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Three crew members in life jackets and sun hats stand on a rocky bank scouting a large brown rapid, one pointing at the current line.
Multi-Day River Expedition · Colorado Plateau

Cataract Canyon Big Water Expedition

The version of Cataract that people come back for. The Big Drops blown wide open — huge, loud, endlessly rowable whitewater. Five days, Class IV+ oars.

Duration 5 days
Skill Advanced
Type Multi-day River Expedition
Region Colorado Plateau
States UT
Overview

Big water is what Cataract was built for. When the gauge clears 30,000 cfs the canyon goes from beautiful to alive: the approach flies by, the Big Drops blow wide open — enormous, loud, endlessly rowable whitewater with the canyon walls throwing the sound back at you — and every wave carries the weight of two rivers. You will get wetter than you thought a raft allowed. You will be talking about it for years.

Potash Boat Ramp to the North Wash take-out: the Meander Canyon flatwater approach to the Confluence, the Cataract rapid corridor through the Big Drops, and Narrow Canyon's run-out into Lake Powell. An NPS river permit through recreation.gov, a May–June peak-runoff window, and a motor that earns its keep on the approach and the reservoir. For advanced oar crews with Class IV+ whitewater behind them.

5 days
Ideal For
  • advanced oar crews
  • big-water specialists
What This Expedition Covers

Canyons You Will Run

Cataract Canyon

Cataract Canyon · 95 river miles

  1. Put-in

    Potash Boat Ramp

  2. Meander Canyon 48 mi

    Meander Canyon is the quiet before the storm — 48 miles of total flatwater through the heart of Canyonlands, winding toward the Confluence and the whitewater of Cataract Canyon beyond.

  3. Cataract Canyon 40 mi

    Cataract is two trips joined by a confluence.

  4. Narrow Canyon 7.5 mi

    Narrow Canyon is where Cataract Canyon exhales — tight walls, still water, and the eerie transition from one of the West's great whitewater runs into the silence of the Lake Powell reservoir.

  5. Take-out

    North Wash / Dirty Devil Take Out

Field Sources

Evidence behind the claims on this page — agency rules, maps, gauges, books, and field notes.

Permits

Hydrology

All 16 field sources

Access

Rapids

Management

Field notes

  • field-note Jon Koenig — Cataract Canyon 2003 Notebook — Jon Koenig (2003) ·

Books

Logistics

  • field-note Desert Maritime — River Packing System Notes — Desert Maritime ·

Safety

  • book-excerpt Cataract Canyon (Webb / Belnap / Weisheit) — Selected Pages — University of Utah Press (2007)