The Roaring Fork is a big, generous valley freestone that gathers the Fryingpan and the Crystal on its way from Aspen down to Glenwood, growing browns, rainbows and a healthy run of mountain whitefish along the way. It's a float-and-wade river with real size to it, best after the June runoff drops and the caddis, stoneflies and BWOs get going. Tie it together with the Fryingpan and the upper Colorado as a Roaring Fork Valley cluster — when one's blown or warm, another's usually fishing. The lower river near Glenwood warms in high summer, so mind the afternoons.
The Roaring Fork falls out of the high country above Aspen and runs sixty-odd miles down to the Colorado at Glenwood Springs, gathering the Fryingpan and the Crystal on the way and growing from a pocket-water creek into a big, brawling freestone. The upper river near Aspen is steep and quick over granite and cobble; by the time it reaches Carbondale and Glenwood it's a substantial Gold Medal river of long riffles, deep runs and willow-lined gravel bars beneath the Elk Mountains. The flow is honest snowmelt-and-tributary water, high and off-color in June, dropping into prime shape through the summer and fall. The bed is rounded freestone, the lies in the seams and drop-offs. Wading is real freestone work, slick and uneven, and the lower river is big enough that a drift boat sees the best of it.
Wading: High off color runoff, slick uneven rock
- Mixed
- Partly confined
- Pool riffle
