Celebrating 40 years of white water fun, Animas River Days is back June 2 - 4, 2023. This weekend-long event is full of stand-up paddling, river surfing, freestyle kayaking, boatercross, and more.
The Animas River
Flowing 126 miles, the Animas River rushes through the mountains and across the state line from Silverton, Colorado to Farmington, New Mexico where it joins the San Juan River. Part of the Colorado Watershed, it also provides water to Lake Nighthorse in Durango, Colorado. The runoff from the San Juan Mountains fill it in the spring, providing not only great rapids for rafting, but also calmer parts for upstream paddle boarding. Home to rainbow and brown trout, it is also considered gold medal fishing too. All throughout the towns it runs through, there are many put-ins, take-outs, and other access points to enjoy the natural resource.
Animas River Days Events
The wide variety of events offer intense competition on the Santa Rita white water park course. This is where most of the action happens with the park filled with boaters, onlookers, and vendors. On June 3rd from 5 - 6:30 pm the local’s favorite river parade will take place with a viewing party at Santa Rita Park. This event is filled with creative boats and fun costumes! For the anniversary celebration, there will be a downriver regatta from 9 - 11 am on June 4th.
Zero Waste
Animas River Days is dedicated to hosting a zero waste event by reducing the amount of trash that goes to the landfill. They are accomplishing this by using sustainable, reusable, recyclable, and compostable products. This also includes providing water stations for refilling water bottles in lieu of buying one time use plastic bottles, placing recycling bins throughout the park, and encouraging vendors to use eco-friendly options in collaboration.
We hope to see you out on the water for this amazing Durango event! Please reach out to us with any questions about the Animas River or other Durango events.
