Cataract Canyon River Trip, Aug 22-27, 2008

Another nice set of spires a short way down the river from Mineral Bottom.
--to be continued

Just downriver from the launch, this view presented itself.

Our raft, a 14' Hyside, looks small compared to one of the commercial trip's 18' boats. But it is a good size for the two of us.

A commercial river trip arrived the morning of our launch and set up their boats. Their passengers were soon flown in, landing at the airstrip that is very near Mineral Bottom. Here, the commercial boatpeople are readying their boats.

Upon reaching the bottom of the cliff, you drive upstream for perhaps two miles to Mineral Bottom, located by the big trees at the end of the bottomland. Maybe you'll do your own car shuttle (take your car to the takeout near Hite and get back somehow) or you'll have paid a shuttle company to do this. We paid a shuttle service in Green River, Utah.

The road into the launch on the Green River, Utah, switchbacks down this cliff to a place called Mineral Bottom, just north of the Island in the Sky part of Canyonlands National Park. This is the part of Canyonlands that's between the Green and the Colorado Rivers, reached off Highway 313 from Highway 191 between Moab and I-70. This place is also not far from Deadhorse Point State Park, though that is on the Colorado River side of the plateau.

At the bottom of the cliff, you'll find the junction with the White Rim Trail, which goes downstream above the Green River and back along the Colorado River, paralleling the Green River portion of our river trip. Reservations are required to camp along the White Rim. Reservations are also needed for river trips traversing Canyonlands National Park, which this trip will do.