Utah River Rafting Guide

THE BIG PICTURE: Canyonlands National Park and the Colorado River, Utah (Photodisc)

A rafting trip in Utah will take you through some of the most iconic landscapes of the American Southwest. And given that this high-altitude desert zone catches some of the world's best winter snow, there's plenty of raging spring snowmelt to keep those rivers hopping throughout spring and summer. The biggest and most eye-popping action takes place on the rivers that thread the fissured crust of the Colorado Plateau, which straddles the Utah-Colorado line. Within this bedrock, powerful rivers have carved the iconic features of such classics as Arches and Canyonlands national parks. The finest trips are on the Colorado River as it plunges dramatically through Westwater Canyon and Canyonlands National Park's Cataract Canyon; the Green River as it meanders through the time-worn majesty of Dinosaur National Monument and Desolation Canyon; and the San Juan River as it bubbles through 1,000-foot canyons once peopled by the ancient Anasazi. Given the scale of the landscape, plan for a multi-day journey, giving you plenty of time to soak in the scenery.

Rafting Rivers in Utah