After making changes to Salida, Colo.’s Scout Wave, the new 3.0 version is now better than ever, drawing river surfers in droves to the state’s best riversurfing scene. Read on for the full story from Jason Blevins of the Colorado Sun…
The Salida whitewater park was conceived in 1999 by Salida locals — paddler Mike Harvey, restaurateur Ray Kitson, excavator Fred Lowry and businessman Jerry Mallet — who eventually recruited Recreation Engineering and Planning, the pioneer of Colorado river park designs, to build a river park that has transformed Salida and inspired dozens of other communities.
After first building the Scout Wave downtown in 2010 and then tweaking it for river surfers, last year Harvey and Spencer Lacy of REP tempered it with sandbags after the Arkansas River flows peaked, turning the wave into a boat-flipper whenever flows crept above 1,250 cfs. What could have been a disaster for Salida with the second iteration of the Scout Wave turned into a gem as Salida officials gave the wave sculptors another shot at refining the Scout Wave. Last fall, Harvey and Lacy made permanent changes to the river bed for a third time, creating what everyone calls the Scout Wave 3.0. And then they held their breath as high flows on the Arkansas River this June peaked well above 4,000 cfs in Salida. After last fall’s adjustments — and the reworking to build a river-left boat chute for paddlers in smaller boats who want to avoid the turbulent high-water hole, the Scout Wave’s third iteration is about perfect.
“It is the best river wave in the world. Period,” says Denver musician Eric Halborg.
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