A red raft carrying its crew and a small white raft farther off float the silt-brown Colorado below a towering wall of layered red sandstone and long boulder-strewn talus slopes, under a clear blue sky.

River Guide

Colorado River Rafting in Utah: Which Section, Which Trip

By Jon Koenig April 22, 2026

The Colorado runs ten sections in Utah, and they sort into three trips. The upper corridor is Ruby–Horsethief plus Westwater: 41.6 miles, three or four days, Class I water and then Class IV. The Moab reaches, Cisco to Potash, are day floats with no permit. The expedition is Meander Canyon into Cataract Canyon and out through Narrow Canyon: 95 miles from Potash to the North Wash ramp. Pick the trip that fits your days and your whitewater, then open its permit page. That is the whole decision.

The corridor at a glance

Downriver order, resolved from the section records. Class is the range across the section at runnable flows. Days are the typical count for that section alone.

Section	Miles	Class	Days	Permit
Ruby–Horsethief	25	I–II	2	Permit required
Westwater Canyon	17.2	III–IV	1	Permit required
Cisco to Dewey Bridge	16.1	I	1	No permit
Dewey Bridge to Hittle Bottom	6.3	I	1	No permit
Professor Valley	13.8	I–II+	1	No permit
Take Out Beach to Moab Bridge	10	Flatwater	1	No permit
The Portal	17	Flatwater	1	No permit
Meander Canyon	48	I	3	Permit required
Cataract Canyon	40	II–IV+	3	Permit required
Narrow Canyon	7.5	I	1	Permit required

Below Narrow Canyon is Glen Canyon, now Lake Powell, and below the Glen Canyon Dam at Page, Arizona is the Grand Canyon.

Three trips. Pick the one your days fit.

Fractured black metamorphic cliff dropping into brown water in Westwater Canyon above Skull Rapid, with red sandstone walls and caprock formations in the distance.

Trip 1: the upper corridor

Ruby–Horsethief from Loma to the Westwater ranger station, then Westwater to Cisco. 41.6 miles. Two days of Class I–II under Wingate walls with one night in the canyon, then one long day of Class III–IV through black Precambrian gneiss and schist, with Skull Rapid as the crux. Stage vehicles at Cisco and run both back to back. Plan A is the combo. Plan B is Westwater alone in a day.

Days: 3–4. Whitewater: Class IV, one day of it. Permits: an advance reservation to camp on Ruby–Horsethief, an advance reservation for every Westwater launch, both through the BLM on recreation.gov, group cap 25. Gauge: Cisco. Westwater is technical below 3,000 cfs and expert-only above about 12,000. Season: April to June for flow, September to November for empty water.

Westwater Trips

Rocky riffle on the Colorado River along the Moab Daily, with golden fall cottonwoods on the bank and red sandstone buttes and distant towers under a clear blue sky.

Trip 2: the Moab day floats

Five reaches between Cisco and Potash, all Class I–II, all paved shuttles on UT-128 and Route 279, none of them permitted. Professor Valley is the one people mean by the Moab Daily: 13.8 miles from Hittle Bottom to Take Out Beach past Big Bend and Rocky Rapid. Above it, 16.1 miles of open badlands from Cisco and 6.3 miles from Dewey Bridge. Below it, 10 miles through town, then The Portal, 17 miles of the best walls you can see from a canoe above Lake Powell, ending at Potash.

Days: one each, or stack two. Whitewater: Rocky Rapid, Class II+, in spring. Permits: no permit. Camp only in the designated Riverway campgrounds below Dewey. Gauge: Cisco plus the Dolores at Cisco. Season: April to October. Expect commercial traffic on Professor Valley in June and July. This is the first Colorado trip for most people, and it should be.

Moab Day Floats

Elevated view from a rocky slope in Cataract Canyon, looking along a long reach of the Colorado River where whitewater threads almost continuously through the Mile Long rapids between high red walls.

Trip 3: the expedition

Potash, Meander Canyon, the Confluence, Cataract Canyon, Narrow Canyon, North Wash. 95 miles, 4 days typical for a private raft party, longer with side hikes or wind. 48 miles of flatwater, then the Big Drops, then a row-out whose length depends on Lake Powell's elevation. The Green River approach, Stillwater Canyon from Mineral Bottom, is 101 miles to the same ramp under the same permit. How to plan the whole trip is its own article.

Days: 4–7. Whitewater: Class III–IV in the classic band. Above 50,000 cfs, Webb, Belnap and Weisheit warn, the canyon can be very dangerous and boats frequently flip. Permits: an advance reservation through National Park Service, one overnight permit covering Meander, Cataract, and Narrow Canyon. Gauge: Potash plus Mineral Bottom, summed. The classic band is 10,000–20,000 cfs; above 50,000 outfitters change tactics or cancel. Shuttle: Potash to North Wash, about 163 road miles via UT-24 and UT-95, through Hanksville. Season: May and June for the Big Drops, April and September to October for permits and cooler days.

Cataract Canyon Trips

If it's your first Colorado trip

The Moab Daily in May, when Rocky Rapid has a wave train. First overnight: Ruby–Horsethief in September. Westwater when you can read a Class IV line from shore. Cataract when someone on the boat has already run it.

Photographs

Frequently asked questions

Is Stillwater Canyon on the Colorado River?

No. Stillwater Canyon is the Green River's final section, from Beaver Bottom, below the Mineral Bottom ramp, to the Confluence inside Canyonlands. It is one of two flatwater approaches to Cataract Canyon; the Colorado-side approach is Meander Canyon from Potash.

How many rafting sections does the Colorado River have in Utah?

Ten runnable sections between Loma and Lake Powell: Ruby–Horsethief, Westwater, Cisco to Dewey Bridge, Dewey Bridge to Hittle Bottom, Professor Valley, Take Out Beach to Moab Bridge, The Portal, Meander Canyon, Cataract Canyon, and Narrow Canyon.

Which Colorado River sections in Utah need a permit?

Ruby–Horsethief for overnight camping, Westwater for every launch, and the three Canyonlands sections — Meander, Cataract, and Narrow Canyon — under one overnight river permit. A Meander-only trip books the Flatwater type and ends at the jet boat from Spanish Bottom; day-use permits exist too. The five Moab-area day floats between Cisco and Potash need none.

What is the best Colorado River section for a first raft trip in Utah?

Professor Valley, the Moab Daily. Class I–II, one day, no permit, and a paved shuttle. For a first overnight, Ruby–Horsethief. Westwater and Cataract are not first trips.

Is there a lottery for Colorado River permits in Utah?

No. Westwater and Ruby–Horsethief are advance reservations on recreation.gov through the BLM; Cataract, Meander, and Narrow Canyon are advance reservations through Canyonlands National Park. Reservations open December 14 for April 14–October 15 and June 15 for the rest of the year — confirm them on the permit page before planning around them.