Successful. Did any of you make "bucket lists" when you were little? Back before you really understood what the purpose of a bucket list was, and you were just daydreaming about being able to do things once you grew up? Maybe it was just me. Anyway, ever since I've grown up enough to afford my own travels I've made a point to start checking those childhood dreams off of my bucket list. Alongside items such as rock climbing (done) skydiving (done) and scuba diving (not yet) I put down that I wanted to raft down the Colorado River. From the day I was first introduced to the mighty Colorado on one of our family vacations, I've been fascinated by it. With it's headwaters in one of my favorite parks, Rocky Mountain National Park, the river carves it's path through mountains and across the high desert of southern Utah, eventually shaping my favorite destination on the planet: Canyonlands National Park. From there, the Colorado River continues on to create places such as the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead, before being sucked dry into a sad remnant of itself somewhere in California.
July of this year I met my family in Moab, Utah in a throwback to our annual family vacations that I haven't been able to attend in six years. We hiked, took jeep trails, shopped, ate and camped. We got to enjoy several desert thunderstorms and wide open skies with limitless views. While trying to decide what to do with our last day together in the desert, my chance to float down part of the Colorado River finally presented itself! My siblings and I wanted to end our trip with an adventure, and as soon as river rafting was suggested, we were sold. We did what research we could from our phones while sitting in a restaurant with Mom and Dad, and decided to do a full day float with Adrift Adventures. We didn't really expect the rushing white water rapids of the mountains; we knew that in this part of the country the river was wide and deep and relatively slow, gravity and soft rocks being the main force that carved out the canyons in the area.
On our last day, Alisha, Austin and I headed for the rafting headquarters, loaded onto a bus to take us to our starting point on the river, and we were off! It was a bit of a drive up the gorgeous scenic byway 128, following the path of the river through a canyon, flanked by towering red cliffs. Finally we stopped and waited for our guides to get the rafts unloaded, getting to know our fellow floaters and taking in the views. At last, our call came and I all but jumped on the raft in excitement, I was so ready to check another item off of my list! Our guide shoved us off the bank, caught the current, and we were off! Instead of each member of the raft using a paddle to propel us downstream, which had been my only experience with river rafting to this point, there was only a single set of oars in the middle of the raft that our guide used to keep us pretty much where we needed to be in the river.
As with my experience with River Runners in Buena Vista, our guide Chris was totally laid-back, prefering to let the river take us where it wanted to, as long as we didn't get smashed against a cliff or something. The water was murky and as red as the landscape that slowly slid out of view around each curve in the canyon, usually calm and surprisingly cold. My brother decided he wanted a swim, and without further ado he jumped off the side of the raft. He popped back to the surface next to the boat and could hardly speak; the chill had literally taken his breath away. Of course, eventually he aclimated and swam around, splashing and talking with the others in our raft who had joined him in the river. My sister and I decided to stay warm and dry, thank you very much! We hit a few baby rapids in the course of our nearly 14 miles on the river, getting splashed a little and thoroughly enjoying the bit of adrenaline that accompanied each one.
Near the end of our day we pulled the rafts out at a nice little sandy beach and had lunch, devouring sandwiches and cookies like nobody's business. It's surprising how much energy it takes to sit in the sun and relax all day! We hopped back on the raft, nobody talking much as we all digested and took in more amazing views of the canyon walls shining rust-red in the sun. In what felt like no time, Chris was rowing hard to pull us out of the current and running our raft onto a beach creatively named Take Out Beach, and our float down the Colorado River came to an end. Alisha, Austin and I sat in some shade and waited for our guides to load our rafts, and it was just a short drive from there back to Adrift Adventure's headquarters in Moab. Guys, I've been able to check off so many items off of my childhood bucket list, and now I get to check of one of my favorites: rafting down the Colorado River. I think next time I'll have to do a multi-day float through Canyonlands itself. Add it to the list!
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