River Rafting Colorado River

By Jacob

On our trip through Colorado and Southern Utah one thing that I was looking forward to was river rafting the Colorado River in Moab, Utah. The trip was part of our visit to Mesa Verde, Arches, Canyonlands, the Four Corners. There are many activities and things to do around Moab with two national parks, a state park and the Colorado River. We decided the river rafting should be on our list of activities. This trip happened when I was much younger so I will try to remember what I can.

As I recall, we allotted a full day of river rafting on this trip. Our neighbors have a family relationship with one of the owners of the many outfitters in Moab so we chose them to lead our adventure. We woke up at our hotel, the Gonzo Inn, and drove to the outfitter. There we met our group of people that we would be rafting with before getting on a bus and van to the Colorado River. We also met our guides and went through some safety instructions. We got on the bus and headed north and then east on a highway that parallels the river. Since the flow moves from east to west we would be dropped off farther from town and then make our way down river closer to Moab. On the way, we picked up a European family that was staying in this canyon along the Colorado River.

After driving for a while we reached the drop off point. We sorted out our rafts and our family was all together with some more people. We began to start to float down the river and our guide began to explain the scenery around us and information about the river. The canyon that we were floating through is a spectacular site. It was like nothing I had ever seen since this was my first time in the southwest. It was incredible to think that the same river we were floating on begins in Rocky Mountain National Park, flows to Grand Junction and Colorado National Monument, creates the southern boundary of Arches National Park, creates one of the canyons of Canyonlands National Park, through Lake Powell, into the Grand Canyon, though Lake Mead, through the Hoover Dam and only sometimes makes it to the Gulf of California. The red rock and towering canyon walls amazed me as we floated down the timer. Our guide was very knowedgle and nice. We could ask any questions we wanted. He explained to us that he lives in Utah for the summer but goes up to Bozeman, Montana, between Glacier and Yellowstone, for the winter. Someone asked how deep the river was, our guide gave us a very lengthy answer that really did not tell us much except for it changing constantly. Before we got on our raft our guide explained something called the “happy break”. This means at calm sections in the river we can get out of the raft, hang to its side and pee in the river. To the shock of mom I was the first one in the river having a “happy break”.

We then reached the rapids of our trip. Rushing water over rocks created a thrilling ride. I was really freaked out when I saw the first rapids. We started to go through the first rapids and I realized that it was actually really fun. We were at the mercy of the Colorado River going up and down getting soaked. It was better than any raft ride at an amusement park. After the first rapids they only got more extreme. I do not remember the specific classes of rapids but they were not the professional rafter kind for sure.

Though I do not remember all the details I do remember the best parts of our trip through the Colorado River. I would love to go back and experience this again and would love to do it other places. If you are in Moab make sure you spend a day exploring the town or some of the many cool places around Moab outside the national parks.

Tags

Utah

Moab