WHITEWATER RAFTING

The Ultimate Journey: 13 Days in Labyrinth, Stillwater & Cataract Canyons

This 60-mile stretch of the Green River without one rapid (but sometimes a few riffles) is perfect for leisure kayaking. It is a graceful float through a bounty of southwestern vistas and steep cliffs of red rock sandstone. Spectacular buttes and mesas rise over 1,500 feet above the river floor. Perfect for paddling your own sleek kayak or share a two-person kayak with a friend. Gear rafts carry all the comforts of a full-scale camp. Meals are prepared fresh with healthy snacks all along the way. Every day you explore on foot some of the secret side-canyons looking for Indian ruins and traces of lost civilizations. Guides are well versed in history and wildlife and share it in a light and interesting way.

No experience necessary, just enjoy some healthy exercise in nature. Touring sea kayaks are easy to paddle, comfortable to travel in and very stable. You’ll stop throughout the day for hikes, resting on the sandy beaches, grabbing a healthy snack and enjoying a great meal. This is the perfect training to get ready to join them next year on some of their new ocean touring vacations.

There is a guide rowing the gearboat and a guide in a kayak paddling along providing instruction if you want it and safety awareness throughout. There will be daily instruction on kayaking, environmental camping and safe-sport techniques.

Trip Details

Day 1:
Meet at the office early in the morning and drive to the river launch site. After the safety talk and some basic kayaking instruction, you’ll push off. The oarboats carry all your gear so your kayak is light and easily maneuverable. The river is moving slowly and the kayaks leisurely drift along. Easily slip into “river time”, where the river current dictates each hour’s rhythms. Your guide will point out Crystal Geyser in hopes that it will spontaneously erupt when you pass. Enjoy your surrounding as the kayaks slowly drift around another bend in the river. Lunch stops and evening camps offer up discussion about the lands and their past and present inhabitants (all animals these days). Camp along the river each night, and let the water lull you to sleep as the moon rises over the canyon walls.

Days 2-5:
Each day paddle deeper into the canyons as the sandstone walls begin to rise several hundred feet overhead. Remote campsites and hiking trails offer unparalleled photographic opportunities. Rock alcoves protect hanging gardens and magnify the song of the canyon wrens. The guides will be instructing and encouraging you from their own kayak and you’ll be maneuvering your sleek craft like a pro in no time. You’ll see ancient Fremont Indian rock art etched into the stone walls and talk about how they lived here. Stop throughout the day to hike, have a stretch break, grab a healthy snack and or enjoy a great meal. You’ll talk about the impact of energy development on the Colorado Plateau and see the remains of old uranium-mining operations near Hey Joe Canyon. Traditionally, the last night of the river trip is “dress-up” night. It takes just a little imagination to participate.

Day 5:
The canyon colors change as the river flows ever deeper into the red rock canyon; reds change to purples, oranges into blues. Stop at the inscription of trapper Denis Julien who paddled the Green River in search of beaver in 1836. Take out at Mineral Bottom for the drive back to Moab, arriving at the office around 6:00pm.

Days 6-7:
Board oarboats after breakfast and float deep into Canyonlands National Park. The spectacular scenery resembles the Grand Canyon. Hike up the trails for unparalleled photographic opportunities. Walk to Anasazi (ancestral Puebloans) ruins and petroglyphs, pondering their unexplained disappearance 1,000 years ago.

Days 8-9:
The river challenge begins! Seven days into your journey, arrive at the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, which doubles in size and force as you enter Cataract Canyon. In high water, the waves are gigantic and in quick succession becoming more moderate July through September. There are notorious rapids here: Mile-Long Rapid, a series of sheer drops and notorious whitewater, then comes a series of rapids affectionately named the Big Drops, Little Niagara and Satan’s Gut. Complete the run and relax on a sandy beach to recount the excitement. Traditionally, the last night of the river trip is “dress-up” night. Anything goes if you would like to participate. It is just up to your imagination.

Day 10:
Today is spent motoring out of the canyon and onto the edge of Lake Powell, where you will climb aboard your private aircraft (suggested option) for a birds-eye view of this magnificent canyon country, which you just experienced from its depths. You’ll be met at the airport to drive back to Moab by 6:30pm-7:00pm.

*Note: This is an example itinerary and may change due to weather, water level, camp availability, etc.