You don't have to drive hours for a fascinating raft trip. Just sign up for a leisurely float on the South Platte River through the Carson nature preserve with Flexible Flyers Rafting, a Durango-based outfit. The two-and-a-half hour jaunt may not be much in the way of a wild ride, but there's plenty of wildlife: everything from muskrats and beavers to an ever-changing array of birds, aquatic and otherwise. The trips, which start in May, run $40 for adults and $20 for kids twelve and under; they depart from the Union Avenue kayak chutes north of Belleview Avenue in Englewood Park.