Not only is Lunch Counter a world class river wave, it is also located in a beautiful place. Nestled in a winding canyon, this place is unlike any other river wave location I’ve been to. It reminds me more of a remote rock climbing crag than a river surfing spot.
Photo Credit: Heather Jackson
Most good river waves are man made. Nice glassy river waves just don’t occur naturally very often. When people choose to spend the time and money to build river waves, they often do it in populated areas. The downtown area of cities and towns seem to be the most common place. This allows for the best access to the largest number of people.
This means there are often lots of people, roads, paths, buildings, bridges, and all kinds of other man made things around. It’s rare to feel like you’re totally in nature when river surfing. There are some exceptions: Pumphouse Wave (but the wave itself isn’t great) and Mountain Wave (which I haven’t surfed yet) are a couple that come to mind. Out of the waves I have surfed, Lunch Counter takes the cake.
Photo Credit: Heather Jackson
There are no bridges or buildings near Lunch Counter. The road is a couple hundred feet up the canyon, and for the most part out of view. There are no paved paths, or stadium seating built into the banks of the river. Just rugged rock cliffs, a single dirt path, and lots of evergreen trees.
The camping is even amazing. Instead of urban camping in a city, the closest camping to Lunch Counter is an uncrowded national forest campground a half mile up the road. Or, if you prefer, there is plenty of free national forest camping nearby.
When we first arrived at Lunch Counter, we planned on staying for three days, we loved it so much we ended up staying for six. Here’s a little video from day 3 at Lunch Counter.
Written by | Benjamin
Benjamin Smith is a land locked surfer living in Colorado. He gets his surfing fix on the local rivers, where he SUP surfs standing waves.
