While the Clear Creek corridor saw several major changes ahead of the , 2025 should be a little quieter.
Deputy City Manager Carly Lorentz said this summer will be one to continue many of the management strategies Golden started last summer or in previous years. City staff members aren鈥檛 recommending any major changes before or during the 2025 tubing season, she said.
However, Lorentz pointed out that the City Council is still considering a few summer-related issues, such as whether to prohibit tube rentals and sales during Buffalo Bill Days, .
Lorentz expected those items to be addressed at the March 4 City Council meeting, along with some suggestions locals made at a recent community meeting.
For summer 2025, Lorentz said Golden鈥檚 plans include continuing to:
- Improve signage;
- Host weekly cleanups along the creek;
- Add bilingual resources;
- Maintain or increase enforcement along the creek; and
- Collect data on tubing trends.
The City of Golden shared these plans and asked for locals鈥� feedback on last year鈥檚 changes at the Jan. 16 community meeting.
Several locals who attended acknowledged the complicated balancing act Golden must do every summer. Whether they鈥檙e locals or visitors, whether they鈥檙e walking, biking, tubing or boating, everyone wants to have a good time accessing Clear Creek, the locals described.
鈥淚 think the city has an impossible task ahead of themselves,鈥� local kayaker Nik White said. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 so much demand for tube and tube rentals and tube floating that it鈥檚 a thankless and impossible task.鈥�
Dana Rudd, who lives along 10th Street, felt similarly but added how there鈥檚 鈥渁lways room for improvement.鈥�
Suggested changes
While city staff didn鈥檛 have any recommended changes before the 2025 season, many meeting attendees did.
A major one was removing the city installed last year, which closed off several creek access points during peak times.
, the goal was to better control where people were getting in and out of the creek for data-collection and environmental impact purposes.
However, locals said it made Clear Creek inaccessible and just created more crowds. One person wrote: 鈥淭he fences make 鈥� people have to walk all over each other. We feel like cattle.鈥�
Locals had other suggestions for 2025 or future seasons, including:
- More parking for bicycles and e-bikes;
- A restroom and hosting a lost & found bin at Vanover Park;
- Kayak-only days, or mornings;
- Limiting or restricting tube rentals during kayaking events; and
- Allowing whitewater standup paddleboards during red-flag conditions.
Another point of concern was trash, with Rudd and a few others commenting that the city should install more and/or bigger trash cans along the creek.
Rudd, who runs, tubes and swims along Clear Creek, described how often she saw people leaving behind trash. Sometimes people left their trash near the cans because the trash didn鈥檛 fit inside, she said.
鈥淭he trash is the thing that destroys the river,鈥� Rudd continued. 鈥� 鈥� (The current trash cans) can鈥檛 keep up with the amount of impact and trash that people are leaving.鈥�
Thus, she said bigger and/or more trash cans 鈥渉as to happen.鈥�
Rudd and others were happy with the increased enforcement over the last year. According to Golden, staff members issued 474 citations last summer, which is a 315% increase over 2023. Additionally, 78% of last summer鈥檚 citations were for alcohol violations.
Tubers float along Clear Creek near the Ford Street bridge and Vanover Park in August 2023. Before and during summer 2024, the city worked to mitigate tubing impacts while improving users鈥� experiences on and around the creek. Credit: File photo by Corinne Westeman
Clear Creek Commons鈥� Janet Johnson said she couldn鈥檛 believe how many tickets the city gave out last summer. She walks along the creek frequently and volunteers at the Golden History Museum.
鈥淔rom what I see, it runs pretty smoothly,鈥� Johnson said, adding how the tubers seem to be an economic boon to the local merchants.
When she鈥檚 volunteering at the museum, Johnson frequently fields questions from visitors about tubing. She said the most common one is: 鈥淲here do you get those tubes?鈥�
She added: 鈥淢ostly, (the visitors) like what they see.鈥�
Rudd emphasized how everyone 鈥� visitors and locals 鈥� must treat Clear Creek with respect by following all the city rules and regulations, cleaning up after themselves and generally leaving the corridor like they found it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 beautiful,鈥� she said. 鈥� 鈥� If you abuse it, we will literally lose it.鈥�
Have boat, will travel
Another point of concern at the Jan. 16 community meeting and during public comment at the Jan. 14 City Council meeting was kayakers.
With so many tubers frequenting Clear Creek, it becomes difficult for kayakers to enjoy the space too.
Nik White, who owns Whitewater Workshop, said he can鈥檛 teach kayaking classes or whitewater rescue classes on Clear Creek after Memorial Day.
He clarified that, while advanced kayakers can boat on Clear Creek during yellow- and red-flag conditions, green-flag conditions are the best time for beginning kayakers. However, that means they鈥檙e 鈥渟pending their entire day avoiding tubes,鈥� he said.
Some locals have asked the city to institute kayak-only days or hours, but Lorentz said the city can鈥檛 really do that. The best it could do is , but people could still bring their own tubes, she explained.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not as simple as 鈥榥o one except for kayakers,鈥欌�� Lorentz continued.
White anticipated more kayakers than usual in Golden鈥檚 section of Clear Creek this year, which could lead to more kayak-tuber conflicts.
A construction project above Clear Creek Canyon鈥檚 Tunnel 1 has closed a popular takeout spot for a whitewater section known as Lower Clear Creek, White said. Thus, he expected more boaters would visit Golden.
White, who鈥檚 also a Colorado Whitewater Association board member, said he and his colleagues are doing their best to prepare everyone for the summer. He hoped the city would work with the kayakers on more convenient parking spaces, special events and other considerations.
鈥淏ecause of all the changes happening upstream and the additional traffic coming down here, it鈥檒l be a learning year for both the boaters and the city to see what happens,鈥� he continued.