Family Rafting on the San Juan River

You Are Here:

Home >> A Riffle in Time

Today's Question
What should you do if you run into a cougar in the backcountry? answer

What is the number one backcountry skill people should learn? answer

Today's Question
What are the five best environmental movies of all time? answer

What are the greenest colleges? answer

What kind of dog will make me look manlier? answer
Is there a sport that safely combines my twin passions for guns and kayaks? answer
How come most of the world's cultures enjoy eating goat, but Americans don't? answer

Online Favorites

Special Issues

Photo Galleries

Outside Traveler 2004

Page:

Family Vacations
A Riffle in Time
A dad-and-daughter duo paddle into the past on the San Juan River

By Will Palmer


	Follow the Winding Water: San Juan River (Tom Berens/Courtesy, Go Utah)

"I fell into a pit trap!" cried eight-year-old Ellen. Ten yards downriver were some broken sticks and a recently fallen-into hole in the sand, with footsteps leading back upstream. Ellen's parents were none too concerned: She had run pretty fast to report the incident, and in this tranquil southeastern corner of Utah, the likelihood of bloodthirsty headhunters was definitely low.

It was our second evening on the Upper San Juan River with guide Janet Ross and her seven-member crew from Southwest Ed-Ventures. Our trip, "Family Fun on a Redrock River Run," had two objectives: to bring families together on one of the West's most spectacular hidden waterways, and to give them a taste of how our prehistoric ancestors negotiated nature.

Access & Resources

Southwest Ed-Ventures (800-525-4456, www.sw-adventures.org) will offer three trips on the San Juan in summer 2004. Prices range from $599 per adult and $574 per child for a four-day trip in June to $650 per adult and $599 per child for four-day trips in July and August that include a primitive living skills program.

For me and Grace, seven, it was also a last chance for a father-daughter outing before school began. So we left the rest of the family at home and made off for Bluff, Utah, where our three-day journey began. The 26-mile float trip down the chocolate-brown ribbon of the San Juan would eventually deposit us at the town of Mexican Hat, named for an impossibly balanced sombrero-shaped rock formation.

Along the way, in between soaking up the powerful August sunshine and enjoying the fresh-cooked meals offered by our hosts, we were taught everything from flint knapping—the banging together of rocks to yield sharp points—to making twine out of dogbane plants. Most of us applied these skills in positive ways, but the ambush of Ellen (trapped, of course, by big brother Ben) proved that newly learned technologies, just like an amazing canyon, have the power to seduce.

Page:

•	Subscribe to Outside and get a FREE Gift!

•	Give the gift of Outside Magazine!

•	Subscribe to Outside Online's free weekly e-mail newsletter featuring gear reviews, fitness advice, galleries, podcasts, and more.