Clear Creek Whitewater Park

I love going on evening walks here! Great for going on jogs as well! Simply put, it’s a pretty relaxing and clean park with a beautiful creek running through it.

As a non-​kayaker, and merely a walker arounder, I loved this park. Well maintained grounds with easy access down to the river. A friend told me while we were there that there used to be many jagged rocks in this part of the river, that would destroy bodies and flotation tubes as well. The city really did a great job at redoing the park and the river itself, cementing rocks into place to create rapids without jagged bits.
Great place to bring grandma. Pretty flat, nice views, easy parking.

One of my favorite things about visiting Golden is coming to Clear Creek Whitewater Park. The setting is gorgeous with beautiful trees, paved paths, bronze statues and watching people of all ages find a way to enjoy the water.
It’s a perfect destination for a little tubing, splashing about for the kiddos, or just dipping your feet in the shallow side on a hot day. Most days the water is calm and can easily be enjoyed; being able to walk across the river is normal. This May and June rain has definitely increased the water level and it looks more dangerous than normal. I found it fascinating to read the history of Clear Creek Whitewater Park while walking across the bridge and learned that this river floods quite often, a lot more than I thought.
Enjoy a gorgeous Colorado day and bask in the sun with your toes dipped in the water and watch as kids find joy in splashing about and as adult’s leisurely tube down the river. It’s a fun day trip on a sunny day.

This area is beautifully kept up by the city of Golden. There is a path that runs along the river that runs from the City of Golden up to 6^th Avenue. It’s about a three mile run, which is perfect if you’re training for a 5k. Parking is free by the baseball field and picnic areas. There’s a lot a couple blocks up from the Golden Hotel as well.
This is a great place to host a barbecue, but be prepared if you want to throw one in the summer! You have to get there pretty early to reserve it! This park is very dog friendly. People are attentive and the aren’t a lot of pebbles on the pathways, so your dog’s feet should stay nice and pretty. Many people let their dogs swim in the Creek when the weather is nice out.

This is a wonderful, fun, affordable family friendly activity. We were there on a hot (90 degree) summer day. There was a nice mix of people of all ages. Some were going up to the top to float down in tubes, and some were just hanging out in the eddys and cooling off.
The park itself is pristine, and both the park staff and the visitors seem to really take good care of it. People came with their pups, their kids, their extended families.
There is a place to rent tubes, and people can also bring their own.

I put in at tunnel one on a tube and had a blast going down the river. Does anyone know if you can stay on the water through Denver?

Very enjoyable trail and creek. A nice casual trail for families that border on a cool mountain stream. Lots of opportunities to take a swim and, of course, raft. Even though some complain that the tail is paved in parts and goes through town, we found that really convenient.

My group went on the worst day possible. It was freezing and it started raining within 15 minutes of putting our raft into the water. May is not the greatest time of the year to raft, but we had a friend visiting so we all knew going into this adventure, it might be a little rough.
And it was. One chick left the boat crying in pain, and I even stated that this was the coldest I had ever been in my life. Our guide; however, did an amazing job at keeping everyone in a good mood. He lead us through lots of ‘hard’ rapids (we did the intermediate trip), would jump into the freezing cold water to keep our raft from hitting certain things at different points of the trip, and gave us a historical tour of the town during the calm waters. Overall awesome. All the guides were awesome, as one kept our group entertained on the bus ride to the launch site.
I would have given five stars, but there are slight improvements to be made. Nothing to do with the staff, all of them are AWESOME. There was only one heated shower in the women’s locker. The other one only had cold water. The ‘heated’ locker room was not heated. Just as cold as the outside. I am sure these are minor fixes and probably doesn’t even matter in the middle of the summer, but on a cold day, it put a little bit of downer on our trip. We all rushed to our car and blasted the heat to warm up.

Staying at the camp. The rig is pulled right up next to the creek. Nice place, nice people and gorgeous views. Stoked.

I love it when nature makes its own water park for people to enjoy. This park has everything. My friends and I love to head up here on our days off when were not doing anything and just go down it once or twice. But be aware that on a hot day this park can get busy with tubbers and swimmers and kayakers. It is also a great place to take your dog and perhaps let them play in the water a little bit.
I can’t wait to go back. oh and remember to lift your butt on the big rocks.

What’s not to love about this park? It’s beautiful.
We walk our dog down for a dip or cool off ourselves with our feet in the water. It’s packed with tubers and kayakes on hot summer days, especially the weekends. We prefer a slower lazy river for tubing. That isn’t the case here but everyone seems to love it. It was a little fast and intense for us so we only did it once! Since then we opt to bring our camping chairs and soak our legs in the water while we watch all the tubers.
It’s gorgeous in the winter time and the lights they string up for the holidays are spectacular!

Gorgeous place for an afternoon stroll or a picnic lunch. I love to bring my dog here for walks, and to let him splash around in the water. There’s plenty of shallow and calm areas to wade around in or go rock hunting. It’s fun to watch the tubers go by in the summer while enjoying a sandwich on the shore. I attempted to go tubing once this summer, which was a little painful because of how low the river was… but I still had a fun time (just don’t try it with those flimsy blow up rafts)!

It’s really pleasant here. Lots of runners and cyclists and dogs. Happy people getting out into the sun or venturing down to the rocks by the river. You can go tubing, take a dip or just hang out and watch the action. Plus it’s near downtown Golden where there are tons of restaurants and shops — a really good time.

Gorgeous park!
This is the park where my friend and I launched our rip board to learn how to rip board on the rapids. Many people come to Clear Creek to launch their surf boards, kayaks, inner tubes and more. You can also swim but just be aware that the Coors plant is just downriver from Clear Creek so the rapids can get high in early spring. A strong winter may mean the ‘cc’ level is too high.
Clear Creek has lots of green space to have a picnic, or throw a frisbee though it isn’t too big. There are clean restrooms and a sand pit and net to play volleyball.
If I lived in Golden this would be a frequent spot!

so Becky S. recommends to drop in at tunnel 1. that might be just fine in the years where we don’t get a shit ton of rain. so check the cfs report for the creek at
.
we went at 220 cfs today and it’s not for novices. one of our inner tubes busted over a fall. if you do drop in at tunnel 1, make sure you do NOT got to the left of the split. it takes you over a water fall that will pull you under and give you enough time under said water to think to yourself, well. i might just die here right now because i can’t feel the bottom and i can’t reach the top… well, shit fuck. so, ass punching rocks, falls, knees going through a meat grinder of rocks because the current is going too fast to pull yourself onto your tube…
because of all of the above, i recommend not dropping in at tunnel 1 unless it’s more like 100 cfs or lower. stick to going in a lions park on high cfs days. also, by tunnel 1 there’s a bunch of crap in the water. big boards and who knows what else. i left with a large gash/​contusion in my leg and had to get a tetanus shot at the doc in the box.
i just want other people to be aware to check how fast the water is going before going up that far and to be careful and to definitely not go to the left at the first split after tunnel 1.

I didn’t get in the water. My pre-​teen son and I just stopped by this weekend to enjoy the weather and see the sights. We mostly sat in my car and watched the kayakers and tubers. There were a lot of folks walking by carrying inner tubes and some with kayaks. Then several minutes later we would see those some folks floating by. It looked fun, but cold. I would like to try tubing down but I’m afraid my big olé body and tube could wipe out some others, even worse wipe out me! The water was running very fast and strong. Even if you don’t get in the water it’s a good place to go and enjoy nature, the sound of the river, and people watching.

If you’re coming here to actually kayak, bring your patience. The tubers have no control over their vehicles, the inexperienced ones tend to flip out of their tubes when it comes to the rocks, and in the spring when the current is so fast, this can be dangerous.
Yes, the water is freezing. But this is your chance to navigate an actual course while surrounded by lots of others who have been there before — they can give you hundreds of tips on being successful.
And now, for the tubers. I recommend doing the taxi method. One person parks close to the Washington Ave bridge, the other drives the tubes and the people (so someone with a truck…) up to tunnel #1 on the canyon road, AKA Rt. 6 West.
At tunnel #1 there’s a rock you can go cliff-​jumping off, it’s not that high, but it’s fun and certainly refreshing in the heat of the summer! Just drop in on your tube here, and float down the river. It’s a long and refreshing ride, make sure you wear your sunscreen! And don’t go if it’s looking cloudy, the trip can take 45 minutes to get down river… and lightning isn’t the best scenery while you’re floating. The end of the trip takes you through the Whitewater Park. As you go over the rocks, lean forward to avoid getting trapped in the currents.
And right before the Washington Ave bridge, there’s a rope swing on the right. Lots of fun on Clear Creek!

The place to go when you are learning to kayak in Denver. Although, yes… the water is freezing in May and June and just plain cold the rest of the time. You can’t beat it for the quality of the features and access to the metro area. During the summer, it’s like some sort of white trash barbeque and it can be a really fun place to tube and boat. Plenty of bikini’s and bad tattoos to enjoy as you have a beer (discreetly) at the take-​out.
For a beginner, don’t be deceived… CC can still administer an ass-​kicking to the newbie, I would still call it a class 3 rapid. Some of the eddies can be sticky so be prepared to do some swimming if you don’t have a solid roll.

I actually did not set any parts of my body in the water, but we went there for our wedding pictures. It was in Octopber, it was nice weather, it was beautiful. The colors were perfect, and there are a few places to take group pictures. We went the day before to scout some specific places and we saw a photograph taking pictures of a girl there too, so it must be a pretty well known spot. Anyway, i loved it, now i have my nice pictures.
Also a few kayak went by and said hi, it was fun.

I came here with Jessica B because she was so yippie-​skippy-​doodly-​excited to go tubing. Too bad it had just snowed up on the mountains and Clear Creek was now full of a liquid form of ice some people call «water.»
“I have an ice-​cream headache in my feet” was Jessica’s perfect way of describing the pain. I was a good enabler in telling her she didn’t have to prove anything and we could just hobble back to the car.
Other than that, this looks to me like a pretty kick-​ass place. I’ll give it another star when I don’t fear my nuts jumping up from the cold and giving me a double-​chin.