In March 2005 we went on a five-day canoeing trip down the Colorado River in Canyonlands
National Park, near Moab, Utah.  We hadn't done any canoeing since leaving Canada in 2001, but then
we found out that the Colorado (which is well-known for white-water rafting) has a 50-mile stretch of
flat water ideal for canoeing as it meanders through desert canyons in south-east Utah.


We started the trip on
a
cool and damp afternoon
at the romantically-named Potash Dock  (there's a big potash mine near here).

Fran and Rick just down-river from Potash Dock.

Rick in the front of the canoe.

Martin and Alex at the first night's camp.  You can see that we brought only the bare neccesities.

Fran hard at work at the first
night's camp.

A tousle-haired Rick and Alex after the first night's camp.

Fran and Rick setting out from
camp on the second day.

Alex relaxing in front of the canoe.  The formation in the background is called Dead Horse Point.

Lunch stop on the second day,

Martin and Alex  in their canoe on the second afternoon.

Rick and Martin busy setting up the second night's camp.

Martin at the second night's camp.  If you look closely you'll find a clue to the title of this page.

Alex and Fran on a sunny morning after the second night's camp.

On the third day we stopped for lunch near the ruins of some Anasazi cliff-dwellings.

A rather miserable Alex at the third night's camp (it rained a bit that afternoon).

Rick brushing his teeth after the fourth and  final night's camp.  This was near the confluence of the Colorado River and the Green River.

We stopped at the confluence because there are big rapids beyond here.  There are no roads to this point; instead, an outfitter came downstream and took us back upstream by a motor boat.

Rick, Alex and Fran back at Potash Dock a few hours later, with the outfitter's motor boat behind them.

The next day we went sight-seeing in Canyonlands National Park.  Here's Fran at Grand View Point.  The Colorado River is out of sight at the bottom of one of the canyons in the far distance.

A view of the Green River in Canyonlands National Park.  Like the Colorado, the Green also has a long stretch of flat water.  Maybe we'll be back  here for our next trip.