Run Wild! Run Rivers! Rafting Blog

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Cataract Canyon

Flowers of the Canyon Country

As the winter months bring snow and rain to the Canyon Country, the red desert sand becomes moist and fertile for the plants that find home here. With the warming spring temperatures, the landscape opens, bursting with colors to attract pollinators in hopes for reproduction. While some plants bloom consistently

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River Story

Cathedral in the Desert

The following is an excerpt from my thesis written for the Environmental Humanities graduate program at the University of Utah, where I graduated in 2012. Finding Grandpa’s picture in that place was the first clue that he had been there before me. But at the time I floated within the

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Nature

A Brief Tour of National Parks in Thailand

I recently returned from Thailand where we spent time exploring some of the National Parks. While there are many differences between the National Parks in Thailand compared to the United States, the experience found me reflecting on the positives and the negatives of the Parks in both places. While Thailand

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River Story

Remembering Martin Litton

From the Green River to the Redwood Forest to the Grand Canyon, Martin Litton was unapologetically dedicated to the defense of wilderness in the American West. As a journalist and a boatman he was openly passionate and sometimes downright angry, critically weighing in on some of the region’s most contested

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Nature

Giving Thanks

On Thanksgiving Day, when it comes time to truly tally all that fills my world with joy, it is impossible not to include my life as a river guide. Though I’m grateful each time I look over my shoulder at a rapid safely navigated or emerge from a hike into

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Cataract Canyon

High Water of Cataract Canyon 2011-Going Big

The snowpack in the mountains of Utah in June 2011 where 420% of average. The guides at Colorado River and Trail Expeditions knew that they were about to witness the Colorado River in flood stages that nobody had seen in nearly 30 years. In fact, the boatmen that were running

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Colorado River Rafting

Flash flood at Redbud.

The desert air darkened with thick clouds that moments before could not be seen through the walls of a canyon a mile deep. The August heat suddenly gone, shifting as fast as the moods of the people as fast as blackened pillows blocking the sun. In what normally is a

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Books for River Runners

Larry Stevens–River Map and Guide

Larry Stevens recently released his updated guide to The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.  The guide is in full color and includes a map of the river similar to the Belknap River Guide.  River miles in the book correspond to the most recent USGS-GCMRC measurements.  Rapid ratings are based

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Bass Camp

Bass Camp and Trail

William Wallace Bass moved to the Grand Canyon in 1883.  He moved from the East for health reasons and rumors of Gold brought him into the Grand Canyon.  When the rumors turned out to be false he turned to the tourist industry.  He set up a camp at Havasupai Point on

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Colorado River Rafting

Water Education 101 – Grand Canyon Seeps and Springs

Did you ever stop to think, really think, about the relationship of people to water? In the beginnings of human history, people searched for water and migrated to it. They probably respected seeps and springs as sacred places, because they were life-giving and life-saving. Once we learned to harness water

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Cataract Canyon

Colorado River Flows

River Flow is an important things to know before going on a river trip.  In 2014 the Grand Canyon has seen some relatively low flows.  April and May had fluctuations between 5,500 cfs and 11,000 cfs, with the weekends, especially Sunday releases being much lower.  This is because the river

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Cataract Canyon

Canyonlands by John Wesley Powell

As we all know JW Powell had a way with words and his descriptions of the Grand Canyon have rarely been equalled.  Having just finished a Spring rafting trip in Canyonlands National Park we had to share Powell’s diary entry from July 17, 1869.  This entry includes the last 40

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