The Fryingpan River is a tributary of the Roaring Fork River

Roaring Fork River

Roaring Fork River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in west central Colorado in the United States. The river drains a populated and economically vital area of the Colorado Western Slope called the Roaring Fork Valley or Roaring Fork Watershed, which includes the resort...

, approximately 42 miles (67.6 km) long, in west central Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

It rises in northeastern Pitkin County

Pitkin County, Colorado

Pitkin County is one of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is named in honor of the late Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. The county population was 14,872 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Aspen...

, in the White River National Forest

White River National Forest

White River National Forest is a National Forest in northwest Colorado. It is named after the White River that passes through it. It also contains the Flat Tops Wilderness Area, largely considered the birthplace of the U.S...

 in the Sawatch Mountains along the western side of the continental divide

Continental divide

A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea...

. It flows westward along the county line between Pitkin and Eagle County

Eagle County, Colorado

Eagle County is the thirteenth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado in the United States. The county is named for the Eagle River. The county population was 41,659 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is the Town of Eagle...

. Below Meredith

Meredith, Colorado

Meredith is an unincorporated town and a U.S. Post Office in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The Meredith Post Office has the ZIP Code 81642....

, it is dammed to form the Ruedi Reservoir

Ruedi Reservoir

Ruedi Reservoir is a reservoir on the West Slope of the Continental Divide on the Fryingpan River. It sits about upstream of the town of Basalt, Colorado, near Aspen.The reservoir was built, is owned, and is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation...

. It joins the Roaring Fork below Basalt

Basalt, Colorado

Basalt is a Statutory Town in Eagle and Pitkin counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. The population was 2,681 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

. A portion of the river's water is diverted to the east side of the continental divide for irrigation and drinking water via the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project

Fryingpan-Arkansas Project

The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, or "Fry-Ark," is a water diversion, storage and delivery project serving southeastern Colorado. The project was authorized in 1962 by President Kennedy, construction began that same year, and was completed in 1981...

.

See also

• List of rivers of Colorado
• List of tributaries of the Colorado River