Brecheisen Week 3 Arkansas River

I took a field trip to Leadville, Colorado, in order to visit the great Arkansas River. Even though the river ends in Arkansas, where it gets its name, its headwaters are in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The winter snows in the Rockies build up and, in the Spring, the snows melt and release into the Arkansas River. The amount of snow melt and elevation of the river make it the best white water rafting in the US. It is more than a tourist spot; it is also a tributary of the Mississippi River.

The Arkansas River begins high in the Rockies, before heading generally east-southeast for roughly 1,460 miles to the Mississippi River just 40 miles northeast of Arkansas City. The Arkansas River travels through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas and has a fall of 11,400 feet and drainage basin of 161,000 square miles. As the river travels through Colorado, it bends around higher rock formations before reaching a wide valley at the basin. The velocity of the water in this river contributes to high erosion due to the slope of this river from the fall. While the river is perennial due to its constant flow of water, the water levels can rise or increase in speed after heavy rains or snow melt. This can cause a potential of serious flooding. It actually flooded just this past Spring in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Arkansas River once meandered across the valley due to not being confined by valley walls. This is evident by the meander lakes and successive positions of levees. Today, there are locks in place in an attempt to control the movement of the river and prevent meandering.

Even though this river is dangerous in the valley, every Spring through Summer, large crowds travel to raft down the river in the mountains of Colorado. In addition to tourists every year, the river has also been crossed by famous travelers such as Francisco Vazquez de Coronado and the renowned Colorado explorer Zebulon Pike. I plan to come back in the Spring in order to experience that exciting white water rafting.

Reference

Arkansas River | river, United States. (1998). Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/Arkansas-River

Arkansas River Meanders. (2014). Retrieved from https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/83531/arkansas-river-meanders