Cataract Canyon, September 2007

This post reads bottom-to-top in the manner of blogs.

Late sun on the rim of the canyon from our camp at Imperial Rapid. Powell Reservoir (Lake Powell to some) is down now, so that this rapid was exposed again along with some after it. Then it was calm water with current all the way to the takeout near Hite, Utah, on September 12th.

This is Satan's Gut Rapid, Rapid #23. The most difficult thing about Cataract at this level is making sure you hit this slot. You can't see down the rapid as you float up to it, because it's too steep. There's a narrow tongue of smooth water extending into the rapid--that's where you want to be. There's a tiny wave just above that marks the slot. Hit that wave and you'll hit the slot. After that, it's all automatic. Miss the slot, and your day will not be a good one.

A couple of larger commercial motor rafts went through Satan's Gut right before we did. They waited for us down below, taking that opportunity to replace their bent-up propellers! Their customers cheered when we hit the slot--not that we weren't going to hit it. Actually, Cataract in September was a fairly lonely place where if you did get in trouble for some reason, help might not arrive soon.

This is Satan's Seat Rapid, Rapid #22. As you can see, you just go left of the big rock and then it's an easy run. You don't have to pull around behind the rock as you do at higher water, when a wave forms on the left.

This is Capsize Rapid, Rapid #15, part of Mile Long Rapid in Cataract Canyon. It's an easy rapid where you just have to take the proper route among the rocks.

My friend Gloria did the trip with me.

Though very low, the Green River was particularly beautiful in the evenings when the water reflected the redrock above. This was our first camp on the Green.

There were MANY canoeists on the Green River. More arrived as we were rigging to go. They would be picked up by a jet boat service that operates on the Colorado River from Moab. Most canoes do not continue down Cataract Canyon from the confluence, as we were able to do. Here, four of them cool off in the water, downriver just a few miles.

We launched at Mineral Bottom on the Green River, September 7, 2007. Mineral Bottom is reached by going toward the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park from near Moab, Utah, and then down a rather precipitous cliff through the Redwall Limestone and other rocks. It's actually just a little upstream (north) from the park boundary.

I had never seen the Green River so low. It was flowing about 1400 cubic feet per second, though after joining the Colorado River in Canyonlands, we would have 5300 cfs according to online water data for our days on the river.