CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK, Utah — It is one of the West’s most fabled whitewater gauntlets, a thunderous choke of fractured rock and churning wildwater that earned the name Cataract at first glance and, over time, the nickname “Graveyard of the Colorado.”
The reputation has receded somewhat, even as the labels continue to accrue — “Satan’s Gut,” “Little Niagara,” “Capsize” and now “The Claw,” a gripping new addition to the Big Drop rapids that is considered one of the Colorado River’s most formidable whitewater challenges.
“The Claw has just taken the Big Drops one step further,” said Jason Sewell, a guide for Grand Junction-based Adventure Bound Expeditions with more than 100 Cataract trips to his name. “It’s another technicality in there to make it exciting, mainly because it’s brand new.”
In a place where time is measured in eons, new can mean a lot of things. Relative to the millions-year-old stone mazes stretching nearly 2,000 feet overhead on either side of the Colorado River through Canyonlands National Park, the sport of river running itself could be considered brand new.
Major John Wesley Powell certainly didn’t consider his initial eight-day passage through Cataract Canyon a sport back in 1869, and it wasn’t until the post-WWII advent of inflatable rubber rafts that anyone really considered joy riding the notorious Big Drops of the Colorado for a good time. The three-part rapids that form the crux of Cataract inspired trepidation long before enthusiasm.
So to see a significant change in one of the long-standing icons of Western whitewater within the last year truly is a treat for many modern day adventurers — even if it means they might get a closer look than they bargained for.
“The Claw has flipped a few boats for us this year,” Adventure Bound owner Tom Kleinschnitz said. “Especially when it’s high water, it’s hard to get around that thing. But it’s nice when things change in there. It’s getting people excited.”
Theory holds that the boat-clutching Claw was created the same way as all the rapids of Cataract Canyon: by mass movements of canyon walls and rock falls from the unstable cliffs into the river below.
Prior to its incarnation, perhaps the last significant change to the original 36-mile whitewater challenge arrived with the flooding of Glen Canyon downstream to create Powell’s namesake reservoir in 1966. The man-made lake buried roughly half of the original 56 rapids beneath the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers.
But if Glen Canyon was “the place that no one knew,” as former Sierra Club president David Brower described it after the damming, Cataract Canyon remains the place that relatively few know to this day.
“I spend a lot of time explaining to people how special it is,” Kleinschnitz said of Cataract. “I have people call all the time who want to run the Colorado in the Grand Canyon. It’s on the check list. But Cataract, where the river is still natural and still has the strength of last century, is not. I don’t know why. You’d think the real Colorado is what people would be interested in seeing.”
While it’s true that there is no experience quite like a river trip through the Grand Canyon, the Grand can’t offer the experience of Cataract, either.
By sheer volume, the Colorado River through “Cat,” as it’s often called, is unrivaled as a desert river in North America. The confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers is among the most majestic meetings of water in the West, the climax of the Yampa, Dolores, Gunnison, Blue, White, Price, Eagle and Roaring Fork, all significant rivers in their own right.
United at the place Ute Indian mythology lauds as the center of the universe, the placid river recovers its wild characteristics far below upstream reservoir manipulation to erupt in some 13 miles of big-water rapids that annually exceed flows of 30,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) and set a high-water mark of more than 139,000 cfs in 1917. The river topped out at more than 65,000 cfs just a year ago.
Below the Glen Canyon Dam, the Colorado through Grand Canyon can typically only offer flows in the 15,000-cfs range, even at peak runoff. And while it’s common for river runners to wait as long as 12 years for an opportunity to float through the nation’s most popular national park (4.5 million people visit the Grand Canyon annually), permits to launch a boat through Canyonlands National Park any day of the year can be obtained simply by request from the ranger station in Moab. According to Canyonlands National Park information assistant Jim Lazik, the park’s limit of 8,000 annual visitors on the river has never been reached, virtually guaranteeing solitude in one of the nation’s most majestic settings.
“Canyonlands just has a different kind of appeal,” said Rich Phillips, recently resigned board member of the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association. “There is solitude you can’t get in the Grand, and you can get a lot of the same kind of desert-boating experience in a walk-up basis. There always will be greater demand for the Grand Canyon simply because it is the Grand Canyon.”
But for those who seek an abbreviated version of the desert canyon majesty (commercial Cat trips can range from one to five days on motorized or oar-rigged rafts), Cataract offers all a river runner wants — and then some.
“It’s some of the biggest whitewater in North America. There are lots of big rapids out there, but that truly big water is only found in Cataract,” Sewell said. “It’s just not as well known. If more people knew about it, they’d be doing trips with us. The ones that do are blown away.”
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
Five other gems
Cross Mountain Gorge
The Yampa River flows wild in nearly continuous rapids for more than three miles through a canyon about a half mile wide and 1,150 feet deep (expert boaters only). Hikes are worth the effort, especially from the west end, where county roads and a parking area along Deer Lodge Road offer easy access.
Highway 40 to Twelvemile Gulch Road, 16 miles west of Maybell.
Flat Tops Wilderness
The state’s second-largest wilderness area sits on the White River Plateau between Steamboat Springs and Glenwood Springs. Hiking is available on 175 miles of developed trails near the headwaters of the White River and many lakes. Home to the world’s largest native elk herd.
Near Yampa (30 miles south of Steamboat Springs on Highway 131), 17 miles up County Road 7.Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Considered one of the most magnificent canyons in the world, as deep as 2,600 feet and as narrow as 1,100 feet, snaking 50 miles long. Most stop at the state’s newest national park for a quick glance, skipping the outdoor options like the hike to the Gunnison River below, where large trout lurk.
Highway 50 near Delta, 250 miles west of Denver.
Dolores River Canyon
Some of Colorado’s finest pristine desert and wild canyon country can be found in this wilderness study area that includes the headwaters of the Dolores and San Miguel rivers. Float the river or hike to dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs, mesa tops and side canyons at an elevation of 5,000-6,000 feet.
Highway 90 near Bedrock, 17 miles west of Naturita.
Chaco Canyon National Historic Park
The 45-minute dirt road drive into the 34,000-acre park in northwestern New Mexico helps preserve the Native American ruins rivaling those in Mesa Verde National Park. The National Park Service operates a campground a mile from the visitor center, but the nearest town is 60 miles away.
From the north, turn off US 550 at CR 7900 — three miles southeast of Nageezi and approximately 50 miles west of Cuba (at mile 112.5).
