Salida Waterpark

7/29/2015

Salida

Salida is a beautiful waterpark with world class action at some water levels.

The water usually comes in sometime in Early/Mid May, and except in extremely low water years a level of 700 is “guaranteed” until August 15. Sometimes it keeps running after August 15, other years it drops dramatically when the August 15, date arrives.

It has four waves and holes.

By far the best feature is the hole at the bottom of the G street boat ramp. From 500 to 700 cfs it is a good place for most hole tricks, but too shallow for looping. Beginners will find it a good place to learn to learn how to enter, exit, and side surf a hole. From 800 to 1,300 it becomes world class for intermediate through expert kayakers, easily offering up all hole tricks, while at the same time being soft and forgiving. From 1,300 to 1,600 +-, it goes from being world class to excellent/worth-a-drive in hole quality. Somewhere about 2,500 it turns into a marginal wave.

The top wave is about 200 yards above the boat ramp. Above about 2,000+- cfs it can become usable for surfing and spinning, but at those levels the downstream current will probably be intimidating for total beginners. Above about 4,000+- cfs advanced wave tricks become possible, but at those levels other nearby waves with much better quality are usually in such as Canon City, Durango, and Glenwood Springs.

Another hole is about 150 yards downstream from the boat ramp, just downstream of the F street bridge. It used to be world class, but it is silted up and we have no idea when it will be repaired. As of June 2016 it is a usable place for those wanting to to surf and spin from about 600 to 1,600. After that it washes out.

A couple hundred yards further downstream is the bandshell wave or scout wave. It becomes usable for surfing around 1,400 cfs.

Click here for the gauge.

Click here for a map and directions to the Salida waterpark.

3 Comments

Tim

8/1/2015 02:34:00 am

Please offer comments about Salida.

stephen franklin

9/14/2015 03:23:53 pm

I front surfed the Scout wave from 1200 to 1500 cfs, not too retentive but fast while pointing mostly upstream. That was 3 years ago and dynamics might have changed...

Tim Parker

6/11/2016 06:48:41 pm

They changed the wave since then. It's similar, but not the same.

Salida Waterpark

Leave a Reply.