Canoeing the Colorado Near Moab

Traveling the slick rock country around the Moab, Utah area with our friend Tex McClatchy again...the Colorado River has been his...well, mistress...now for about 40 years, and one of his favorite ways to travel down there on that ol' moody river. Canoers are...

"They're my kind of people." Tex took people up and down this river for over 40 years. "Look at these pretty canyon walls. And no Mcdonald's. But the families like to come when it's like now. This is late August right now. The water temperature today is 86 degrees. Kinda' blue-green out there and there's sand beaches everywhere."

If you want to come and canoe in spectacular scenery and only take a half-day or day to do it, this stretch of Colorado River near Moab is your kinda' place. The water is calm and this time of year it's shallow. So shallow in fact...we're stuck.
Tex jams the paddle overboard. Water only comes up about 2 inches on the paddle. Bonnie had to get out and drag our camera boat off a sand bar...

"When you go past your eyeballs, Bonnie, Tex yelled, "jump in the boat real quick." Even in our little powerboat, Tex is not immune to switching off the motor and drifting and musing...

"This is where your mind comes back together because most of the people in America and the world today are city-folks. That's the masses and they need a break. But they need it with safety. Highways are not safe. The most dangerous part of this canoe trip is getting here in your car! Once you're on this river, it's about as safe...you're not gonna' have a head-on and get hurt.

"Now the only thing that bothers 'em the first day it's so quiet it's scary. They're not use to this. After awhile, this is not too bad. Those are birds we're hearing now. Yeah! And that's blue sky!"
There are just a bunch of companies in Moab that can supply you with a canoe, or a canoe trip down these incredible canyons.

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NOTES:

We canoed the Colorado River starting where the river passes just north of Moab, Utah. But there are a lot of canoeing experiences available on different sections of the river. You can also canoe the Green river. Canoe for a morning or several days.

Moab is located in SE Utah.

There are numerous river-running companies in Moab. Start with the Moab Chamber of Commerce for info: 435-259-7531.

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