OUTDOORS
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THE MIGHTY SAN JUAN RIVER A mix of whitewater and flatwater, offers beginners next-level training The 57-mile trip from Mexican Hat to Clay Hill provides you with unique desert scenery, opportunities to peep wildlife and explore archeological sites. Known to boaters for it’s mix of scenic flatwater and thrilling whitewater, the San Juan’s most famed rapid is Government Rapids (pictured left) named after a boating accident that occurred in 1921 during a United States Geological Survey expedition.
PHOTO TIM ROBERTS
U Get Your Paddles Up! From Zion to Flaming Gorge: 5 Utah places to play in (and on) the water this summer BY JEREMY PUGH
TA H ’ S L A N D S C A P E I S O F T E N I M A G I N E D as a desert, bone dry and starkly beautiful. However, the towering cliffs and towers, the deep, winding canyons and the hoodoos and arches that are admired around the world, are all the result of a common denominator—water. It was rivers, long-gone lakes, rains and floods that sculpted these wonders over millions of years and continue to shape and transform them. The water still flows and every spring and summer the river rats emerge from hibernation to challenge themselves on daring whitewater runs and, between those thrills, float quietly with a hard-won perspective that allows them to admire Utah’s wonders from deep down inside the canyons where the rivers run and the river rats go to play.
J ULY /AUGUS T 2023 | SALTLAKEMAGAZINE.COM
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