white water rafting companies offer a range of experiences, from easy floats to challenging rapids. A Class I ride means "easy gentle moving water with small waves or obstacles", and families will typically choose Class I or II white water rafting trips.
Typically, guests team up in multi-person inflatable rafts with at least one guide per raft. Every crew member is expected to paddle as the guide instructs, and paddling is a big part of the fun.
Blazing Adventures is one of several companies that offer white water rafting in the Roaring Fork Valley. Minimum age can be as young as six for half-day trips on the lower, middle, or upper Roaring Fork River. Blazing Adventures has a novelty trip for families: Pirate Rafting Trips for ages 5 and up. "Yer Voyage includes grub, vessel and yer very own pirate cap’n." These trips include a treasure hunt as well.
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As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary experiences for the purpose of review. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.
