A record number of rafters floated Colorado’s waterways last year, spurring a banner year for the rafting industry and the communities that host river-running vacationers.

The Colorado River Outfitters Association on Thursday said rafting companies hosted 550,861 commercial guests on 29 stretches of rivers in 2016. Those guests spent more than $70 million in Colorado, stirring an estimated economic impact of nearly $180 million in the state’s riverside communities.

“When people come to Colorado to spend their vacation, we are seeing more people thinking, ‘Hey, we ought to raft before we go home.’ Fifteen, 20 years ago, people didn’t think about rafting as much. They thought maybe it sounded a little bit too far beyond them. Now, outfitters are catering to a larger demographic and more families, and they are pushing into gentler water,” said David Costlow, the head of the outfitters association.

Last year was a new high for rafting companies. Their numbers finally surpassed the previous high mark set in 2007, when the economy was booming, people were spending and the water was flowing. The story is the same across the Colorado high country, where resort communities saw not just record traffic in 2016, but record spending. Resort towns in the mountains are reporting several years of historic sales tax revenues as visitors flock to the Rockies.

But the rafting industry in Colorado is dependent on a dynamic confluence of factors beyond the typical variables of gasoline prices, consumer confidence and the overall health of the economy.

Snowmelt – even dust – affects water flow

Whitewater outfitters have to worry about water flowing from snow melting in the mountains. Sometimes too much snow fills rivers with raging rapids that turn away families looking for a leisurely float. Sometimes exceptionally warm weather — or the increasingly common layer of springtime dust coasting alpine snowpacks — sends runoff into river too early, ending the season before the rush of summer visitors as flows dissipate. (Last spring, a rare absence of that dust promised a slow and steady runoff that thrilled rafting companies.) Sometimes too little snow keeps rivers trickling and demand wanes, like it did in 2012, when drought and wildfires deterred summer visitors and rafting visits plummeted 18 percent.

In 2016, the state’s rubber flotilla was less reliant on the Arkansas River, the most rafted river in the country. The 50-plus outfitters along the Arkansas River from Buena Vista to Cañon City accounted for more than 40 percent of the state’s total rafters, counting 223,878 guests last season. That still isn’t as many rafters who floated the Arkansas in the late 1990s or 2005-2007. But smaller waterways — like Clear Creek and the Eagle, Roaring Fork and San Miguel rivers — have seen their rafting numbers grow exponentially from the previous high in 2007. The number of commercial rafters on Clear Creek, for example, is up almost 60 percent from 2007.

Clear Creek, running from above Idaho Springs into Golden, has become much more well-known and its range of challenge — from intermediate to expert — is appealing to rafters, said Dale Drake, general manager of 25-year-old Clear Creek Rafting.

There’s also a growing number of outfitters offering whitewater floats down Clear Creek, which offers some of the closest whitewater to metro Denver.

“When we started we had to talk people into coming up and trying Clear Creek,” Drake said. “Now it’s recognized as a quality whitewater destination.”

Adventurers explore more remote Colorado rivers

Also, veteran rafters are starting to branch out beyond the Arkansas River, just like well-traveled skiers occasionally venture beyond the major resorts.

“For many, this is not their first trip to Colorado and they are exploring the state and all these other places,” Drake said.

The growth beyond the Upper Arkansas River Valley isn’t worrying rafting outfitters there. The convenience of Clear Creek will always draw Front Range visitors, and the Arkansas River will keep its appeal, especially with Browns Canyon National Monument elevating the river’s profile among vacationers, said Joe Greiner, who has owned Wilderness Aware Rafting on the banks of the Arkansas River outside Buena Vista for 32 years.

“We certainly have room to grow. As the population increases in Colorado and other rivers reach capacity, we have not hit ours. We are just going to rise with the tide,” Greiner said. “I think we will eclipse our record numbers soon.”

Colorado commercial rafting total visitation / economic impact, 2006-2016:

2006: 507,755 / $138,468,398

2007: 533,166 / $151,359,483

2008: 506,752 / $144,004,723

2009: 483,600 / $141,136,064

2010: 497,867 / $147,479,308

2011: 504,403 / $153,897,880

2012: 414,177 / $128,517,393

2013: 464,325 / $146,239,279

2014: 510,369 / $162,026,776

2015: 508,728 / $162,636,349

2016: 550,861 / $179,804,163

Source: Colorado River Outfitters Association