Utah's Longest River Is An Iconic Outdoor Playground Through Scenic Red-Rock Canyons With Rafting And Fishing

While Utah has 81,899 miles of rivers and streams, perhaps the most famous of the state's waterways is the Colorado River. At 1,450 miles, the Colorado River is not just the longest river in Utah, but it's also the sixth-longest river in the United States. Though today the famous river is known by rafters and kayakers as an iconic outdoor playground, it played an important part in the history of the Western United States and remains a vital source of water for farmers and residents in more than a half dozen western states. 

While the river's 15 dams make traveling down the entirety of the river impossible, if you were to try, you'd see a very different version of the waterway in each segment of its multistate journey. It starts off high in the forest-rich Rocky Mountains as a trout stream and then erupts into world-famous rapids in Utah's Canyonlands National Park, before continuing on through the calm waters of Lake Powell and forging through deep desert canyons and winding past mesas, buttes, and ranchlands, trickling to end in the sands of the Mexican desert, right before it reaches the Gulf of California. 

Whether you're looking to whitewater raft through a towering red-rock canyon or cast a line along a serene, sandy beach, the Utah portion of this legendary river offers some of the best rafting, fishing, and outdoor adventures in the American West. 

The Colorado River, often referred to as "the Mighty Colorado River," frequently tops the list of the best rivers in the world for whitewater rafting. In Utah, two areas of the Colorado River well-known for whitewater adventures are Westwater Canyon, which has Class III-IV rapids, and Cataract Canyon. Located in the remote Canyonlands National Park, which has some of the Southwest's most vibrant canyon views, Cataract Canyon takes you through 15 miles of class III-V rapids in a gorge shadowed by 2,000-foot-high red sandstone cliffs, where you can backcountry camp on sandbars and hike to see ruins, pictographs, caves, and hidden pools. As navigating these areas of the river can be tricky, it's recommended that you go with a guide company, such as Adrift Adventures or Mild to Wild Rafting and Jeep Tours. The former has 4.7 stars on Google, while the latter has 4.9 stars with nearly 2,000 reviews.

In the mellower areas of the river, it's common to see people stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, boating, wakeboarding, and water skiing. One popular area in Utah for calm river recreation activities is a 13-mile section of the Colorado River known as the Moab Daily.  While you can book a guided standup paddleboard tour with companies like Paddle Moab (5-stars on Google), you can also rent all the gear needed to paddleboard or kayak the river on your own. Wild West Voyages (4.9 stars on Google) will even rent you rafts, paddles, and helmets.

Fishing is also a popular activity along the Colorado River, where anglers gather on sandy beaches to fish for channel catfish and common carp. The most fishable areas of the river in Utah are within a 45-mile stretch near Moab. Go in the late summer or fall, when the water is clear, the air is crisp, and the fish are at their most active.

The rafting company Western River Expeditions offers a four-day Cataract Canyon Rafting trip that provides opportunities to reel in carp, catfish, red shiners, sand shiners, and fathead minnows. If you go, be prepared to secure a Utah State fishing license before your trip and pack a collapsible pole, like this well-reviewed, affordable portable rod. For year-round sport fishing or fly-fishing, Lake Powell, "The Jewel of the Colorado," offers opportunities to catch several types of bass and catfish as well as bluegill, walleye, and black crappie, among others. 

While whitewater rafting offers exciting thrills, quieter activities like fishing make it easier to spot bighorn sheep, mule deer, bald eagles, blue heron, and the other wildlife that make the Colorado River basin their home. However, both types of activities provide ample opportunities to take in Utah's scenic red-rock canyons. As you float down the Colorado River, you'll pass through narrow canyons of sedimentary rock and past vibrant cliffs and mesas of white and pink Navajo sandstone and towering, sculpted reddish-purple and maroon rock formations.