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Wide, wind-rippled river filling the lower third of the frame between dark shadowed sandstone benches 38.2083°N 109.8886°W October 8, 2025 · 4,490 CFS · 75°F
Trip October 8–12, 2025
Flow 4,350–7,920 cfs
Lake Powell 3544.13 ft
Boats 1
Photos 75
Trip Report

Cataract CanyonOctober 2025

A two-person October 2025 run at 6,790 cfs with Lake Powell at 3,544 feet — low-water Cataract in the shoulder season, cold nights, five-day pace. The Big Drops ran technical and bony; the lower canyon exposed sediment shelves that didn't match any guidebook.

Two on the boat, and a white ring on the walls marking where the water used to be.

The far butte holds the light long after the near wall loses it, and the river hands the color back.

Day 1

Day 1

October 8, 2025

4,510 cfs (USGS daily mean)

Warm low-angle sunlight strikes only the top of a red sandstone butte above shadowed, stepped canyon benches, with a dark band of riverside trees across the foreground.
A tall banded red sandstone cliff rises above a rubble slope and a green scrub-lined riverbank, photographed from water level with slight motion blur under a clear blue sky.
A wide flat stretch of the Colorado River sits in shadow between dark canyon walls, with one sunlit orange patch of rock on the right-hand rim under a deep blue sky.
A thin band of warm sunlight burns along the highest cliffs and a butte cap above stepped red benches, with the still brown river reflecting the wall in the foreground.
Looking downstream on the Colorado between shadowed sandstone walls toward a warm-lit butte and rim, with rippled brown water filling the lower half of the frame.
A broad warm-lit sandstone wall and butte rise in layered ledges above a narrow green strip of riverside brush and the brown Colorado River.
A moonlit night on the river: a deep blue sky with lit clouds and a few stars over dark canyon walls, mirrored almost perfectly in glassy water.
A moonlit sandstone cliff face glows warm against a deep blue night sky with scattered clouds and stars; the handheld long exposure has smeared the whole frame.
A crew member sits silhouetted at the oars against a moonlit river; the moon burns through broken clouds overhead and lays a bright glitter path on the water, and a small green glow-stick shows on the rower's chest.
From the boat at night: a moonlit canyon wall glows warm on river left under a starry deep blue sky with streaked clouds, and the still water reflects the lit rock; a pale raft frame edges into the bottom of the frame.
A butte and canyon skyline stand as a flat black silhouette against a moonlit, cloud-streaked deep blue night sky; the entire foreground is dark.
Night view forward over a loaded raft deck — oars, a red dry bag, a white bucket and a coiled blue hose in the foreground — toward dark canyon walls under a moonlit cloudy sky.
A heavily motion-blurred night frame of a crew member in a ball cap at the oars, one arm raised, with moonlit clouds above the dark canyon rim and the river behind.
Night from the boat: a dark canyon wall with a pale seam of rock catching moonlight, a lit butte on the upper right under stars, and the raft's oar blade and frame silhouetted over ochre-lit water.

Rain on the confluence reach: flat light, flat water, and the canyon gone monochrome.

Day 2

Day 2

October 9, 2025

4,350 cfs (USGS daily mean)

A white raft with an oar frame, bimini top and small outboard motor sits beached on a muddy bank below an undercut sandstone wall with a small alcove, a red dry bag and orange gear on the red sand terrace under flat overcast light.
A white metal sign with a red border reading "DANGER — CATARACT CANYON — HAZARDOUS RAPIDS 2 Mi — PERMIT REQUIRED FROM SUPERINTENDENT CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK FOR BOATING BELOW SPANISH BOTTOM" stands on two posts on a dry, broken rock slope with a small weathered register box beneath it and dry grass and brush all around.
Wide view downstream from a red sand bank: the brown river curves left between a tall red sandstone buttress on the right and a rubble-and-cliff slope on the left, with layered gray and red canyon walls closing the view under broken cumulus.
A hiker in a ball cap, dark T-shirt, camo shorts and sandals climbs a steep rocky trail carrying a white daypack with a yellow water bottle, banded sandstone spires visible at left and a juniper-topped ledge rising ahead under broken cloud.
Clusters of banded red-and-white sandstone spires rise above a pinyon-juniper bench, seen across a foreground of stacked, broken slickrock ledges under blue sky streaked with high cirrus.
Massive rounded sandstone boulders and banded, mushroom-capped columns crowd close overhead above a sandy floor, a juniper at right and thin cirrus in a deep blue sky.
A wide stand of red-and-white banded sandstone spires and domes rises above a pinyon-juniper bench and pale slickrock, with a tilted slab in the foreground under blue sky and streaked cloud.
A bearded hiker in a pink long-sleeve sun shirt, cap and sunglasses stands on pale slickrock among towering banded sandstone spires, a dead juniper and sagebrush in the foreground under broken cloud.
Long view across a deep layered canyon from a slickrock bench: pale rounded domes in the foreground, banded cliff terraces dropping away below, and a distant skyline of needle-like rock towers along the far rim under high thin cloud.
View from a juniper-dotted slickrock rim across a deep red-walled canyon to a hazy blue mountain range on the far horizon, with storm cloud spreading across the sky above it.
Camp on a sand bar at dusk: a blue roll-top table holding a camp stove and an insulated cup, dry bags and a black gear duffel on the sand, a fire burning in a metal fire pan on a ground cloth, a camp chair at right, and the bimini-framed raft tied off in the silty river below banded canyon walls.
A wide, wind-rippled sand bar runs down to a silty brown river with a riffle breaking along the far bank, cottonwoods and green brush lining the shore below banded gray and red canyon slopes under flat overcast.

The Big Drops at 4,410 cfs: technical, bony, and the whole channel breaking at once.

Day 3

Day 3

October 10, 2025

4,410 cfs (USGS daily mean)

Wide-angle from the stern: the oarsman in a straw hat looks back over his shoulder with the bow passenger ahead, brown water running flat between fluted red walls and a long rapid building downstream.
The oarsman grins under a straw hat with both oars in hand, muddy water ahead and the canyon narrowing to a notch of cliff on the right.
The raft drops into the first waves of a rapid, water breaking white across the channel ahead of the straw-hatted oarsman and the bow passenger.
From the stern, the oarsman in a straw hat and the bow passenger face a long wave train of brown-and-white water between boulder banks and a spired skyline.
The raft slides toward Big Drop 3, boulders on the left bank and the whole channel breaking into white water below the bow passenger.
The oarsman sets up above Big Drop 2, a house-sized boulder splitting the current ahead and the ledgy walls of the canyon stacked behind it.
At the top of Big Drop 3, the oarsman pulls on both oars as the bow passenger leans forward into a wide field of breaking brown water.
A long, tilted bench of red sandstone ledges rises from a muddy riverbank to a fluted cliff and canyon rim under solid gray overcast, with the silty tan river curving along the lower right of the frame.
A stitched phone panorama shot from the rower's seat: the raft's gray bimini canopy and red and orange dry bags fill the bottom of the frame while the silty river runs downstream between green-fringed banks and pale red sandstone towers under a cloudy sky.
Two adult crew members in ball caps grin at a phone held at arm's length — one in a faded rose sun hoody with sunglasses pushed onto the brim, one in a black tee reading Brighton — with a gray talus slope, red canyon walls and the edge of the raft behind them.
Looking downstream from water level at a wide, silty river running between steep gray-brown talus slopes and stepped red cliff bands, with boulder-piled banks on both sides under a flat overcast sky.
A slender detached sandstone pinnacle stands beside buttressed towers on a tall layered canyon wall, above a brushy green bank and a band of calm olive-tan river that mirrors the rock.
A wide sand bench with wind-rippled sand and a cut bank sits below stepped red canyon walls and a squared tower, with calm silt-colored water reflecting the cliffs across the foreground.
Looking steeply up a tall, blocky pale-tan sandstone wall rising straight out of the water, its ledges and vertical joints stacked below a dark red capping butte against a hazy blue-gray sky.
Weathered red sandstone benches with rounded potholes and knobby caprock climb toward a fluted cliff line under heavy gray cloud, with green riparian brush and a small sand fan meeting the muddy river along the bottom of the frame.
A rigged gray raft is nosed into the bank at the edge of a broad, footprinted sand beach, with the silty river curving past and tall red sandstone walls and a green side-canyon mouth rising beyond under heavy overcast.
A rigged raft with a gray bimini canopy and a small outboard sits moored against a sand bar at camp, a blue towel and dark jackets hung to dry on driftwood posts, dry bags and life jackets set out on the sand and a blue camp table with pots at right, below ledgy red cliffs and a talus slope.
The oarsman in a straw hat turns to the camera with a half grin, muddy flat water behind him running toward the first ripples of a rapid.
Inside the rapid: the oarsman in a straw hat and the bow passenger ride through choppy brown water between boulders, the canyon opening ahead.
Two-person crew on flat water, the oarsman in a straw hat pointing and the bow passenger flashing a peace sign, with a pale cliff notch far downstream.
The oarsman tucks an oar in tight beside a huge boulder as the raft threads a narrow slot of white water under a bulging wall.
A near-overhead 360 frame looking straight down onto the raft as it runs a rapid, both crew, oars, dry boxes and rigging visible on the deck with churned brown-and-white water and rocky banks curling around the edges of the distorted frame.
A crew member on the bow throws one arm up as the raft punches a breaking wave, spray flying off the left tube, with a broad red butte standing at the head of the canyon ahead.
Water beads scatter across the lens as the raft drives through the wave, the bow crew member's arm still raised and whitewater curling along the left tube below the red butte.
A wide, heavily distorted 360 frame of the raft running the rapid's white lane, the bow crew member's arm raised, gear strapped across the deck and the canyon walls bending around the edges of the shot.
Seen from behind the rower's straw hat, the bow crew member holds both arms overhead as a wave breaks under the raft and washes down the right side of the boat.
The rower leans toward the lens with a wide grin under a straw hat and dark sunglasses, one arm outstretched, the raft's red dry bag and orange boxes beside him and the silty river running along a talus slope beyond.
The rower in a straw hat and sunglasses smiles sideways at the boat camera, the raft's red dry bag and an oar filling the right of the frame and a gray talus slope below stepped red cliffs across the river.

Tucked under the overhang while the rim let go, two falls running and the boat under the first.

Day 4

Day 4

October 11, 2025

6,860 cfs (USGS daily mean)

The same muddy waterfall drops off the overhang lip beside the moored raft, with a second fainter fall streaking the misted wall to the right and rain dimpling the green water across the whole frame.
Two sunlit walls of layered tan and red sandstone meet at a shadowed side-canyon notch threaded by a thin ribbon of falling water, above a green brushy bench, dark mud banks, and calm silt-brown river reflecting the cliffs under a deep blue sky.
A crew member in a black long-sleeve shirt sits on the bow tube of a rigged raft under a tan bimini canopy, looking off to the right, with a white water jug, a blue insulated mug and an orange life jacket on the deck and the silty river running ahead between red canyon walls and towers.
A close view of a blocky tan and pink sandstone wall crossed by joints, slabs and ledges, with a thin ribbon of falling water streaking down a dark-stained groove near the center and small shrubs at the base.
A white steel arch highway bridge spans the canyon downstream, seen from river level across calm tan water, with mud banks and green reeds in the foreground and rounded red rock domes standing on the skyline under a blue sky.
A long red cliff band topped by knobby rounded domes runs across the far bank above a green riparian bench and a low tan sandstone outcrop, with the wide silt-brown river filling the foreground under a blue sky and scattered cumulus.
A rounded tan sandstone bluff pitted with solution pockets and undercut by a shallow alcove rises above a sandy bank and a dark rock shelf fringed with brush, with distant red cliffs at right and the silty river running across the foreground.
A crushed and rusted car body lies wrecked on a red talus slope of broken rock and dry brush, with a thin cable strung across the hillside above it and green tamarisk filling the foreground.
A layered red sandstone wall banded with dark brown mudstone partings, with a bright white-streaked patch of rock and a mass of dried sticks perched on a mid-height ledge.
A tall red cliff face with a dark brown ledge band below the rim, where several protruding sandstone blocks are streaked bright white, standing above pale banded rock and a green brushy bank under a blue sky with cumulus.
Looking over the tan-covered load and red gear rolls on the bow of a raft across choppy green reservoir water toward a red mesa wall stained with a pale waterline band at right and a distant sandstone tower at left, under towering white cumulus.
Stepped red sandstone cliffs and rounded slickrock domes rise across blue-green reservoir water, with a pale bleached waterline band and rubble slopes along the shoreline under a blue sky streaked with thin cloud.
Seen from under the boat's tan bimini, a crew member in a patterned white hooded sun shirt sits facing forward past stowed oars, red gear rolls and an orange hard case, with glassy reservoir water and red canyon walls marked by a pale waterline ahead.
A long sheer red sandstone wall streaked top to bottom with dark desert varnish rises above a broad bleached white waterline band, with dark wind-rippled reservoir water across the foreground under a deep blue sky.
From under the boat's canopy, heavy gray clouds trailing rain hang over glassy reservoir water at dusk, with a rounded slickrock dome on the left and a long bleached waterline band along the far shore catching the last light.
A white and orange navigation buoy lettered FORGOTTEN CANYON floats on gray reservoir water with the boat's wake curling through the foreground, below red cliffs banded by a bleached waterline under a rain-streaked dusk sky.
A dark cave-like alcove is eroded into the bleached gray band at the base of a red slickrock slope and mirrored in still reservoir water, with loose cobbles scattered up the sandstone above under a blue sky.
A thin fresh waterfall drops over the bleached band of a red slickrock slope into still water, below dark varnish drip streaks and two large shadowed alcoves cut into the wall above; the frame is slightly soft.
A rising moon burns a starburst over a dark ridge and lays a silver path across glassy black water, with the pale tube of a moored raft on a wet rock shelf in the foreground and stars scattered overhead.
Heavy rain pocks the gray-green water across the foreground while a red talus slope and the cliff wall behind it fade into storm haze.
A dark night sky scattered with faint stars over the black silhouette of a canyon rim crossing the lower left corner of the frame.

Take-out day at 7,920 cfs, Lake Powell at 3,544 feet, and the reservoir doing the last miles.

Day 5

Day 5 — Take Out

October 12, 2025

7,920 cfs (USGS daily mean)

Data

Colorado at Potash: 2,950–5,360 cfs (avg 3,732)

Green at Mineral Bottom: 1,390–2,560 cfs (avg 1,878)

Combined: 4,350–7,920 cfs (avg 5,610)

Lake Powell: 3544.13 ft at launch (3544.03–3544.46 ft during trip). USBR RISE API — Lake Powell at Glen Canyon Dam

Field Sources

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

Permits

Hydrology

All 14 field sources

Access

Rapids

Management

Books

Safety

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

River

Sections

Access Points

Rapids