Cataract Canyon

*Photos used by permission. Courtesy of Lindsay/Kenny Mobley (unless otherwise noted).

Wednesday, June 24th, we left at 5:30 pm with two other couples (early 40 somethings that like to invite us two ol' farts along for entertainment purposes) and headed South. We stopped in Price at Los 2 Amigos and had some Mexican food. We got to Moab around 10:00 pm. A family of 3 skunks blocked our way before we could make a stop at World Wide River Expedition’s warehouse to get some instructions and to pick up our waterproof duffle bags. We stayed in a condo at Spanish Valley.


Thursday, June 25th, we got up early and met again at the warehouse. One young man, Dan from Michigan, and our guide, Dale joined us. We got loaded up in a van and headed over to another river expedition’s place. We transferred to a bus. They drove us about 14 miles on a road that paralleled the Colorado River to the loading ramp. We got eaten up by GIANT mosquitoes while waiting for them to launch the jet boat into the river. (We were originally suppose to go in a rubber raft, but they had sent our boat the day before with a 4 day expedition group. They had made arrangements for us to ride the one day jet boat that would drop us off where the group would be breaking camp.)

After about 24 miles and 2 hours ride, we met up with the other group of 17 and 2 guides. There was the Leary family of 4 - mother, father, and teenaged boy (Colin) and girl (Maura) from Washington/Oregon area, a father (Gary) and son from SLC, single guy (Todd) from Pueblo, Colorado,

(**Bob Clark photo.)

husband (Kenny) and wife (Lindsay) from St Louis by way of Georgia,

(**Bob Clark photo.)

and a group of 8 from Arvada, Colorado – father (Kim), his 4 sons (Phil, Paul, Tim, & Dave – 3 of them were triplets), & 2 of the triplets wives – Mary & Audrey, and Audrey’s dad – Bob,

plus the guides – Dale, Brie & Zo (Lorenzo).




There were 3 rafts: a big 33’ one with a motor that carried most of the gear and two 18’ ones. We got the gear loaded on and headed down the river. It was mostly lazy river riding. We put on life jackets and got a chance to swim to cool off for a while. We also hit a few light rapids. There was one spot where they let us off to climb up over the mountain to see some petroglyphs while the boat continued around a big goose neck bend in the river and we met them on the other side.


We stopped in the early afternoon to eat dinner and set up camp. We took care of business by strolling in the river (You DON’T pee in the sand!) or by sitting on the GROOVER.


We each had a cot, tarp, and a sleeping bag. We also had two-man tents available, but it looked like a perfect night to sleep under the stars. It started to rain after we had gone to bed. We put the tarp over each of us. It was a light rain and looked like it would end soon. It seemed to work okay until the wind would blow the tarp and you’d have to rearrange it. We woke up wet — some wetter than others. But we survived and it gave us something to talk about. (I’m certain that the story will get better each time that we tell it.)

Friday, June 26th, we got up early, ate breakfast, packed and got the big pep (scare you to death because you might die) talk from the guides about the 3 rules of river rafting. 1. Don't panic. 2. Hold on. 3. Have fun. In the morning we passed the point where the Green River met with the Colorado before we entered Cataract Canyon. We were going to hit the big rapids this day – Big Drop 1, Big Drop 2 (with The Claw), & Big Drop 3.


cs stayed where it would be the safest – on the middle of the big boat. I rode in the back of the 18 footer with 3 other people.


My raft almost tipped over in the middle of Big Drop 2. The 2 people next to me got thrown out - (Kim and Dan). I was busy helping Kim back in and Todd was helping Dan back in. Just as I got Kim back in he said, Dale, did you get knocked out of the raft too? (Dale was the guide who was paddling the boat.)

Yes.

I didn’t even know that we were without a guide. I guess he practically jumped back into the boat himself, because he knew that The Claw was next and we’d be in deep do-do or literally up the creek without a paddle (and a guide).

We made it through the rest of it without incident. It was all pretty exciting and exhilarating!

When we made camp that night, we made certain that this time we set up a tent. Which was a good thing because it rained pretty hard for a while.

Saturday, June 27th, we were now without river current. Lake Powell had backed up to where we were. We saw a 4 point deer climbing down the sand bank to get to the river. Its antlers were covered in velvet. It took over six hours of motoring to get to the Hite Marina.


We rafted and survived a 100 mile stretch of the Colorado river. It was a great and memorable time.