Colorado River — La Grange: River Level Today — Can You Paddle It?

At 380 cfs the Colorado River is inside the runnable range but only 180 cfs above the 200 cfs floor, so it is sitting at the shallow end of what this reach runs at. A dry few days would take it under.

Over the last 24 hours it has gone from 349 cfs to 380 cfs, 9% up. Daily means over the past 7 days have run between 345 cfs and 527 cfs, 34% lower at the end of the week than the start. The last day and the week as a whole point opposite ways, which usually means a recent rain bump on top of a longer falling trend — worth a second look at the chart before you commit to the drive.

Colorado River at La Grange is a 14-mile Class I run in Texas — easygoing moving water with light riffles and nothing technical. Most paddlers put in at La Grange (US 77) and take out at Columbus (Beason's Park), a trip that runs about 6 hours at a relaxed pace.

Whether it's worth the drive comes down to flow. This section generally paddles well at 200–6,000 cfs (a conservative estimate — see our methodology). Much below that and the Colorado River gets low and bony, so you end up scraping gravel and walking the shallows; well above the top of the range it turns fast, cold and pushy, which is a more serious day than most casual boaters want. We read USGS gauge 08160400 about every 30 minutes and compare the live number to that window, so the verdict at the top of this page reflects conditions right now rather than a monthly average.

This reach can run year-round in a typical year, though levels still swing with rain and dry spells — the live gauge always beats the calendar, so check today's reading before you load the car.