Cataract Canyon

Meet your expedition crew around 11am in Denver, CO near GOALS HQ. Please arrive with a belly full of lunch. We will drive about 6 hours to our campsite in Moab, UT, where we spend the night before our river launch. After the long drive, we'll stretch our legs with some frisbee or maybe even take a swim in the Colorado River, as it flows right past camp. We'll get to know each other over dinner in Moab, then begin working in our GOALS journals by creating a group oath together that will set our team apart from every other GOALS group before us. After finishing it, we'll drift off to sleep under the desert stars—excited for what is to come in the morning...our first day of river exploration on the mighty Green River!

We wake up early today to begin our adventure. After enjoying breakfast and packing our gear, we’ll meet our guides and drive about 90 minutes through the stunning Utah desert to our boat launch at Mineral Bottom. By the time we get to the river, we'll undoubtedly be excited to hop in, and after a bit of final rigging to prep our boats, we'll push off to begin the river adventure. The first part of the expedition will take us through Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons—named by the Powell expeditions for their maze-like twists and turns and stunning canyon wall reflections. This part of the canyon is full of historical artifacts—some ancient petroglyphs left by early canyon cultures and others more recent—including cabins and hideouts used by Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch to evade capture by lawmen. Depending on the weather conditions, we'll likely hike to the ancient ruins near Fort Bottom this afternoon, then camp on one of the large sand beaches near Potato Bottom.

Day 3 takes us deeper into Stillwater Canyon, with more incredible hiking opportunities that will lead the group to Native American ruins, walls of petroglyphs and pictographs, and stunning slot canyons at Anderson Bottom, Turks Head, and Deadhorse Canyon. When on the water, we'll enjoy our last full day on the Green River—in rafts, inflatable kayaks, and on SUPs. Camp tonight will be somewhere near Deadhorse Canyon, with the confluence of the Green and Colorado River less than miles downstream.

Today, we approach the confluence and a hike that's widely regarded as one of the desert river classics. This morning, we travel downstream to the special place where two of the largest rivers in the US come together—a place held sacred to Native American tribes who considered it the center of their universe. Water comes together from almost unthinkable distances to join at this point, and we'll pause here to pay it some respect. A short distance beyond the confluence, at Spanish Bottom, we will begin our hike to the Doll's House—a short but steep walk we'll enjoy late in the day- marveling at the rock spires and geologic formations that exist on the rim. A longer Cataract itinerary gives us extra time today—and we'll enjoy our afternoon pre-hike with sketching or painting the canyon, catching up in their journals about the first few days of our expedition, or playing beach games like bocce and kubb. Get a good night's sleep tonight—the excitement of navigating Cataract Canyon's famous rapids begins tomorrow!

With the Colorado River now doubling the flow we've become used to on the Green, we navigate the first 10 rapids of Cataract Canyon today—aiming for a lunch-over" at Rapid 10. This fun rapid offers a perfect "river playground"—and many high school students have described the afternoon here as the most playful day they’ve had since being on an elementary school schedule with 3 outdoor recess breaks. Our planned camp for tonight is located right next to Rapid 10—a series of tall, fun, and safe standing waves that we can run repeatedly by paddling with friends, then carrying duckies right back up to the top and running it over and over again! Day 5 is a day full of river-based playfulness that makes rapids feel fun and improves confidence in the duckies—important as we move downstream toward Cataract Canyon's famous "Big Drops" section tomorrow! (Note: it's also a full moon tonight—very special to be in Cataract Canyon for a full moon and enjoy the way that it lights up the canyon around us!)!

On day 6, we take on many of the canyon’s most famed rapids—including Capsize, Repeat, Powell’s Pocketwatch, and the legendary Big Drops. We’ll pull over to scout a few of these—learning to read whitewater and identify the proper line. The sense of accomplishment that comes with completing the entire set of Cataract Canyon rapids is palpable, and our team will sense a connection rooted in shared pride, accomplishment and relief. Just under the Big Drops, we'll camp tonight at Ten Cent Camp—sharing stories of our runs through the Big Drops and leaving just a few more rapids on the docket for tomorrow!

By camping at Tent Cent, we've left ourselves a few more rapids this morning—perfect for those who may not have been brave enough for the larger rapids above but still want to challenge themselves in some Cataract Canyon whitewater. After the last of the rapids, we'll pull the SUP boards back out and sink back into the slower, more relaxed pace we knew upstream in Stillwater Canyon—although what we're navigating still feels very much like a river canyon, we are now technically on Lake Powell and the looming threat of an upcoming rapid is replaced by the carefree ability to play, paddle, and swim in the warm, calm waters that this part of the canyon is known for. Tonight is our last night camping on the river's edge—we’ll enjoy some solo time as we compose a thank-you letter to the canyon, then share one last canyon campfire before falling asleep once more under one of the world's best views of the night sky.

Today, we’ll float a short distance to the mouth of Dark Canyon, then enjoy an incredible half-day hike that will take us through some stunning geology to tea-cup-shaped swimming hole formations that wind and water have carved into the canyon. After completing this 8-mile journey and returning to our boats, we’ll head for the take-out at Hite Marina. Our sadness that the river adventure is coming to an end will be alleviated by the group of small planes awaiting to fly us directly over the Maze and Island in the Sky districts of Canyonlands National Park—back to Moab. We’ll get a bird’s eye view of the stunning landscape we have spent the past week exploring, we'll gain an even greater appreciation for just how big this place truly is. After arriving at Canyonlands Airfield in Moab, we’ll head north toward Loma, CO—where we can clean up a bit, grab dinner in town, then enjoy an evening swim and camp together for one more night at Highline Lake State Park before driving home the next morning.

Today, we’ll leisurely make our way back home. There is a sadness to being out of the canyon and off of “river time”, so we’ll be a bit gentle as we re-enter the hustle of everyday schedules. Generally, we make it back to Evergreen between 2-4pm. Remember...don't cry because it's over—smile because it happened!