In The NoCo

Tubing season is a highlight of summer in Steamboat Springs. Here’s why it’s likely to end early this year

By In The NoCo,

Published July 11, 2025 at 5:35 AM MDT

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Around 8 people float in tubes on the Yampa River. Some of the tubes are blue, two are yellow — Tubing on the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs is a popular way to cool off on hot summer days. This year's tubing season may be cut short due to warm water temperatures and low stream flows.

For a lot of people, July and early August in Steamboat Springs is all about tubing on the Yampa River.

People rent a tube in downtown Steamboat, hop into the river just a few steps away and float past wildlife and hot springs. Some days, tourists in brightly colored tubes stretch from one side of the river to the other.

But it’s very likely commercial tubing season on the Yampa will be alarmingly short this year. The Steamboat Pilot reports that city officials may close the river to tubing as soon as next week because of warm temperatures and low water flows.

To learn more about why this is happening, Erin O’Toole spoke with John Chalstrom, a writer and editor with the Steamboat Pilot and the Craig Press – who also happens to spend a lot of time on the Yampa River as a fly-fishing guide.

John Chalstrom, a man with close-cropped gray hair wearing a navy blue Columbia fleece jacket, smiles for the photo with a river, mountains and trees in the background

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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