JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — Coloradans will be spending time on the water over the long Fourth of July holiday weekend. That includes Clear Creek in Jefferson County, where officials just lifted water restrictions on Monday.
"I'm just excited. It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun," said Jonathanan Howren, who went tubing at the creek for the first time with friends, on the same day rafting, tubing and swimming were allowed again.
He wasn't the only one enjoying what Mother Nature had to offer.
"It's beautiful, right next to the mountains," said Carlye Hileman, who said it was her first time visiting the creek after hearing great things about it. "I looked up online and saw this was a really highly rated place to come. So we decided to check it out."
Jefferson County put the restrictions in place on Jun. 1 because of swift-moving water and high water levels due to a combination of an extended snow runoff and higher-than-usual precipitation amounts over the past several weeks.
Those levels have since gone down but officials said you should still be cautious.
"It was just too dangerous to have people swimming and quite honestly, the temperatures were putting people at risk of hypothermia," said Kasey Beal, the City of Golden's fire chief. "We just want everybody to be using their best judgment."
Mackenzie Foxen, a traveling nurse who was visiting the creek on Monday, said she was glad the county takes those safety precautions seriously.
"There's been a lot of rainfall and the snowfall melting. So it's kind of nice that they pay attention to those things," Foxen said.
The creek has gone from a Red to Yellow Flag status, or high to moderate to high flow, where rescues can happen because of fast-running water.
"Just because we say it's safe to enter doesn't mean it's very safe for all levels of experience," said Beal. "We always encourage no alcohol use and still be very protective of children that are with you."
It's also important to remember your life vests, helmets and proper water shoes, the fire chief said.
"We want them to be in a position to just be mindful of what's going on around them," added Beal.
He said they're also keeping a close eye on the possibility of storms this week.
"We don't like to go back and forth on the restrictions. It's difficult for the merchants — it's also difficult for the people coming to Golden to navigate when it's open, when it's closed," Beal said. "When we open it, we try to keep it open once it's open, but we will close it if it does rise due to some severe weather or heavy runoff."
