Royal Gorge Whitewater Rafting

The Royal Gorge (also Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River) is a canyon on the Arkansas River near Cañon City, Colorado. The Royal Gorge has a width of 50 feet at its base and a few hundred feet at its top, and a depth of 1200 feet in places, the 10-mile-long Royal Gorge canyon is a narrow, steep gorge through the granite of Fremont Peak.

River Runners offers half day and full day whitewater rafting trips through the spectacular Royal Gorge. We depart from our Royal Gorge Rafting Center in Canon City, Colorado.

About 3 million years ago as the Rocky Mountains rose from the surrounding plains, a small rivulet that would become the Arkansas River rose with them. Over the millennia, it cut a deep channel for itself through the surrounding granite, at a rate of about one foot every 2,500 years. The gorge's peculiar shape, contrasted to broad canyons such as the Grand Canyon, can be attributed to this long, direct erosion through hard rock.

In 1929 Cañon City authorized the building of the Royal Gorge Bridge, which at 1,053 feet above the river is the highest suspension bridge over water in the world. The bridge forms the kernel of Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, a theme park. All River Runners guests may recieve discount tickets to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park.

In the summer months, whitewater rafting is a very popular activity in the Royal Gorge. Tourists travel from around the world to tackle the Class IV rapids of the Arkansas River and enjoy the scenery of the Royal Gorge. Named rapids in the Royal Gorge include Sunshine Falls, Sledgehammer, Wallslammer and Boateater. River recreation in the Royal Gorge is regulated by Colorado State Parks' Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA). River Runners is a commercial rafting company which is licensed by AHRA to run the Royal Gorge on the Arkansas River.