River Rafting on the Colorado

Note: this is one of a series of posts that deal with topics covered before in the Blog, but now we have the pictures processed to prove it!

September 8, 2008
Colorado River, between Glen Canyon Dam and Lee's Ferry

As reported in a prior post, we spent an afternoon on a "smooth water" rafting trip on the Colorado River, starting at the Glen Canyon Dam (well, actually, we started at the tour company's offices in Page and they bussed us to the Dam) and Lee's Ferry, where Glen Canyon ends and the Grand Canyon begins. It was a wonderful trip and we learned quite a bit.

For example, we found out that much of the vegetation along the riverbanks (and similar areas all over the Southwest) is Tamarisk trees that were introduced from the Mediterranean in the late-1800s to help stabilize the river banks. They've done an exceptional job at this. Unfortunately, the Salt Cedar, as it's also known, is extremely invasive and has spread to over a million acres of habitat. The worst part is that these trees have a huge appetite for water; each one transpires the weight of its foliage every hour during the day. That's a huge amount of water being lost, and water issues are a large and growing issue in this area. Well-knkown rivers like the Colorado and Rio Grande are barely a trickle by the time they reach the sea; all the water is siphoned off for human consumption. I hope they figure out a way to manage this in the future!

In addition to the educational side of the tour, we also enjoyed the quiet parts of the river. Since this was a "smooth water" trip, we didn't have rapids to contend with. At several points, our guide cut the outboard motor and let the raft drift for extended periods. Everyone on board sat quietly and took in the experience. Needless to say, we really enjoyed this tour.

Click here for some photos...