With the heat comes a burst of desire to head to a river, creek or lake to seek relief. But waterways across the state — flush with recently melted snowpack — are often still a bone-chilling 45 degrees or so.

Fall in, jump in or get tossed in, and things can turn deadly serious in a flash, said Todd Miner, a retired senior instructor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

“You get in that cold water, and it’s really tough to stay in control,” he said. “People don’t recognize how debilitating that can be.”

Add to the cold a formidable current, and chances for serious accidents — even fatal ones — only multiply. Stand up in the creek, and expect to get your foot wedged and pinned in between rocks on the creek bed, said Capt. Harold Osborn with North Metro Fire Rescue.

“A lot of times, (people) don’t understand the flow dynamics of the river,” he said.

Osborn was one of 15 members of the North Area Technical Rescue Team practicing water rescues on a roaring Clear Creek last week west of Golden. The 150-member organization, now in its 30th year and made up of emergency officials from nine local fire departments, performs specialized rescues in Denver’s northern suburbs, including rope rescues, confined space rescues, trench rescues and collapse rescues.

On Wednesday, the focus was water rescue training in Clear Creek Canyon. A rescuer was tethered to the shore or was free swimming across a raging current, then grabbing hold of a free-floating “victim” and pulling them back to land. Lt. Jacob Charney, with North Metro Fire Rescue, was in charge.

“Because the water’s so high, we do the training in the spring,” he said, wearing a dry suit and helmet as a bloated Clear Creek rushed past. “It’s the most difficult conditions because of the velocity of the water.”

Less than two weeks ago, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office closed the creek through downtown Golden to belly boats, inner tubes and single-chambered rafts — as well as body surfing and swimming — until water levels subside. People on kayaks, river boards, whitewater canoes and multi-chambered, professionally guided rafts can still ride the creek.

The closure comes after three years of particularly deadly water activity in Colorado. More than 30 people died on the state’s waterways and water bodies last year. There were 32 deaths in 2023 and a record 42 fatalities in 2022, according to an unofficial tally kept by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

This year, so far, has been a departure from that deadly record. As of Friday, the state had seen eight deaths recorded in 2025, according to news releases from CPW.

In comparison, by the first few days of June last year, there had already been a dozen deaths on Colorado waters.

“We are not on the same pace as last year, and that is fantastic news,” CPW spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose said.

She credits the drop in water deaths to a cooler and wetter May, with Memorial Day weekend almost a total washout.

“When it rains, people are less likely to be out on the water,” Van Hoose said.

This year’s deaths in Colorado waters have largely been on lakes, rather than rivers. The incidents began in late February with the discovery of the body of a 65-year-old fisherman who had fallen through the ice at Cherry Creek Reservoir. In mid-April, the body of a man who fell from a canoe was recovered from Spinney Reservoir in Park County.

Last month, a fisherman using a bellyboat — a small, inflatable tube — got caught in strong wind gusts at Steamboat Lake State Park and drowned, authorities said. He was not wearing a life jacket. In the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, a popular rafting and kayaking spot near Buena Vista, a kayaker died after his vessel capsized.

Another four deaths have occurred at Lake Pueblo State Park, including a drowning on Thursday. In most of the Lake Pueblo deaths, the victim did not wear a life jacket.

“Any water can be deadly if you’re not wearing a life jacket,” Van Hoose said.

Employees at Golden River Sports hand out life jackets and helmets to all customers who rent their tubes. But Jon Baskin, who has worked seasonally at the tube and kayak rental store in downtown Golden for five years and was a raft guide for a decade, sees many on Clear Creek not wearing protective gear.

“I see people without PFDs,” he said, referring to personal flotation devices. “Clear Creek on a weekend day is like a carnival — there are hundreds and hundreds of tubes. But it’s still a wild river, it’s not like the lazy river at Elitch’s.”

Golden has taken measures in recent years to control, and even restrict, the crowds that mob the waterway near downtown Vanover Park on warm, sunny days. The city places daily limits on the number of tubes the two concessionaires in town can rent to the public. It also embeds radio frequency identification tags in tubes to track their usage.

Last year, Golden discussed the introduction of a reservation system, like the timed-entry system used at Rocky Mountain National Park. It has not yet put in place such a system to control access to the creek.

Whether 2025’s less-deadly trend on Colorado’s waters continues into July and beyond, CPW’s Van Hoose said, will ultimately come down to individual behavior and precautions taken.

“We hope we continue to see good numbers — but it’s up to the people,” she said.

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Here are eight of the most famous and not-to-be-missed stretches of whitewater that Colorado has to offer.

Yampa and Green River

Inside Dinosaur National Monument are two riverways — the Yampa and the Green — that wind through an area of archeological phenomena, fossils, and indigenous rock petroglyphs.

“For multi-day river trips, the Gates of Ladore [section] on the Green River and the Yampa River are both outstanding, in Dinosaur National Monument, and have cultural history. The two different trips finish at the same place,” says Sean Sorrin, a Colorado-based professional river guide who’s been guiding for 29 seasons. He’s worked on 100 rivers worldwide from Colorado to Ethiopia, guided for OARS for 13 years, and guides part-time on the Arkansas River for River Runners.

“The scenery for both trips is outstanding, and the geology is opposite despite both being in Dinosaur National Monument and so close together,” said Sorrin. “The Yampa trip is through younger canyon walls, of weaver sandstone, that’s lighter in color. The Gates of Ladore canyon walls are older, dark red rocks that contrast with the ponderosa pines,” he explained. For both sections, river runners see the Mitten Park Fault, a fault line where the rocks shoot vertically versus horizontally.

Rafting along the Green River through the Gates of Lodore Canyon takes explorers along a segment of the original exploration route followed in 1869 by pioneer and geologist John Wesley Powell.

“When I guided the Gates of Ladore, I read from Powell’s journal nightly for guests. His descriptions and writings were detailed and poetic from his first voyage through The Great Unknown,’ a blank area in the United States map, that Powell was mapping,” said Sorrin.

Paddlers can soak up the stars among unique geological formations and sandy stretches. Since 2019, the monument has been among the Centennial State’s International Dark Sky-designated destinations.

The Yampa is also the last free-flowing major tributary of the Colorado River. “It’s not dam-controlled, so the flows are what Mother Nature gives, which is typically a shorter season: May, June, and sometimes July,” said Sorrin.

Royal Gorge

The Royal Gorge is one of the Centennial State’s most popular attractions and is home to one of the world’s highest suspension bridges, which stretches across the gorge. The bridge — 1,270 feet across and 956 feet above the water — was constructed in 1929.

The plummeting canyon walls wind for 10 miles, creating a channel in the earth that was formed over millions of years. Outside of Canyon City and near Colorado Springs and Pueblo, the Gorge feels like the middle of nowhere, yet is easily accessible.

One of the most famous ways to experience the canyon and bridge is to ride the rapids below: an adventurous rodeo across class III-IV rapids.

Bighorn Sheep Canyon

To extend your whitewater season, head to the Arkansas River Valley, where flows can continue into mid-August.

Running the Bighorn offers a family-friendly and mellow day on the whitewater through a gorgeous high-desert landscape.

The Rocky Mountain landscape, a section of the Arkansas River, is home to Bighorn Sheep. These sheep have curled horns that can weigh up to 30 pounds alone.

Eastbound between Salida and Canyon City, the river’s rapids range from Bear Creek to Spider, Badger Creek (all class II-III), and The Flume (class III-IV).

Browns Canyon

Dynamic granite walls stretch above the Arkansas River like a castle’s watchtowers: Both paddlers and anglers alike gawk skyward in appreciation of the geological glory of Browns Canyon.

President Obama designated Browns Canyon National Monument in February 2015. The Arkansas River valley has 21,586 acres of pristine canyons, rivers, and forest.

The stars and dark sky are pristine. “Browns Canyon is one of the newest International Dark Sky Park designated places, and you can do an overnight trip on that section through the canyon,” said Sorrin. In December 2024, Browns Canyon National Monument became the Centennial State’s 18th certified International Dark Sky Place and 12th International Dark Sky Park.

The iconic rapids along this lifeline include Zoom Flume, Big Drop and Toilet Bowl, and range from class II-III.

The Monument encompasses nearly 12,000 acres of the San Isabel National Forest and 10,000 acres of BLM land. From Buena Vista to Salida, the canyon elevation ranges from 7,300 to 10,000 feet and features views of the snow-capped Sawatch Range.

The Numbers

Yee-haw! It’s time for an adventure: Class IV-V rapids await these paddlers. The Numbers is named for its consecutive game of rapids in rapid-fire, one right after the other.

Also along the Arkansas River, rafters can’t go wrong with the stunning views — when they earn a break to look up at the paradise.

Animas River

In Colorado’s Southwest, the Animas is famous for its technical Class IV and V rapids, some of the country’s most challenging commercially rafted segments.

If you’ve never been to Durango, the mining town’s history and charm are stunning, as is the river that snakes through it.

Cache la Poudre River

Beyond its challenging rapids, the Cache la Poudre River is Colorado’s first and sole federally designated National Wild and Scenic River. It is an incredible piece of history meant to stand the test of time.

“If you’re visiting northern Colorado, the Poudre is phenomenal, and it’s so close to Rocky Mountain National Park,” said Sorrin.

When is Colorado’s whitewater rafting season?

Colorado’s rivers are fed by snowmelt, which moves down slope from the snow that accumulates throughout winter at the top of our high-altitude Rocky Mountains. As the spring season delivers gradually warmer temperatures and sunshine, the snow runoff increasingly funnels down and feeds into the whitewater flow.

Generally, the window to run whitewater rafting trips in Colorado is from May to September, from spring to summer and fall. Occasionally, trips can run as early as April. Once September hits, the first sprinkle (or storm) of snow usually arrives.

However, several factors play into the conditions on a river trip. The snow season, weather, water flow and visitation are all pieces of the pie.

The consistency of warm days affects how quickly the river flow increases. If the air temperatures oscillate, then the flow will rollercoaster to reflect it. Alternatively, if there is a huge sunny spell (coupled with no additional rain), then the water levels will initially be consistently high with the snowmelt and then begin to drop.

Water measurement

Water level measurement is based on CFS units, or cubic feet per second. The Arkansas River, for example, runs at an average of 2000 CFS, but can be run at a minimum of 200 CFS and a maximum of 7000 CFS.

Due to the shape of a canyon, the water can be channeled, and a river can still be runnable at a lower CFS.

Water temperatures

Water temperatures can range from 30 degrees and above during the early rafting season to about 55 degrees in late rafting season.

Fortunately, the wetsuits, personal flotation devices, and booties help hold body heat and keep paddlers warm.

Rafting class system, explained

Most kid-friendly white water rafting trips fall within Class I-II. Here’s a general guideline of the classification of rapids, according to author I. Herbert Gordon:

• Class I: Easy, slower water with light riffles.
• Class II: Moderate, medium-quick water with regular waves and space to move through obstacles like rocks.
• Class III: Moderately difficult, quicker sections of water with higher waves. The space between obstacles is narrower and difficult to maneuver.
• Class IV: Difficult, quick flow with powerful rapids and standing waves with advanced paddling required. Sections of rapids need scouting before you run them.
• Class V: Extremely difficult with long, severe rapids with steep drops.
• Class VI: Extraordinarily difficult with constant danger—thus, requires the highest level of expert paddling experience and every safety precaution must be implemented.

That’s especially true for the northern parts of the state, according to the Colorado Water Supply Outlook from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which reported in April that snowpack was “starkly different” across the state, with normal conditions in the north but below normal conditions in the south. An updated report will be released next week.

Statewide, the snowpack was at 83% on April 1. The South Platte Basin, which includes Clear Creek west of Denver and the Cache La Poudre River west of Fort Collins — both popular rafting destinations — was at 98% of normal. The Colorado River Headwaters basin was at 96%. The Yampa-White-Little Snake basin in the northwestern corner of the state was at 93%.

“I think we’ll do fine, water-wise,” said David Costlow, executive director of the Colorado River Outfitters Association. “Certainly, the central and northern part of the state will do better than the southern part.”

The Poudre, which originates high in Rocky Mountain National Park and flows down Poudre Canyon to Fort Collins en route to its confluence with the South Platte near Greeley, was 3% above normal. Kyle Johnson, co-owner of Poudre outfitter Rocky Mountain Adventures, said he is “cautiously optimistic” for a normal season, especially if spring temperatures are mild. His employees began river training this week, with plans to begin running trips on May 10.

“We currently have the best snowpack in the state,” Johnson said. “We’re having unseasonably warm periods in early season, and that could definitely take a toll. It got up to 76 in Fort Collins (on Sunday), so we are seeing some earlier than seasonally normal flows. We could use another spring storm or two.”

Johnson may get his wish. Cool high temperatures and below-freezing overnight lows are forecast for Rocky Mountain National Park over the next eight days. Hot spring weather isn’t what outfitters want to see. They want mild temperatures that produce gradual snowmelt with steady, consistent flows.

“The way to think about it is that the snowpack is kind of a safe deposit box, and we want a nice monthly withdrawal from that account,” Johnson said. “We don’t want big expenditures early in the season. There is always the concern that a heat-up too early could create one of those large withdrawals.”

A different story in the south

The Arkansas River, which is at the heart of the rafting industry with more than 40% of the state’s rafting business, was only at 74% of normal overall. That figure is misleading, however, when it comes to rafting since the measuring stations in the Upper Arkansas, above rafting areas of the river, were reporting at 91%.

“We’ll be OK,” said Bob Hamel, executive director of the Arkansas River Outfitters Association. “We’re not going to have any record peaks. It’s going to be real family-friendly flows, and we’re not going to have flood situations. It’s not going to be super high water. We need to be honest about that.”

The Arkansas has an insurance policy of sorts, too. It receives summer infusions of water from the Ruedi Reservoir on the Western Slope, 13 miles east of Basalt. Water from the reservoir is pumped through a tunnel underneath the Continental Divide to Turquoise Lake near Leadville, then south to Twin Lakes before augmenting the Arkansas.

That water ultimately goes to municipal and agricultural needs downstream, but it lifts all boats along the way, both for rafters and fishing interests in the Gold Medal trout stream.

“We just get the benefit in the movement of that water, because we get to ride on it when it flows by us on the Upper Arkansas as it moves down to Pueblo and points east from there,” Hamel said. “The bottom line is, we will have adequate flows. We’re looking for a good season, and a long season, because of the supplementation of the voluntary flow management plan.”

The snowpack at the headwaters of the Colorado River came in at 18% above normal. Rafting on the Upper Colorado and the section through Glenwood Canyon typically account for around 100,000 rafting user days annually, making the Colorado the state’s second-busiest river for rafting behind the Arkansas.

“It’s in good shape, and the reservoirs there are looking good,” Costlow said, adding that the water will begin to release in early June and rise at the end of that month. “There will be decent flows on most of the Colorado for July, August and September.”

Clear Creek, typically the state’s third-busiest rafting destination, also had above-average snowpack. Its headwaters are located near Loveland Pass, and it flows through Georgetown, Idaho Springs and Golden before entering the South Platte near Commerce City.

Conditions in far southern Colorado are grim, however, with river basin snowpacks ranging from 27% below normal to 47% below. The Animas River, which originates near Silverton and flows through Durango, was 31% below normal, but Costlow said that may not be as dire for outfitters there as it might seem.

“I think they will go through Labor Day,” Costlow said. “Those late-summer, late-afternoon rains in late July and August, there’s just enough to feed the river to keep it flowing. I think they’ll do fine.”

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A group of seven people started floating the river in inner tubes near Portland, about five miles east of Florence, on Saturday morning with a plan to float to their campsite on private land a few miles downstream, the agency said in a news release Monday.

The group became separated while tubing and a man in his mid-30s fell off his tube into the water.

A person fishing nearby saw the man unresponsive in the river, brought him to shore and started CPR, according to state officials.

Rangers and emergency services responded to the scene around 11 a.m., and the man was later pronounced dead.

Rangers did not find a life jacket on or near the man. His name and cause of death will be released by the Fremont County Coroner’s Office.

Colorado is on track to see a record-high number of water fatalities this year, according to CPW.

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Still early in the summer season, Colorado Parks and Wildlife public information officer Rachel Gonzales said there have already been around 20 recreation-related water fatalities across the state so far this year.

“It’s not even the Fourth of July weekend yet, and we’re at almost 20 recreation-related water fatalities. That’s not okay,” Gonzales said. “We as an agency are stepping up patrol and enforcement.”

For the past couple years, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has kept an unofficial count of water-related deaths that occur in state parks or were reported to the agency. So far this year, water-related deaths are outpacing last year, when 32 people died throughout the summer season. This year is trending closely with 2022, when a record-breaking 42 people died while recreating in the water.

Read the full story at our partner, Summit Daily. 

An accident during a family rafting trip on the Colorado River claimed the life of New Castle resident Matt Clemente on Saturday. An experienced boatman, Matt was on the river near New Castle with his three children, his brother Nick, and Nick’s dog.

According to family friend Mary Sundblom, the family encountered trouble when their raft hit a large wave. Despite Matt’s efforts to navigate safely, the raft filled with water and flipped. Matt was not wearing a personal flotation device.

The accident happened near a section of the river known at the “Dino Hole.” According to Sundblom, who learned of the incident from Matt’s brother and children, Matt saw other boats taking a rough line and attempted to navigate to a safer route, resulting in the raft being overwhelmed by the waves. Nick was able to swim himself and Matt’s oldest child, Jasper, 9, to shore.

Sundblom said nearby rafting guides with the Defiance Rafting Company managed to rescue Matt’s two other children further downstream. Nick’s dog, Ooggie Boogie, was found alive Sunday by Garfield County sheriffs. According to a Garfield County Search and Rescue Facebook group post (which has since been deleted), a rescue team of eight members and two water crafts were dispatched, which located Matt’s body downstream on a sandbar near the New Castle boat ramp Saturday evening. His body was retrieved using a helicopter around 7:35 p.m.

Read more at www.postindependent.com.

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“Water height and flows are expected to rise as the heavy snowpack continues to melt in the coming days,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.

People are not allowed to use inner tubes, rafts, “belly boats” or go swimming, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office order.

Kayaks, white water rafting and professional raft trips are exempt from the restrictions, but the Jefferson County sheriff encourages people attempting those activities to exercise extreme caution.

Read the full story from our partners at denver7.com.

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Predicting seasonal rafting conditions is difficult because factors besides snowpack depths always come into play, such as temperature trends, which affect the rate of runoff, as well as the amount and timing of monsoon moisture in the summer. At the moment, though, things look promising.

River basins in the northern half of the state are showing above-normal snowpack across the board. The Yampa-White River basin in the northwestern corner of the state is at 111% of normal, while the South Platte is 110% and the Colorado River headwaters basin is at 103%. Basins in the southern half of the state are below normal with the Arkansas at 84% and the Gunnison at 79%. The San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan basin is at 67%.

That figure for the Arkansas River basin is misleading from the standpoint of rafting because it includes automated data collection sites that drag down the overall percentage, according to Bob Hamel, executive director of the Arkansas River Outfitters Association.

“The total Arkansas Basin is 84%, but the area of the Arkansas Basin that the raftng industry depends on is way over 100%,” Hamel said. “We have been above 100% for most of the winter, and certainly with (Thursday’s) storm, we are way above.”

Rafting has already begun on the Arkansas and is about to begin in northern Colorado. Rocky Mountain Adventures will begin running the Cache La Poudre west of Fort Collins this weekend.

“The Poudre is at 106%, so we’re really happy with that number,” said co-owner Kyle Johnson. “Things can change quick, but we think this mild weather we are currently experiencing is an excellent way to start our season.”

That’s because temperature spikes in the spring increase the rate of runoff, shortening that part of the season, while mild temperatures stretch it out. The National Weather Service’s 30-day forecast for May is calling for mild temperatures.

“I think it means, hopefully, a nice, slow, metered melt that provides us with really great water levels for a long period of time, and hopefully extends our season into late summer,” Johnson said. “We like to see a nice historical bell curve without really high peak flows — just a nice gradual uptick to seasonal high flows, then a nice metering down to the end of the season. I think we have enough snow in the mountains to provide extended medium to high water flows. And if the weather will stay mild for us, that’s exactly what we’ll see.”

Although the snowpack in the southern half of the state is less than abundant, outfitters there may have a better year than last year according to David Costlow, executive director of the Colorado River Outfitters Association.

“I’m a little more optimistic for the southern half this year than last year, because we got some late snow, and it hasn’t been 90 degrees — hasn’t even hardly been 80 degrees on the Front Range,” Costlow said. “The outlook doesn’t look like it’s going to be super hot anytime soon. Up high, it has been cool, and there’s still snow up there compared to this time last year. We have a pretty good percent of that snowpack waiting to come down, and that will be good for us.”

In fact, significant snow fell in the mountains this week, with more to come at many locations.

Costlow said outfitters around the state are encouraged by the rate of reservations they’re getting.

“They’re telling me bookings are looking good,” Costlow said. “Some are saying they’re really strong.”

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Now take away the land and the air-conditioned SUV. Replace it with endless miles of ocean and a 28-foot boat powered only by human stamina. Rest comes in the form of a seemingly endless string of two-hour catnaps, wedged between backbreaking shifts pulling oars.

No snooze button, no days off, no excuses — just open water from the California coast to Hawaii. Two thousand eight hundred miles.

Daunting? Sure. But Buena Vista resident Kelsey Pfendler says she wouldn’t want it any other way. The 29-year-old is a modern-day vagabond who runs rivers as a raft guide, patrols ski slopes when the snow flies and lives out of a revamped 1984 VW Vanagon with 310,000 miles on the odometer.

“My whole life has been trying to figure out how to be in the middle of nowhere in a boat,” said Pfendler, who has lived in this Chaffee County town for the better part of a decade. “I have such a huge respect for water, and there’s nothing more powerful than the open ocean. But that shouldn’t be the reason for not doing something.”

That something is the World’s Toughest Row, Pacific edition. The grueling race across Earth’s largest ocean launches in June from Monterey, California, and ends in Hanalei Bay on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Pfendler is part of a four-woman team, dubbed Hericane Rowing, that will power one of about 20 boats competing in the race. More teams may still jump in as the starting date approaches.

They will attempt to break the women’s record for the course — currently 34 days, 14 hours, 20 minutes.

“I think she has a chance to beat it,” Travis Hochard, the general manager of River Runners, said on a brilliant August morning. Nearby, Pfendler readied a group for a 10-mile rafting trip down the Arkansas River. “If her team is anything like her, I’m sure they’ll do great things.”

They’ll need to, said Evan Stratton, who serves as a safety officer for World’s Toughest Row. He completed his own 50-day ocean voyage four years ago, in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, as part of the Fight Oar Die rowing team made up of U.S. military veterans.

Whether it’s 45-knot wind gusts or 25- to 30-foot waves — or both — a potentially fatal event is just one bad ocean swell away, the former Marine said.

Stratton would know.

He was the weather router for a Fight Oar Die team that nearly perished in the waning days of 2022 when its boat overturned and emergency communications largely failed.

“You’re going across the ocean in one of the most primitive ways you can,” said Stratton, who lives in Aurora. “More people summit Mt. Everest in a year than do an ocean row. It’s one of the only sports in the world where you can’t train to the task you’re going to be in.”

But that doesn’t mean training is off the table — far from it.

“I came out here to work on the river”

Though Pfendler doesn’t live anywhere near the coast, she is no stranger to water — or to the ocean.

“I spent a lot of life with water,” she said.

Pfendler sports several tattoos with nautical themes, along with an illustration of Mt. Marcy — New York’s highest peak — on her right bicep. It hints at her origins: She grew up in the tiny town of Lee Center in the Adirondack Mountains, just over 100 miles northwest of Albany.

She was on the water early. Shortly after her 18th birthday, she was guiding her first raft trip. Many more followed, mostly on the Black and Moose rivers in northern New York.

“I didn’t know this was a job,” she said, recalling her introduction to the world of guiding.

Pfendler’s attention soon shifted west, where the rivers run longer and the water churns harder. In 2016, she made the Arkansas, with its world-class rapids cutting canyons through the Rockies, her destination.

But the annual rafting season is short in Colorado’s high country, so Pfendler supplements her income with trips through the Grand Canyon in Arizona. She works ski patrol, emergency response and avalanche control at Colorado’s Copper Mountain during the winter. She also joined the ambulance crew in Chaffee County just as the pandemic was spreading across the state.

“I vaccinated this whole place during COVID,” she said.

Pfendler’s transport and bed are one and the same: her Vanagon. Inside, there’s a diesel heater, a propane stove and a solar-powered fridge. On a small bookshelf toward the rear sit several outdoor-related titles — “Roadside Geology of Colorado,” Anne LaBastille’s “Woodswoman,” and Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea,” both in English and Spanish.

And of course there’s Don Lago’s “The Powell Expedition,” an account of John Wesley Powell’s 1869 exploration of the Green and Colorado rivers, including through the Grand Canyon, where Pfendler has spent so many days on the water.

“If I had to pay rent, I wouldn’t be able to fund this race,” she said of the World’s Toughest Row. “This is how I can make these dreams work.”

Kristen Hofer, one of three Oregon women who make up the rest of Hericane Rowing, says Pfendler may live a thousand miles away, but her tireless, no-limits attitude isn’t muted by geographical barriers. Her teammates already see her as a team leader who will be key to turning aspirations into accomplishments.

“We were kind of blown away by her background and her sense of adventure,” Hofer said. “This feels right.”

The concept of ocean rowing came to Pfendler a few years ago while she worked as a crew member on a private sailboat that plied the Mediterranean Sea. There, she met some rowers who were getting ready to head across the Atlantic.

“It just sat with me for a while — and then I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Pfendler said.

Just over a year ago, she ventured onto the online platform of the race, then known as the Great Pacific Race. She met Hofer, 30, and Hofer’s 29-year-old sister, Jennifer, as well as Sierra Myers, 29, who went to school in Oregon with Jennifer.

The trio, seeking a fourth teammate, had interviewed nearly a half dozen candidates, a process they equated to speed-dating. When they met Pfendler, it didn’t take long to seal the deal.

“She is such a calm, capable and confident person,” Jennifer Hofer said. “We had to have her.”

But calmness and confidence are only a part of the equation, said British rower Roz Savage, who made history journeying solo across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans more than a decade ago.

“These women are going to be in an exhausting, scary, immensely challenging situation — battling sleep deprivation, doubt and fear,” said Savage, a speaker, author and candidate for the U.K. Parliament. “Even the best of friends can find it hard to be kind to each other with so much going on. Little things can blow up into big arguments.”

“A lesson in being hungry for your goals”

That’s where Scott Jones comes in.

As the Colorado-based host of the “Athlete on Fire” podcast, he leans on his experience as a long-distance runner and ultra-marathoner to train and inspire others. In July, he put the women of Hericane Rowing through the ringer. It was only the second time the team had gathered in person.

“You’re going to be on a boat together for 30 to 40 days working your butts off,” he said in a recent interview with The Denver Post. “How do you relate to these people when you’re tired and physically and mentally out of it? If you can’t keep your cool, you can’t make good decisions. And if you can’t make decisions, bad (expletive) happens.”

Over four days, Jones subjected the foursome to a battery of challenges to test them not only on physical and mental skills but on their ability to manage sleep deprivation. Ocean rowers typically spend two hours in the cabin and two hours on the oars, rowing both in the blazing sun and under the cover of darkness, for days and nights on end.

Jones started the regimen by putting the team on rowing machines at a Centennial gym — setting the bar at 20,000 meters before they could come off. They bought food for their long weekend and took an icy plunge at Jones’ house in Bailey. Shortly after dropping into bed, exhausted, they were jostled awake and told to complete a 500-piece puzzle.

“The purpose was to make us as tired as possible — and then give us a bunch of unpredictable situations and find the cracks in the relationship,” Pfendler said.

The weekend continued with a 4:30 a.m. wakeup to trek 15 miles from Bailey to Guanella Pass. And then there was a trip to the Lowe’s in Silverthorne, where Jones instructed them to buy materials and construct a pushcart.

“They built a glorified dolly that didn’t really work,” Jones said.

On an evening hike to the top of a hill near Palisade, Myers began to experience discomfort in her ankles on the steep ascent. As progress slowed, tension built. But Pfendler largely kept her mounting frustration bottled up inside.

“I do not communicate well when I’m at my edge,” she conceded.

The next day meant multiple floats in a four-person raft on the Colorado River, with the women hauling the vessel back to the starting point 10 times. They ended up in Glenwood Springs, where Jones told them to hustle on the streets for money. He likened the effort to “old-school friggin’ panhandling” that would provide a valuable lesson “in being hungry for your goals.”

Fundraising, while not a part of physical training, is a necessary part of preparation. Participants have to pay a $25,000 entry fee and provide their own rowing boat. The Hofer sisters estimated the total expense of the race at close to $100,000.

While they are still raising money, Hericane Rowing has managed to land an angel investor who covered the $50,000 or so cost for a nearly decade-old Rannoch R-45 rowing boat. It will be shipped from the Netherlands to Los Angeles in December.

But even the most ferocious hunger for success can’t overcome what nature might serve up on the open water.

Brooke Downes was one of the four members of Lat35, the women’s team that set the record for the Pacific crossing in 2022. A professional rower who lives in Santa Barbara, California, she said those 34 days didn’t come easy.

A couple of weeks into the race, ocean conditions suddenly went limp. What had been progress of 70 miles a day on the oars slowed to 15 miles as the winds died and the ocean currents came to a seeming standstill.

The World’s Toughest Row organizers strictly prohibit an emergency engine or even the use of a sunshade, which could be jerry-rigged into a sail to help propel the boat.

With the water flat, tempers grew short. Downes, the lead navigator, became the target of some of that ire.

Helpless, the team decided to ease tensions by taking a break.

“On that fifth day of the stall, we decided to stop rowing and go swimming,” Downes said. “It brought spirits up.”

She credits the interpersonal skills she and her Lat35 teammates honed in the months leading up to the launch for getting them through that challenge.

“We had tons of things we called each other out on, and the key is to resolve it on land before you get out there,” Downes said. “If you see an issue, get it out of the way now. You don’t want it coming up in the middle of the ocean.”

Two hours on, two hours off

That’s easier said than done when living in a cramped space with three others, traveling through four time zones under blistering sun, driving rain and ink-black nights — and across often-churning seas, Downes said.

Sleep is always in short supply, continually disrupted by the two-hours-on, two-off schedule. That, more than anything, Downes said, can do a number on team members’ moods and on the collective disposition on the boat.

“The body does adapt a bit to the pattern, but you always want to sleep more,” she said. “You have to be lying down when you get dressed, so it’s really easy to fall back asleep.”

Sleep shifts are done in cabins at each end of the boat, enclosures that also provide storage for rain gear, clothes, sleeping bags and electronics. It’s the only place on the boat where a team member can get respite from the elements outside.

While sleep is the top priority, other things must get accomplished when a rower is off the oars.

Primary among those: making meals and connecting to land via satellite phone for weather updates or guidance on navigation. Meals are dehydrated offerings that come in a surprisingly wide range of flavors and cuisines, from mac and cheese to beef stroganoff to pad thai. For Downes and her Lat35 teammates, it was necessary to down 6,000 calories a day.

“If you’re skipping a meal, that’s bad,” she said.

Race rules require that each boat carry 55 days of dry meals, accounting for the most weight on the boat aside from the rowers themselves. Drinking water comes from the ocean, made safe for consumption by a solar-powered desalination system.

Bathroom activity is done on deck, in the open, using the time-tested “bucket and chuck it” method.

“You don’t want to risk anything tipping over in the cabin,” Downes said.

Music and audiobooks can allay the inevitable boredom that comes with rowing for hours and days on end. Downes said country, rap, pop and reggae filled their days and nights.

Because of the inherent danger of ocean rowing, the World’s Toughest Row requires safety devices and equipment onboard, including emergency beacons, satellite phones, a handheld GPS and VHF radio, a solar panel and an open ocean life raft. Any time team members are on deck, they must attach themselves to the boat by harness and tether.

If the very worst goes down, each boat has a ditch bag filled with emergency water and rations, communication and signaling equipment, and a medical kit.

And while an emergency boat covers the basic footprint of the race, it could take a day or two to reach a vessel in distress. That’s how Downes found herself repairing the automatic tiller arm on Lat35’s boat two times in three weeks, with no help from the outside.

Near-disaster on the Atlantic

Fight Oar Die’s Stratton said that once the shoreline fades into the mist, there’s only one certainty for a rowing team: “Things can and will go wrong.”

They did for the Fight Oar Die team of four American military veterans that crossed the Atlantic last year, with Stratton as their weather router. When they hit heavy seas on Dec. 28, things didn’t just go sideways — they went literally upside down. Waves were churning 30 feet high while winds were roaring at 30 knots.

At 3:30 a.m., in pitch black, the men were hit by a gust that they describe on the Inverted in the Atlantic website as akin to being struck by “a freight train.”

“They’re on top of a wave when a massive gust of wind came through and flipped them upside down,” Stratton said.

Thus began 18 hours of setbacks and bouts of bad luck on the high seas that nearly ended in the drowning of the entire team. The two rowers who had been tossed into the ocean tried to right the boat, but to no avail. A life raft was deployed and the men grabbed their emergency communication equipment.

Their satellite phone, soaked to the electronic guts, proved useless. And the beacons, which still worked, sent a signal that was never acted on by officials in Cape Verde, according to their website. Fifteen hours into the ordeal, and fast running out of time and options, the team made contact by VHF radio with a cargo ship that was sailing to Montreal. It was 15 nautical miles away.

“The fact that they got a ship in these conditions is unheard of,” Stratton said.

Eventually, they found each other. By rope ladder, each man climbed from the raft, which had been punctured amid the chaos, to the deck of the Hanze Goteborg. They spent the next 13 days sailing to Canada.

“They probably had a few hours left before the life raft would have sunk,” Stratton said. “The team did everything right but that’s the risk of ocean rowing — that some things can go wrong that are out of your control.”

Hericane Rowing will be using a boat that has made a couple of Atlantic crossings. Dubbed “Rose,” it was the rowing boat for The Dutch Atlantic Four, the team that won the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in 2018.

Marcel Ates, that team’s captain, gives the boat high marks and says if Hericane Rowing follows safety protocols, the journey should be safe.

“In my belief, the R45 is the best and fastest rowing boat for a 3 to 4-man crew,” he said. “Safety comes with the crew. As long as you keep safety as a standard — always, and I mean always, stay connected to the boat with your lifelines. Even in moments of no wind and no waves … Rules like this make ocean rowing safe.”

Pfendler said her approach is to learn everything about Rose in the next nine months.

“I’m trying to learn everything about that boat and what can go wrong so that I don’t have to learn how to fix it — I can fix it,” she said.

“Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t”

But knowing one’s vessel inside and out doesn’t remove the risk of an ocean row. Savage, the British rower who in 2008 tackled the same general route Hericane Rowing will attempt next year, said weather is always the predominant arbiter on the water.

“It’s not the ocean that makes conditions difficult, it’s the weather. And weather changes all the time,” she said. “Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t.”

For Hericane Rowing, Savage said, the biggest challenge will likely come at the start.

“The hardest part of getting from California to Hawaii is getting away from the California coast,” she said. “The prevailing winds are onshore, blowing the rower back towards the shoreline. Winds and currents pushed me a long way south (to nearly level with Mexico) before I could make much progress west.”

But once in progress, the payoff of an ocean row is singularly rich, Downes said. Lat35 watched whales and tuna swim past them, though no sharks. (And too much plastic waste.) The view of the heavens at night is unlike anything a person can get on land.

“So many stars — it was like that every night,” Downes said. “The sunrises and sunsets were insane.”

The reward for the four women of Hericane Rowing for making — and especially completing — the journey will “probably be the most amazing experience” they will ever have, Savage said.

“I believe we’re all capable of far more than we think we are,” she said. “Playing small just gives us an excuse not to be all that we can be — to leave it to others, to pretend that we don’t have the power or the courage to do something really special with our lives.”

Pfendler doesn’t play small, even if she stands 5-foot-3 and weighs 130 pounds. Her arms are visibly muscled.

She works mostly with men in the guide industry and admits that “everything is harder when the person next to you is 8 inches taller.”

But not so hard that it dissuades her from trying.

Pfendler cut out the roof of her Vanagon and installed a shell for more space. She keeps a 3-inch-thick repair manual for the van within easy reach. She just changed out the timing belt and water pump. Next task: re-doing the suspension on the 39-year-old vehicle.

“I just force things to happen,” Pfendler said. “All life is, is convincing people you can do something.”

That includes convincing her three teammates that they made the right choice when they picked her as the fourth member last year.

Though that may have been the easy part of it all. Convincing the ocean to believe in her and the rest of Hericane Rowing next June is the far more demanding task ahead. Pfendler says this is where her respect for the ocean, and the age-old power it holds beneath its undulating surface, will be crucial.

“If you approach with respect and reverence, it has more compassion for you,” she said. “If you respect the hell out of it, usually it lets you pass.”

We know that Lyons is worthy of a stop on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park, or as a destination on its own. We know that 97% of the 85 businesses are locally owned (the only ones that aren’t are two gas stations), making it one of the most unique towns in which to browse, eat and drink. We know that its setting at the edge of the Rockies, with its mix of forests, valleys and sandstone cliffs, is absolutely stunning. And we know that come summertime the music is roaring, with major festivals drawing bluegrass-loving crowds.

Here are five reasons to spend time in Lyons this summer:

The food is some of the best in the state

It may seem strange that one of the most delicious fine dining restaurants in Colorado resides in such a small town, but hey, we don’t make the rules. Marigold is a beautiful, unexpected restaurant serving beautiful, unexpected food, and it alone is worth the drive.

The menu is a constantly changing mix of European/new American dishes that is pretty much whatever chef/owner Theo Adley fancies that day. At this point it’s almost unnecessary to say that a restaurant plucks its produce and meat from local farms and ranches, and it’s the flavor combinations and techniques that make Marigold, which opened last summer, so notable.

Take the staple Caesar salad, a deceptively simple title for what is actually a hand-held take on the classic. We get two chunks of little gem lettuce topped with the familiar dressing, but large bonito flakes stand in for anchovies and crunchy puffed rice for croutons. The three pastas are handmade and extruded each day. (If the bucatini with prawns, lobster stock, white wine and chile crisp is on the menu, order it.) Of the proteins, the half chicken under a brick with yogurt and herb-packed salsa verde is always available, along with usually something else from the land and something from the sea.

And the drinks aren’t so bad either

Oskar Blues put Lyons on the national beer map in 2002 when it decided to pour its craft brews into aluminum cans instead of glass bottles. Popping the top of a crushable red-white-and-blue can is almost a Colorado rite of passage, and the original brewpub still stands on Main Street in the center of town. But there’s more to sip in Lyons than Dale’s Pale Ale.

When you likely first enter Lyons driving west on Colorado 36, you’ll see an Old West-style distillery advertising “Whisky From Colorful Colorado.” But there is so much more than whiskey at Spirit Hound Distillers. This ace distillery also makes small batch gin, rum, vodka, moonshine, sambuca and coffee- and chocolate-flavored liqueurs. You’ll want to take home a bottle of course (or five; we know life ain’t easy), but you should also stick around for a cocktail.

The lengthy menu features tasty blends made with Spirit Hounds booze, like the Call the Sheriff with gin, house amaro, orange liqueur, a tart cherry infusion and orange peel bitters. Or the Robert Burns, whose mix of cask-strength whiskey, vermouth, cacao bitters and walnut extract is so strong that you’re limited to just one. These cocktails are reason enough to book an overnight stay at a nearby Airbnb.

The concerts and festivals in Lyons are legendary

You don’t have to be a bluegrass lover — although it helps — to enjoy the town’s music festivals. July’s RockyGrass sells out quickly, as does August’s Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. The lineups are always stellar, but the experience of camping out on Planet Bluegrass’s on-site campground along North St. Vrain Creek with thousands of fellow music lovers is hard to beat. For bluegrass fans, attending a Lyons fest is pretty much their twangy version of a pilgrimage to Mecca, and the energy is fun. (And, as a warning, nonstop.)

If not showering for three days isn’t your bag, Lyons’ Sandstone Park hosts a weekly summer concert series on Wednesday nights. The acts vary in style (i.e., it’s not all banjos and mandolins), but it’s back to bluegrass for Oskar Blues’ year-round Tuesday night jam sessions. Other spots around town, like MainStage Brewing Co., also regularly host performers.

There’s fun on the water for anglers (and would-be anglers)

Especially in summer, the North, Middle and South St. Vrain creeks are prime fly-fishing spots, teeming with more cutthroat, brook, brown and rainbow trout than you can shake a pole at. (Unless you don’t catch anything, in which case there are clearly no trout in these creeks.)

While you can fish in Lyons year-round, spring runoff can be pretty high, and the weather is just more pleasant in summer. All three creeks get their start near Rocky Mountain National Park and the Indian Peaks Wilderness and wind their way down to Lyons. You can access the South St. Vrain (and where it joins the North) from Lyons’ Bohn Park right in town.

If you’d rather float the creek than put in the pesky work of fishing it, tubing is popular. You can rent single or double tubes, life jackets, river shoes and dry bags at LaVern Johnson Park. The tubing season starts in May, but the water moves pretty quickly. Head out in late June through early August for a calmer ride.

And finally, Lyons isn’t bad to look at

Whether by foot or wheels, the outdoor offerings are pretty darn stunning. Miles of hiking trails will have you trekking through pine forests, 1880s homesteads, grasslands, unique rock formations, impressive valleys and even an elk migration corridor. Check out the paths of Heil Valley Ranch, Lion Gulch Trail and Hall Ranch for spectacular scenery.

On two wheels, you can road bike the Peak-to-Peak Scenic Byway or take on the 40-mile Rocky Mountain Ascent into Estes Park and up Trail Ridge Road. Mountain bikers can hit many of the same trailheads as hikers, with the Heil Valley Ranch/Hall Ranch 33-mile, 3,800-foot-climb Heil to Picture to Hall and Back combo being especially challenging — and rewarding.

Or you can skip all the work and enjoy the views from pretty much anywhere in Lyons, maybe relaxing after a great meal or recovering from all the hard work of thinking about hiking and biking. However you enjoy Lyons, it’s a town worth knowing.

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