Cataract Canyon Rafting
Over spring break we were grateful to do a family rafting trip with Oars to Cataract Canyon in Utah. This was my third trip with Oars having rafted previously on the Tuolumne River in Yosemite, and a weeklong adventure in the Grand Canyon (a bucket list trip!).
We started and ended this adventure in Moab, arguably the adventure capital of the US.
I was last in Moab nearly 20 years ago with a close friend on my very first 4×4 adventure. More recently though we’ve been to Utah a few times in the last decade, though this was our first time as a family exploring this beautiful part of our country.
Below are some of the highlights of our rafting adventure.
A beautiful view.
One day we did a hike to see some cool ancient rock petroglyphs. These were created by the Ancestral Puebloans in around the year 800.
More petroglyphs.
Isabel guiding her raft to greatness.
Our loaded up boats.
One of our guides, Tony. Tony is based in Salt Lake City and has guided with Oars for 28 years. He has run a ton of different rivers but said Cataract is one of his favorites given the remoteness and the challenging rapids. In the winter, Tony is a bartender at Park City Resort.
Ernie was our head guide and it was obvious he loves his life on the water. He was always calm. Before the Big Drops series of rapids, we waited on shore while he led our other guides ahead on foot to scope out the rapids to determine the best line. This was important since this was their first trip of the season and the rapids can change based on the season and what weather the canyons have experienced. This year the water was on the lower side, at about 4,000 to 6,000 CFS. This didn’t affect the fun factor at all, but with lower water comes different variables to consider. CFS is a measurement of cubic feet per second, meaning that every second 4,000 gallons of water would flow through a given point. In the off season Ernie works with the Returning Rapids Project.
Isabel lives year round in Moab (population 6,000) and has guided for Oars for a while. She was the only guide with a paddling boat, so when we were not motoring on the flat water, the six folks on her raft (including our son) were able to paddle through the whitewater. In the off season Isabel also works with the Returning Rapids Project.
Alina was joining one of her first trips on this section of the river with Oars. She is a hardcore adventurer, also guiding with Outward Bound, and working in the winter at Park City Ski Patrol. Last summer she biked across the country on the Trans Am route with her dad and sister, and her mom provided sag support. 4,200 miles of riding from Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia and it took them just 80 days.
A little before sunrise at 6:30 am.
The first two days of the trip we were on the flat water, meaning no paddling/rapids on the slow moving water. So we tied all four rafts together and the 25 HP Yamaha motor on the rear raft powered us through. Nothing fast, but better than grinding hard.
The weather this time of the year is pretty good - topped out in the high 70s, and dipped into low 40s at night. In the summer out here, it is brutal, around 100 a day and dipping into the 80s at night. So the best time of the year to enjoy the Moab area is early to late Spring, and the Fall.
Relaxing in the river.
The rafting portion of our trip ended in an area so remote the best way to get back to Moab was a charter plane. This was the smaller of the two. The airstrip was literally a strip of concrete with a dotted white line, about 100 feet away from the road. Check out the airport lounge below.
Saw this cool double horseshoe bend in the river on our way back. It was a little too bumpy with some turbulence but we made it back in one piece.
An overview of our trip from the Sacramento Bee written 26 years ago. But still true today.
And now let’s meet some of the other super interesting travels on our adventure.
Here’s Margot and Sam, visiting all the way from Alaska. Margo and Sam run a lodge in King Salmon, Alaska that is a jumping off point to visit Katmai National Park, which is famous for its viewing platform where bears wait in the river for the salmon to jump into their mouths. Sam is a legend in the outdoor aviation space in Alaska. Originally from Utah, in his mid 20s after flying helicopters in the National Guard for a few years, in the early 80s he moved to Alaska. With only a small airplane he started a business flying produce to remote indigenous village communities. Most of these communities had never had fresh produce before, nor did they even have phone service at the time. After nine years of flying produce, Sam launched a charter business including helicopters and small planes. We learned he has done everything with his helicopters from flying for Deadliest Catch, to search and rescue, to flying in guests to fish camps only accessible by air, and even servicing high voltage power lines in remote areas.
Margo’s son Justin also joined her on the adventure from Ohio.
Father son duo Paul and Robert joined the trip from Chicago. Paul is an arborist at an arboretum and also an accomplished writer, focusing on outdoor and nature related topics.
Another father/son duo of Mark and Theo from the Los Angeles area. Theo will be going to college next year.
Laura joined us from Salt Lake City where she is wrapping up her year as an exchange student visiting from Brazil. She is living with a local family and chose Salt Lake because it is the top place for rock climbing and bouldering (her specialty) in the US to train. Laura is on the Brazilian national team for bouldering.