Day 6: Canon City, CO to Green River, UT (with White Water Rafting)

Being the early birds and lame-o’s that we are, we got to the White Water rafting place at 7:30am because they told us to be there at 8. Apparently, though, when people in Colorado say 8 they actually mean 8:15. We drove around and took some pictures to kill time, then went back and were actually allowed to check in. Somehow, we managed to choose the plainest rafting company in the area. We had driven by a ton of really nice rafting places, and were a little dismayed to see ours. Ironically, the place we chose (Buffalo Joes) had the nicest brochure. The other advantage of this place is their track record- no major incidents since they started in the mid 70s.

For all the ghetto-ness, this company was fantastic. Our guide, Coop, was super nice and really encouraging to us. I was pretty darn nervous, as this was my first time rafting and we were doing class 3 & 4 rapids (out of 6, 6 being when you can’t raft). Jenna assured me I would love it as soon as we got started (she was right, of course). Halfway through the trip, Coop pulled over the boat, pointed at a big rock and said “who wants to jump?” I was all over it, Jenna not so much. The rock was probably 10 or 11 ft tall. I tell you, it looked much shorter from the boat, but I didn’t climb up there to chicken out. Like the 3 people from our boat who jumped before me, I screamed J It was actually pretty hard to swim in the booties they gave us, but I made it across the river with a little help from the others in our boat.

A little further down the river, they asked if anybody would “like to ride the bull,” which means sitting on the edge of the front of the boat. Well, again I volunteered- when else will I be able to do this stuff? Coop steered the boat into some pretty awesome rapids while I was up there, only holding onto a rope in the front. The first or second big dip knocked me back into the boat with a face full of water. I’m telling you, I think it may be harder than actual bull riding because of the water that continually splashes in your face. But, TOTALLY FUN! A bit further down the river, after I had climbed back to my seat, there was another opportunity for somebody to ride the bull. This time, Jenna volunteered and climbed up there. I think she had it worse then I did- we hit some pretty bad rapids. She also got knocked backwards into the boat (they told us to keep our weight backwards just in case). Nobody on our boat was knocked out during the trip, but they also said that when the water levels are higher, the trip down the river gets crazier.

Once the trip was over, we got on the road and saw some of the most beautiful views Jenna or I had ever seen. All over Colorado, it’s just mountains, blue lakes, and canyons. Driving through the Rockies was incredible. We stopped at Black Canyon even though we were worried about timing, and we are so glad we did. It is a lot like the Grand Canyon but on a smaller scale, and just as breathtaking. We drove around the park for about an hour before begrudgingly realizing that we needed to keep moving.

Side note: it’s not easy to drive through the country with the sun shining bright and no sunglasses. Jenna’s broke way back in Chicago, and Connie decided to leave them on top of the car while she pumped gas in Kansas and they were never to be seen again. We keep meaning to buy a cheap pair somewhere to help with the glare, but then always forget. Oops.

We grabbed a quick bite in Grand Junction, CO, which is a pretty cute town overall, much like many others that we’ve seen. After that it was another hour and a half of peering through a bug-gut covered windshield to Green River, UT, our stop for the night. Watching the sun set as we drove from Colorado to Utah was gorgeous, to say the least. We called an hour ahead to check for hotel rooms and luckily we did, because a few of them were actually booked up by that point. It’s a big stopping point for truckers we guessed.