Basalt Whitewater Park sits on the Roaring Fork River across from the Elk Run subdivision, and it exists less because of kayakers than because of water rights—Pitkin County's Healthy Rivers program built it to lock in a recreational in-channel diversion that protects flows through town. Two engineered play waves run along about a thousand feet of river, finished in 2017 after multiple rounds of fixes. One of the features earned a rough reputation early on, flipping three rafts in a single 2019 incident, though the county says structural work since has cleaned it up. Spring runoff is prime time, and the park draws kayakers, rafters, SUPers, and anglers all sharing the same stretch of river.