You Don't Need a Week to Raft the Colorado River

Everyone thinks of the Colorado River as that thin ribbon of water visible from certain view points on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Maybe you are one of them, and maybe you have dreamt of floating down the storied river, following in the hallowed wake of John Wesley Powell and the Kolb Brothers. A trip down the Colorado through the Canyon is an enormous commitment in time and money. While you are assembling an ample supply of both, why not get your feet wet on a different section of the Colorado?

The Colorado river starts in the Rocky Mountains at Poudre Pass in northern Colorado, and by the time it reaches central Colorado it is navigable to rafting outfitters. There are one day floats on flat water, allowing even beginners to kayak, and a section with the river's largest drop of 120 feet per mile as it travels through Gore Canyon, here you will raft through class IV and V rapids. None of these trips require enormous financial outlays or more than a day's time. Both trips are an easy drive outside of Denver, and offer stunning views of the rugged Rocky Mountains.

Once the Colorado reaches Utah, your options open up even more. Outfitters out of Moab can take you through the class IV Westwater Canyon, with it's towering red walls of sandstone. This trip takes a full day, and reservations can be tough for last minute planners. If class IV sounds a bit too rough for your blood, you can easily book a day or half day through a section called Fisher Towers. This section has class II rapids for most of the summer and largely consists of leisurely floats through red walls of sandstone, and when the walls open up, you are provided stunning views of the towers and buttes that make this part of the country a world wide destination.

If you wish, you can also rent a kayak in Moab and put in at several points both east and west of town. Both directions offer largely flat water and stunning views of towering red cliffs.

As the Colorado continues its trek south and west, its canyons become longer and less accessible for easy pull outs, resulting in longer trips, such as those in Canyon Lands National Park, where the Colorado Meets the Green. This is a multi day trip.

After the confluence with the Green and then the San Juan in southern Utah, the river enters Arizona in the form of Lake Powell. Lake Powell, though lacking the fury and awesome power of a living river is still stunning in its own right. With thousands of miles of shoreline, and running 186 miles up canyon from the Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell provides ample side canyons, and hiking opportunities.

From Lake Powell to the western terminus of the Grand Canyon, the river is walled in steep, impenetrable canyons, once again requiring multi-day trips.

After leaving the western section of the Grand Canyon, the river begins to form a series of lakes, as California, Nevada and Arizona siphon off the river for their cities. Below the first of these dams, outside of Las Vegas, the river is smooth and swift. At least one outfitter from Las Vegas provides trips down a section of this canyon. And though the scenery surrounding the canyon is not as stunning as the Colorado, Utah and Grand Canyon sections, there is a stark beauty to this area of the country. This trip is an easy drive from Las Vegas, and handy for a fly in vacation.

Most of the rest of the river, confined largely to a string of lakes forming the border between Arizona and California, can be run with personal craft with some planning. I am unaware of any outfitters running trips on this section of the river.

The Colorado River offers many opportunities for high quality fun river rafting, and though the Colorado through the Grand Canyon is a must do on anyone's list, there is no reason to wait to run the river until you have run the Canyon. A water's eye view of the stunning canyons that have been carved by this river conveys its stunning power in a way that nothing else can. The colorado runs through and forms some of the most breathtaking scenery in the west, and any run on it, no matter how short will be a trip to savor for a life time.