Commercial Guided River Trips

 

To truly experience the wild canyon country of Dinosaur National Monument join a guided river trip. Sit back and enjoy the scenery, while your guide navigates the rapids and rows the boat. Whether you go on a one day or multi-day trip, the memories will last a lifetime.

A Colorado rafting trip with is the ultimate adventure vacation for families, couples, singles or small groups who seek a premium outdoor paddling experience with dramatic highlights including river canyon geology, native cultures and stunning scenery.

The Yampa River and Green River rafting trips are considered to be two of Colorado’s classic rafting trips. Our Colorado rafting journeys set an easy pace, complemented by an endless combination of exploratory side hikes in river canyons, quiet beach camps and moderate whitewater.

The waters of northwest Colorado can transport you back through time. The “mile high” Colorado Rocky Mountains are the source of Colorado whitewater rafting fun with spring run-offs from these towering peaks flowing through sandstone and granite canyons with rock formations rich in prehistory.

Spilling from these Rocky Mountain slopes, legendary for their winter snows, the surging spring rapids of the Yampa River and Green River flow 150 million years into the past, through the heart of Dinosaur National Monument. Fossils of more than half of all the different dinosaurs that lived in North America in the Jurassic Period are found in the Monument.

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Multi-Day Trips

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Colorado Rafting Trips

Rafting the Yampa River

This means experiencing the one major tributary in the Colorado River system that runs wild and free of upstream dams.  Waters originate from the melting snows of the Colorado Rockies, so the water depends entirely on run-off.

Each spring, this river offers thrilling whitewater, including rapids such as Teepee, Little Joe and Big Joe and Warm Springs (considered to be one of the ten toughest rapids in the country).

It’s not all about whitewater, however, as there are long stretches of calm water meandering past colorful and dramatic canyon walls.  Short hikes lead past abundant wildlife and ancient Native American sites, as well as to waterfalls, caves, petroglyphs, old cowboy hideouts, side canyon oases and more.  Cozy and scenic campsites await your arrival at the end of each day spent on this memorable river.

The Yampa flows into Dinosaur National Monument where you’ll witness some of the oldest exposed rocks in the world.  Dinosaurs, prehistoric turtles and crocodiles, and creatures three times as old as the apatosaurus once roamed the very places you’ll visit.  You may even spot ancient fossils embedded in the river rock.

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This means an ideal whitewater vacation for families, couples and solo travelers (not to mention one of the best values in adventure travel). First-timers and veteran paddlers alike enjoy opportunities to learn about dinosaurs and Native Americans that inhabited the area while we explore the river by raft and inflatable kayak.

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This trips begin at the Gates of Lodore in northwestern Colorado and end near the Split Mountain campground in northeastern Utah.  The river flows into Dinosaur National Monument, cutting through the Uinta Mountains, the largest east-west mountain range this side of Alaska.  The region also played host to such notable Western characters as Butch Cassidy.

There is no better time spent with friends and family than under a night sky, as our guides prepare a delicious feast. You’ll spend the remainder of the evening being serenaded by the sounds of water rushing over rocks, the wind tossing wild grasses and trees’ leaves and possibly the songs of crickets and frogs.

Desolation Canyon

A trip through desolation Canyon offers gorgeous red rock scenery (towering as high as the Grand Canyon in some spots), beautiful sandy beaches and more than 50 splashy rapids rated class II and III.

• Petroglyphs, abandoned homesteads & hideouts
• Lots of boat options including oar rafts, inflatable kayaks, SUPs and paddle rafts

Desolation Canyon became famous after John Wesley Powell’s historic descent of the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 and 1871. This nearly untouched canyon is deeper in some places than the Grand Canyon at the Bright Angel Trail, featuring scenic bedrock canyon walls that tower overhead. The canyon is also family friendly, with more than 50 Class II-III rapids which can be navigated via oar raft, inflatable kayak, or paddle raft. Off the water, you’ll explore Native American ruins, abandoned homesteads, and maybe even the hideout of the infamous Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

 The International Rapid Rating Scale:

A trip through desolation Canyon offers gorgeous red rock scenery (towering as high as the Grand Canyon in some spots), beautiful sandy beaches and more than 50 splashy rapids rated class II and III.

• Petroglyphs, abandoned homesteads & hideouts
• Lots of boat options including oar rafts, inflatable kayaks, SUPs and paddle rafts

Desolation Canyon became famous after John Wesley Powell’s historic descent of the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 and 1871. This nearly untouched canyon is deeper in some places than the Grand Canyon at the Bright Angel Trail, featuring scenic bedrock canyon walls that tower overhead. The canyon is also family friendly, with more than 50 Class II-III rapids which can be navigated via oar raft, inflatable kayak, or paddle raft. Off the water, you’ll explore Native American ruins, abandoned homesteads, and maybe even the hideout of the infamous Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Flaming Gorge

A family-friendly rafting trip in northeastern Utah, the crystal-clear Green River offers splashy Class II rapids, great fishing and Wild West history in a gorgeous canyon setting.

Below Flaming Gorge Dam, the crystal-clear Green River offers splashy Class II rapids, interspersed with calm sections that inspire swimming, watching for wildlife and gazing at the canyon scenery. The river is teeming with trout, which has earned it the reputation of one of the country’s finest trout fishing streams. Flaming Gorge is an ideal section of river for first-time rafters and young families.

• Fun Class II whitewater
• Ideal trip for kids as young as 4
• Classic Wild West history
• Stunning scenery & abundant wildlife
• World-class trout fishing

Green River Rafting

The Green River begins high in the mountains of southwest Wyoming and makes its way through Northwestern Colorado where it is joined by the Yampa River and eventually joins the Colorado River in Utah. Along the way the Green River cuts through some of the most spectacular red wall canyons in the west.

The Green River was first navigated by John Wesley Powell in 1869. Today there are many rafting outfitters that run white water rafting trips on the Green River in Colorado and Utah.

Most Green River rafting trips are multi-day big canyon trips. However there is a section of the Green River that is commonly run as a day trip called the Split Mountain section.

Labyrinth Canyon (to Mineral Bottom) Rafting

Put-in: Green River State Park
Take-out: Mineral Bottom
Difficulty: Class I
Length: 68 miles

Ladore Canyon Rafting

This laid-back adventure in Dinosaur National Monument offers fun Class III whitewater, scenery that rivals the Grand Canyon, gorgeous side-hikes, and comfy beach campsites.

• Ideal trip for families & first-time rafters
• Numerous Class II-III rapids perfect for inflatable kayaking
• Deep canyons and stunning red rock scenery
• Prehistoric fossils, ancient American Indian ruins & Wild West hangouts
• Spectacular side hikes

Set aside as an American treasure in 1915 under the National Park Service, Dinosaur National Monument is an open-air archive of ancient Native American sites and far-out fossils unearthed by wind, water and time.  Within the monument, our Green River rafting trip winds its way through three distinct canyons: Lodore, Whirlpool and Split Mountain all of which contain geological curiosities and rich human history. Lodore was the first major canyon encountered by John Wesley Powell and his men on their 1869 expedition. At its start, the river twists through a catacomb of scarlet slot canyons, yawning valleys and lush ledges of emerald evergreen and brush. Exploration is the mission of the day as the Green promises numerous side hikes, relaxing nights on the beach and moderate whitewater perfect for young families and laid-back vacationers.

Put-in: Lodore Boat Ramp
Take-out: Split Mountain Boat Ramp
Difficulty: Class III
Length: 44 miles

 

Labyrinth & Stillwater Canyons Rafting

The Green River flows through Labyrinth and then Stillwater canyons before reaching its confluence with the Colorado River. Both Labyrinth and Stillwater offer calm water (no rapids) in beautiful wilderness canyons. They are ideal for multi-day canoe and kayak trips.

Labyrinth Canyon
Labyrinth is a 68 mile flat water section of the Green that is popular as a 4-6 day canoe trip, but also is commonly floated in rafts and inflatable kayaks. The canyon scenery is stunning, and this section of river is fantastic for bird watching. Towering sandstone walls of orange and reddish brown line the river corridor, and side canyons make for interesting hiking. There are petroglyphs and more recent etchings from explorers and mountain men who first explored this canyon. Due to the quiet nature of this trip, opportunities for viewing wildlife abound. This is a great trip for anyone nervous about river travel.

Stillwater Canyon
Stillwater is a 52 mile flat water section of the Green River that is often floated in combination with Labyrinth Canyon. It runs through Canyonlands National Park and ends with the confluence of the Colorado river, and takes 3-6 days to float. Amazing red rock formations and Ancient Puebloan ruins and rock art sites make this a magical journey. Hiking opportunities are fabulous, as the river allows you access to some very remote areas of Canyonlands National Park. Due to the quiet nature of this trip, opportunities for viewing wildlife abound.

While the Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons of the Green River are better tackled with a canoe than a raft due to the long stretches of flat water, this river trip still counts among the most scenic southwest adventures. The Green meanders through Canyonlands National Park, with some of the most remote and inaccessible land in the lower 48 states stretching away from the river on both sides. Logistics for the take out are unusual – you must hire a jet boat to tow your craft back upstream to either Mineral Bottom (Green) or Moab (Colorado).
Put-In: Green River State Park
Take-Out: Meet a boat near Colorado Confluence
Miles: 120 (shorter trips possible)

The area is best explored by floating down the Green River, as it was by the explorer Major Powell in 1869. In leisure and stillness one can survey the landscape, unchanged since Powell saw it.

Scenic And Geologic Interests

Gliding out onto the longest smooth water portion of the Green from Green River State Park, you will float through an open valley and begin a descent of about a foot and a half every mile. Shales and marls of light blue and slate colors, topped with rocks of buff and gray, then brown, will begin to dominate the environment. There are no rapids on this portion of the river, only a few riffles will be found just below the town of Green River.

Four and a half miles downriver, a terraced formation formed by mineralized water spills into the river. This is Crystal Geyser, an unsuccessful oil well drill site which spurts erratically. The geyser did not exist in Major Powell’s time. He writes only of “interesting rocks, deposited by mineral springs that at one time must have existed here, but are no longer flowing.” It is a magical place with its peculiar forms, colors and textures. A perfect warm-up of the views to come.

Passing the mouth of the San Rafael River, the country begins to change and the river leaves the open desert as it meanders its way into the rising plateaus of the Canyon Country. This is Labyrinth Canyon, as named by the explorer Powell, which is very suggestive of its character.

The general surface of the land itself tilts toward the north, so the canyon becomes deeper toward the south. Massive sandstone walls of the Wingate Formation rise hundreds of feet on both sides. Fiery orange and reddish brown cliffs drip with a darker brown and blue-black “desert varnish,” consisting of a thin film of iron oxide and hydrous manganese deposited from surface rainwater. Formations of tan Navajo Sandstone domes, purplish-red Kayenta towers, and brown Wingate cliffs, continuously unfold above the rich green of reed, willow and tamarisk along the sandbars. Side canyons appear, deep and narrow, all containing a unique character. For example, you may find one to be the mouth of three side canyons, all opening upon the river in the same place. This is Trin-Alcove, first described and named by Major Powell.

At mile 69, the river meanders along, easterly loop of seven and a half miles, only to finish its ramble 1,200 feet south of where the loop began. A narrow neck of scrambled talus lies below a saddle where a Wingate Formation wall has crumbled away. This is Bowknot Bend. From atop the saddle, it is one of the river’s best views of the desert and its geological wealth. (A fairly easy hike, too.)


Wildlife

While floating down the river, you may come close to deer standing by the shore. Or, the great blue heron and American egrets may be perched on the rocks. An occasional beaver swimming from one burrow to the next competes for survival along with the badger, porcupine and coyote. There are killdeer on the sandbars and flocks of cliff swallows in the air. Often, a swallow’s mud nest can be seen on the undersides of grottoes in the canyon walls. Ravens, magpies, buzzards and red-tailed hawks soar above. A variety of birds fill the canyon with music; vireos, yellow warblers, rock wrens, canyon wrens, catbirds, mockingbirds, and others, but especially the mourning dove with its wistful call. Catfish can be caught easily from the bank or from the boat. This is not a complete list. Take along a wildlife book and see if you can add to it.

Prehistoric & Historic Values
Petroglyphs can be spotted on cliffs in several spots along the river and tributary canyons. Flint chippings are also present. These may have been left by the Fremont Culture (500-1275 A.D.), a semi-nomadic people who had an agricultural home base but who also traveled and utilized natural resources. Archaeological values are protected for everyone’s enjoyment through state and federal Antiquities laws. Please take only photos – leave only footprints.

Much more abundant are the inscriptions left by latter-day river expeditioners, Launch Marguerite was a stern-wheeler river boat which plied the Green and Colorado Rivers between Green River and Moab during the early 1900s.

Denis Julien is thought to be a typical mountain man, one who would go anywhere after beaver. Julien went south into the Canyon Country, where he left his autographs on the rocks in a number of places. All are dated 1836. How did Julien get into the canyons? By boat? Or, did he walk in from the rim? An inscription in Cataract Canyon, below the confluence of the Colorado and Green, would argue that he was using a boat. Fur men like Denis Julien corrected the mistakes in geography made by earlier Spanish explorers. They connected the Green with the Colorado, erased the San Buenaventura and other mythical rivers, and were undoubtedly the first to make detailed exploration of the canyons.

Tailings from old and new uranium mines are seen along the canyon bottoms. Traces of these are in Hey Joe Canyon, Spring Canyon and Mineral Canyon. For your own safety do not explore old mines. Talk to the operators before venturing around new mines. The many users of uranium depend greatly on the uranium-rich Canyon Country of Southeast Utah.

Put-in: Mineral Bottom
Take-out: Spanish Bottom or Hite Marina
Difficulty: Class I
Length: 52 miles (to Spanish Bottom) 97 miles (to Hite)

 

Split Canyon

This one-day rafting trip in Dinosaur National Monument is the perfect mix of spectacular scenery with just enough whitewater to add a little spice.

• A super-scenic Utah whitewater rafting day trip
• Fun Class III rapids.  This river rafting day trip through Split Mountain Canyon on the Green River covers approximately nine river miles. There are four Class II – III rapids in this stretch of the Green River: Moonshine, S.O.B., Schoolboy and Inglesby. This one-day rafting trip is the perfect mix of spectacular scenery with just enough whitewater splashing to add a little spice. A perfect Utah rafting adventure for just about anyone.

Yampa River Rafting

One of the most sought-after whitewater trips in the world, the Yampa combines exciting Class III-IV whitewater through stunning canyons, with ample hiking and exploring in Dinosaur National Monument.

• Exciting Class III-IV whitewater
• Striking canyons of red, yellow & orange
• Active trip with hiking & paddling
• Native American & outlaw history
• Explore Dinosaur National Monument

One of the most sought-after whitewater adventures in the world, O.A.R.S. Yampa River trip is an unforgettable Colorado river rafting adventure for kids, teens and ever-inquisitive travelers alike. The Yampa River is the one major tributary in the Colorado River system that runs wild and free, straight to the heart of Dinosaur National Monument. For three months a year (May-July), the Yampa River flows free with fresh, surging run-off from miles above—waters originating from the melting snows and glaciers of the world-famous Colorado Rockies. Easily manageable Class III and IV whitewater rafting flows carry paddlers through colorful canyons of red, yellow and orange and on into Dinosaur National Monument. A billion years are captured in these canyon walls, along with the remnants of various life forms that existed long before humans. Our pathway through time showcases some of the oldest exposed rocks in the world, ones that have been folded, lifted and split by eons of geological forces.

Contact Us

If you have questions or would like to check availability, call 970.926.0216 or complete the form below.