Rafters hold on tight for a wild, white-water adventure
By Ray Grass
Keith Johnson,
The
Ellis family, from Dallas, and Stacey and Arnauld Briand, from
Carried along by the water and a few strokes of the
oars, the boat rolls and pitches, then rises up, almost vertical, then rolls
and pitches and falls again ... and again ... and again, all the way to calm
water. That's when the anticipation of the next series of white-water
rapids sets in.
The uncertainty, the anxiety and the excitement modern-day
river rats enjoy must be close to those feelings experienced by John Wesley
Powell back in 1869 on his first trip down Cataract, except today's runners
have the benefits of Powell's experiences and the flood of river runners who
have followed.
Powell had nothing to go by, only the experiences of the
rapid he had just floated. He knew nothing of what lay ahead. River runners
today know the river as well as they do the route back
home.
Also, Powell's boat was wooden, much smaller than today's
rubber rafts, and it leaked. He made frequent stops along the Green and
eventually the
Experience has also taught guides tricks to rigging a boat
to ensure everything stays in place, the bow and stern are clear for passengers
and the oarsman has unrestricted movement to maneuver the boat, all intended to
handle Cataract's boiling rapids.
Powell would write that the rapids he encountered in
Cataract were the most difficult he'd faced.
Keith Johnson,
A
group of rafters prepares to launch their boats after camping along the
He wrote: "On starting, we came at once to difficult rapids and falls,
that in many places are more abrupt than in any of the canyons through which we
have passed, and we decided to name this
It is well known that the rapids in
One thing that has made Cataract the preferred river trip
is time.
The 120 miles of water from Potash through
It is this shorter trip, the huge rapids and the natural
beauty found along the Colorado River, with sheer red-rock cliffs, stretches of
green tamarisk and broken-rock escarpments connecting the cliffs with the
river, that has made Cataract Canyon among the most recognized and sought-after
river adventure in the world.
"We do," said Myke
Hughes, owner of Adrift Adventures, one of the more established river-running
outfitters in
"We also get people from all over the country who've
heard about Cataract and want to experience the rapids. What often happens is
they come and take a one- or two-day trip, then return a year or two later and
book a longer trip. I would definitely put Cataract up there as being among the
most recognized white-water rivers in the world. It does, it has some of the
biggest runable white water in the world."
The river trip starts near
Keith Johnson,
A
jet boat carries rafters down the
For the first 48 miles, the river is calm, quietly flowing around the bends
and through long straights. Somewhere near the heart of
It is at this point
It took Powell five days to raft this section of Cataract.
He entered it on July 23 of 1869 and wrote in his journal that after a couple
of portages and a swift run in the early afternoon on July 28, they finally
emerged from
Today's rafters have the option of making the trip in a
day or, like Powell, take the full five days.
The one-day trip involves taking a high-speed jet boat
down to the confluence, then boarding either 18-foot rafts with oarsmen for
power or the slightly larger J-rigs, which are longer rubber rafts with
turned-up noses and powered by a four-stroke engine. Once through the rapids,
the boats then take a leisurely power trip to Hite, where passengers either
take a quick flight back to
The five-day trips are all oar-powered, from Potash to
Hite, with stops along the way to camp, hike and explore, much as Powell did.
Cost is $850.
The most popular is the three-day trip, which allows
passengers to become emerged in the hypnotic sounds of the river and explore
canyons and historic sites along its banks and spend more time watching and
then riding the rapids.
Keith Johnson,
River
guide Kissle Kopinsky,
right, helps Benton Ellis, center, and his son Benton Jr. into their life
jackets before reboarding.
It also gives rafters a chance to indulge in the culinary talents of the
boatmen. Along with rowing, many of the boatmen have proven equally as talented
in the open-air kitchen,
There are roughly 30 major rapids
of varying difficulties through Cataract, starting with Brown Betty, and
ranging between 3s and 4s on a scale of 1 to 5, with five being considered unrunable.
The most famous of these are the Big Drops 1, 2 and 3.
Included in this series is a large hole created by water rushing over a large
boulder and then crashing down on the opposite side creating a deep recess in
the water. The hole is called "Satan's Gut," and, despite urgings on
occasion from unknowing passengers to take the more exciting route, it is on
the list of avoidables.
The one-mile section of river where Big Drops are located
falls roughly 30 feet, making this one of the steepest sections on the
"Boatmen are well aware of this area," explained
Hughes, "and other areas on the river. They pride themselves on making a
good, clean run. It's a personal thing and they know the other boatmen are
watching.
"The boatmen I put on Cataract are among the most
experienced. It's the same with other companies. You want your most experienced
guides on this trip, not only for safety reasons, but
also you want the customers to have a great time.
"I constantly get people coming up to me after a trip
on Cataract and telling me it was an experience they will never forget. Then,
the next thing they want to do is take a trip through
There are, of course, other white-water trips available
here in
Keith Johnson,
An
aerial view shows the
For information call 435-259-8594 or visit the Web site at www.adrift.net.