http://wildernessimagesphotography.com/I was able to squeeze in one more river trip this year. Starting near Moab Ut, The Colorado river flows into Cataract Canyon through Canyonlands National Park. This is perhaps on of the most in-assessable sections of river in the country with no easy road or trail access to the river between the put-in and take out at Lake Powell. The first 50 miles of the trip is flat water meandering through a goose-necked sandstone canyon past the confluence with the Green River. Many people attach motors to their rafts and buzz quickly through this section. Our small 3 person 2 boat trip had no motor, and that was OK with us. This upper section of the trip is home to some of the most spectacular scenery, archealogical sites, petrified wood, and rock formations I have ever seen. The motorless experience really lets one relax into a wonderfully slow pace for the trip. Check out the 4 fingered child’s hand pictographs we saw in the photo to the right.

Just below the confluence of the Green River is access to the Doll House. The Doll House is an extremely remote section of the Maze District in Canyonlands. The windy passages between monolithic sandstone towers offers amazing hiking and photographic opportunities. This shot below is a Panorama I shoot while hiking back to the Spanish Bottom camp at the foot of the Doll House.

Below the Doll House the rapids begin. Cataract Canyon contains fourteen miles of rapids ranging in difficulty up to Class V. At this time of the year with lower flows the rapids are not as fierce as their reputation holds, but are still a lot of fun. This section of the river is probably the closest

The shot of me rowing to the right was taken by my buddy and fellow photographer Jack Moseley. Jack is using my Nikon D90 in an Ewa Marine underwater housing to catch the action.

As a photographic side note, I love this underwater housing. Housings can be very expensive, and although this one is still not cheap, it’s a lot less expensive that a hard case and performs well. I really like the fact that I can mount a strobe on my camera in the housing allowing me to add fill light ot a shot like this which would other wise suffer from a very dark shadowed face. 

The last part of the trip returns to flat water. The varying levels of Lake Powell cause the exact mileage of the flat water to vary. On our trip the lake level was still a bit low (as it has been for many years now due to drought conditions). We floated past exposed high silt banks formed by sediment when the lake was higher gouged out by the return of flow when the lake level was lower.

For us the last 16 miles of the trip was flat water and very interesting from an environmental perspective. The canyon seems in a state of confusion. Silt was piled high on the banks hosting plants such as willows and tamarisk that would normally be at the waters edge. Side canyons were cutting through never ending slimy silty mud that got on everything you touched. Two days of chilling rain only made the muddy conditions worse as all the side canyons flash flooded.
We spent a lot of time thinking of how beautiful this canyon must have been in it’s un- altered state. Camping in this lower section became challenging as none of the land was stable or clear of brush. Rounding the corner getting a spectacular view of the Mountains over Lake Powell was the signal that we had reached the end.

Below is a slide show with more images from the trip.