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Arkansas River Outfitters Association (Visit this link)

It happens suddenly - that first roar, a sound like distant thunder, the guide straining to see over the drop. The boat seems to float across the "tongue", a quiet spot at the head of a rapid like a lull before the storm. The first wave, your heart races, your fists clench and you are in it: whitewater.

Just as suddenly you are out, the boat floating gently in the tail-waves. No one is talking. The last waves settle like a song fading to silence. You look back over your shoulder as the boat drifts around the bend and think back, reliving the run for the first of what will be thousands of times for the rest of your life. Long after, you notice your heart is still racing and your fists are still clenched.

But river running is more than whitewater - deer feeding quietly in the shadows of a cottonwood, old trappers' cabins where the wind whistles with history, the sight of a hawk carving circles in the Colorado blue sky.

Whether you choose whitewater or quiet water, a kayak or raft, a day trip or a week, a safe trip with the professional members of the Arkansas River Outfitters Association (AROA) will leave you suntanned, excited and filled with good stories.

http://www.aroa.org