Colorado River

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• Trip Itinerary
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Trip Overview

This spectacular canyon country of the Colorado Plateau, including Ruby and Horsethief Canyons, features majestic walls of red sandstone and offers some of the best Colorado canoeing and Colorado sea kayaking. The river is gentle with occasional small Class I+ rapids to add spice to the journey (Class I is easy and Class V is difficult). Roads do not bound this portion of the river and the steep-walled canyons are accessible only from the river, giving the area a true wilderness setting.

You’ll be amazed at stands of shiny granite sculpted by water through the ages while paddling or floating in your life jacket past the remnants of ancient metamorphic rock, called Black Rock. Camping along the river’s banks, exploring a natural amphitheater with ancient Indian rock art or hiking into deep box canyons will leave you awed by the immensity of geologic time and the silence of the wilderness. This is BIG COUNTRY and a geologist’s paradise. Many of our educational classes focus on this area. This stretch of river near Grand Junction, CO, can accommodate either a canoe trip or sea kayak trip.

Special Information

Open to the public. Join the intrepid Bob Raynolds, PhD, and explore the geology, history, economics, and conservation of the western waterways. As a Denver Museum research associate in the Earth Sciences Department and a lead scientist on the Denver Basin Project, Raynolds has accrued a massive amount of knowledge about water resources in the Rocky Mountain Region. Learn about our water issues while enjoying a canoe paddle on one of our great western rivers!