Weekend of Water

Over the weekend, Bobbee and I got a good taste of Utah's rivers. Friday we hiked "The Narrows," a very popular hike up the Virgin River in Zion Canyon. I have to admit, we were a bit hesitant to jump into a COLD river, but the hike turned out to be amazing. Hiking up a river is a challenging experience - because you have to concentrate on every step, you never quite get into a rhythm. Nonetheless, the scenary was incredible!

Friday afternoon, we said goodbye to Zion, and headed back west to I-15. Along the way, we stopped at a state park to check out a resevoir we'd heard about. We were driving and driving, and didn't see any sign of water, and then...all of the sudden, there was a HUGE, bright blue expanse of water. The resevoir has a great beach, and we will definitely add an afternoon swim to our itinerary.

We spent Friday night at a motel in Beaver. The motel's check-in desk was inside of a gas station, so we weren't expecting much. When we opened the door of our room, we were blown away by how large and nice the room was! It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. On Saturday, we drove up into the Fishlake National Forest. As we gained altitude, the scenary quickly changed to what looked like the Colorado mountains to us. We had plans to hike Delano Peak, the highest peak in the Tushar Mountain range. Unfortunately, the access road was closed, so we took some pictures, and then hit the road again to head east to Green River.

On Sunday, we returned to the river...this time the Colorado River. We spent the day rafting the Westwater Canyon with Holiday Expeditions. It was neat to compare this to our experience just two weeks ago on the Chattooga River - there were so many differences. The Chattooga is narrow, with many rocks and other obstacles to avoid. The Colorado is wide, and had waves that almost felt like the ocean! We also used very different rafts. On the Chattooga, we were in paddle boats - each of the six passengers had a paddle, along with the guide. On the Colorado, we rafted using two large oar boats tethered together. Because the river is so high right now, this is the safest way to raft. Hopefully, when our campers come next summer, they'll be able to use paddle boats, and have a little more of a participatory experience. In any case, we had a great day! One highlight for me was seeing two bald eagles! We didn't bring our camera, but here are a few photos of the canyon I found around the internet. We're now in Moab where we'll be until Wednesday night. I'll plan to post again either Wendesday evening or Thursday morning!