The Upper Rio Grande drainage is experiencing one of the driest winters in recent memory. Many Creede residents can’t ever remember a winter this mild. This makes us uneasy about the possibility of a shortened float season and low river. Let’s look at the numbers. The Upper Rio Grande Basin is holding under 6 inches of Snow Water Equivalent. That is only 47% of Normal snowpack, and only 36% of last year’s snowpack at this time. In the past few years there has been a substantial spike in snowpack between Mid-February and Mid-March. Hopefully we experience that trend this year. The Rio Grande Reservoir has been storing water since the beginning of November and is sitting at 28,000 Acre Feet which is slightly more water than the Reservoir had at this point last year.

We are encouraged enough by the Reservoir level that we are still taking normal bookings for June/July float trips on the Rio Grande. We expect a shorter season than last year, but it only takes a few storms to change everything. As always, reach out to us if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you soon!