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Home › Waters › Colorado › Roaring Fork River
River · Western Colorado · Colorado

Roaring Fork River Fishing Guides

Gold Medal water from Aspen through Basalt and Carbondale to Glenwood Springs, gathering the Fryingpan and the Crystal on the way, one of Colorado's premier float rivers.

A freestone river running through a rocky mountain valley in autumn in the Northern Rockies

Map of the Roaring Fork River

12 numbered points: 4 access points, 1 campsite, 6 parks and conservation areas, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 8, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (4)
  • Campsite (1)
  • Park / conservation area (6)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 12 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Herron Park
City of Aspen		Park / conservation area39.18984, -106.81398Riverside park on the Roaring Fork in Aspen.
2John Denver Sanctuary
City of Aspen		Park / conservation area39.19235, -106.81627Riverside park and memorial garden on the Roaring Fork at the Rio Grande Trail.
3Rio Grande Park
City of Aspen		Park / conservation area39.19207, -106.81714Open park on the river beside the Rio Grande Trail; parking at the Rio Grande garage.
4Henry Stein Park
City of Aspen · Rio Grande Trail		Access / boat ramp39.21140, -106.84010Riverside park and trailhead parking below Aspen; a walk-in reach of the upper Roaring Fork.
5Wilton Jaffee Sr. Park
Pitkin County · Woody Creek		Park / conservation area39.25510, -106.87987County park on the river at Woody Creek.
6Old Snowmass Trailhead
Rio Grande Trail · North River Road		Access / boat ramp39.33237, -106.98598Trailhead parking on the Rio Grande Trail; the trail is the public bank access along most of this river.
7Wingo Rio Grande Trailhead
Rio Grande Trail · Wingo		Access / boat ramp39.34706, -107.01093Trailhead parking at Wingo Junction.
8Hooks Lane Trailhead
Rio Grande Trail · Hooks Spur, Willits		Access / boat ramp39.37354, -107.08576Trailhead parking at Hooks Spur below Basalt.
9Town of Carbondale Campground
Town of Carbondale · Satank		Campsite39.41594, -107.22550Town campground on the river at Satank, just above Carbondale.
10Conservancy Park
Glenwood Springs		Park / conservation area39.50959, -107.30863Riverside park above Glenwood Springs.
11Veltus Park
Glenwood Springs		Park / conservation area39.54540, -107.33106Park on the last bend of the Roaring Fork, a few hundred yards above the Colorado.
12USGS 09085000 — Roaring Fork River at Glenwood Springs
USGS streamgage		USGS gauge39.54667, -107.33083The gauge at the mouth; read it before wading the lower river.

Guides on the Roaring Fork River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Roaring Fork River

The Roaring Fork starts on Independence Pass above Aspen and runs forty miles down the valley through Basalt, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs to the Colorado. It picks up the Fryingpan at Basalt and the Crystal at Carbondale, and each addition roughly changes its character, from a small freestone up top to a full-size float river by the time it reaches Glenwood.

The upper river around Aspen is wade water, small and quick with rainbows, browns and brook trout. From Basalt down the river is floatable and the reach from Basalt to Carbondale and Carbondale to Glenwood is Gold Medal water and the heart of the guided fishery. Browns dominate, rainbows are strong and increasing, and there are enough big fish to justify the reputation. The Fryingpan tailwater above Basalt, below Ruedi Reservoir, is a separate and very well-known technical fishery in its own right and is the fallback when the main stem is high.

The Roaring Fork is a freestone river, which means runoff genuinely closes it for several weeks in late May and June. The rest of the year it is one of the more consistent rivers in Colorado, with good green drake and caddis hatches in summer and excellent blue-winged olive and streamer fishing in October and November.

The Glenwood Springs gauge is at the bottom and reads the whole valley. Guides generally like the several-hundred to low-thousand cfs range for floating; runoff peaks several times higher and off-color. Watch the trend and the clarity as much as the number.

Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs all have shops, guides and lodging, with Basalt the traditional angling center.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

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5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

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JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Roaring Fork River cfs

Now: 496 cfs, read 3:45 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 09085000, ROARING FORK RIVER AT GLENWOOD SPRINGS, CO.).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Aspen and Independence Pass: upper river wade access.
Woody Creek and Upper Woody Creek: the top of the floatable water.
Basalt and the Fryingpan confluence: the main access hub and the top of the Gold Medal float.
Hooks Bridge, Catherine Store and Carbondale: mid-valley ramps.
Sunlight Bridge and Westbank: lower valley accesses.
Glenwood Springs: takeout at the Colorado confluence near the gauge.

Seasons

March through May: pre-runoff blue-winged olives and streamers, excellent before the water comes up.
Late May and June: runoff; fish the Fryingpan tailwater instead.
July through September: prime float season, green drakes, caddis and terrestrials.
October through December: the best streamer fishing of the year and very few boats.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Roaring Fork River?

As of Oct 19, 3:45 am, the USGS gauge ROARING FORK RIVER AT GLENWOOD SPRINGS, CO. reads 496 cfs, the 10th percentile for this date, with water temperature 49.8 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Roaring Fork River?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout on the Roaring Fork River in Colorado.

Are there fishing guides on the Roaring Fork River?

GuidedFloats lists 3 guides and outfitters on the Roaring Fork River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Roaring Fork River?

Aspen and Independence Pass: upper river wade access. Woody Creek and Upper Woody Creek: the top of the floatable water. Basalt and the Fryingpan confluence: the main access hub and the top of the Gold Medal float. Hooks Bridge, Catherine Store and Carbondale: mid-valley ramps. Sunlight Bridge and Westbank: lower valley accesses. Glenwood Springs: takeout at the Colorado confluence near the gauge.

When is the best time to fish the Roaring Fork River?

March through May: pre-runoff blue-winged olives and streamers, excellent before the water comes up. Late May and June: runoff; fish the Fryingpan tailwater instead. July through September: prime float season, green drakes, caddis and terrestrials. October through December: the best streamer fishing of the year and very few boats.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Roaring Fork River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Colorado agency site: https://cpw.state.co.us/rules-and-regulations