Rafting the Colorado River through Canyonlands National Park

This past June my wife and I did a four-day rafting trip on the Colorado River, through picturesque Canyonlands National Park.  It was a most memorable trip.  I’m going to be sharing this adventure with you in two posts, this being the first.

The journey from our home in northern Idaho to Moab, Utah (starting point of the trip) was two days of driving each way.  The drive is scenic and beautiful, straddling the continental divide for a large portion of the trip. So while it’s a far distance to travel, it’s not unpleasant or boring.

We met our rafting group in Moab the night before the trip was ready for departure, for a briefing from the trip leader and to pick up some of our gear (e.g. wet bags – designed to keep our gear dry on the rafts).  The following morning we meet at the company’s headquarters and were driven about an hour to our departure point on the Colorado River, slightly north of Canyonlands National Park.  Here our rafts were waiting for us.  Our gear was stowed and we were on our way.  This rafting trip was to take us almost 100 miles downriver.

The first part of the journey was mostly an easy float, without any significant white water.  To expedite our progress, as we had only four days to cover a significant distance, our rafts were tied together and a small outboard motor helped speed things along.

Our focus the first days was on enjoying the scenery and staying cool.  The temperature crawled into the mid-90s F and we’d often dip into the river just to cool down.  While it’ was pretty hot, June is a good time to do this trip as water levels are still quite high from snow-melt in the mountains.

The scenery was very memorable..  The red rock canyons and mesas became taller and steeper the further downriver we traveled, and even more so on the second day when we passed the junction of the Green and Colorado River, where the Colorado gains a lot of water and speed.

One of the pleasures of whitewater rafting trips is that they take you into the wilderness – away from traffic noises and population centers.  At night the sky is filled with millions of stars.  It’s just you, your small group of travelers, and the river.

Our guides worked very hard, doing all the navigating, food preparation and trip planning.  We (the clients) set up our own campsites, were in charge of our personal gear, and helped in a small way with group chores.

This region was the long-time home of indigenous people, and you’ll find evidence of them in pictographs they created, and in their old dwellings and granaries.  Granaries are usually small enclosures where they stored their crops.  These were completely sealed until needed, to keep out pests.

Not having much to do, I spent time studying the eroded rock of Canyonlands.  Some of the structures and formation I found of interest included:

In my next post we enter cataract Canyon, and the excitement of the trip begins!!