If you live on the Western Slope, you are familiar with the annual springtime question — “What am I going to do this summer to beat the heat?”

Backpacking, hiking, camping, biking in the high country? Fishing in mountain lakes and streams? The possibilities are endless. Any time I can be on or in the water during the late spring and summer is on the top of my list of options for being immersed in nature and staying cool.

Several years ago I drooled over the cliff edge of Utah’s Goosenecks State Park and dreamed of the day I would kayak the remote and wild San Juan River below. Last May, with the summer heat looming, 11 friends and family took a four-day, three-night, 57-mile rafting/kayaking excursion on the San Juan from Mexican Hat to Clay Hills with Bluff Utah outfitter Wild River Expeditions.

The San Juan River originates along the slopes of the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado, flows through northwest New Mexico and southeast Utah before joining the Colorado River at Lake Powell. Unleashed, spring snow pack runoff makes for a faster river. However, the San Juan can be run year-round. Although the river has class I and II rapids and one class III, the overall gentle nature of the river makes it an excellent trip for families with kids, as well as experienced and inexperienced “river rats” looking for watery bliss.

A trip down the San Juan River offers an intimate way to see the region’s archaeology, geology, history and wildlife. Bluff to Mexican Hat is a 27-mile option that can easily be traveled in one day or extended to multiple days. This stretch offers a large, easily accessible petroglyph panel at the Sand Island Launch site as well as one of the most important sites in the Southwest, Butler Wash Petroglyph Panel.

For ease of mind, equipment needs, meal prep, shuttling and all other aspects of river trip planning, we chose to go through a guide service for our multi-day excursion. BLM permits are required to float any section of the San Juan River whether on your own or guided.

The temperatures during our four-day adventure hovered around 100 degrees, but we took advantage of our most abundant resource — the water — and had a blast! Armed with long-range water guns, water fights broke out frequently and were always a welcomed cool down.

As the guides prepped meals or loaded gear, we hiked upriver in our life jackets and floated repeatedly back to camp, or found a still eddy to hang out in. Towering canyon walls provided early morning and evening shade and it was not uncommon to relax in folding chairs set in the shallow edge of the river.

The quest for gold in the late-1800s provided two hiking opportunities still walkable today. Honaker Trail, originally intended as a supply route for gold miners, switch-backed up the canyon wall from our campsite to the cliff edge of Gooseneck State Park. The gold quest in that area was a bust, leaving hikers today a trail to witness dramatic views of the serpentine canyons.

Another failed attempt at gold mining gave us the chance to hike up a butte to an old miners cabin and down the other side, while our guides brought rafts and kayaks around the hairpin curve to meet up.

Sandy beaches and sprawling campsites offer space for frisbee, hacky sack, molkky and other yard games. For some rafters, down time meant gathering in a circle, sharing a beer and swapping adventure stories. For others it meant quiet time to journal, read, meditate or star gaze. Spontaneous singing and lots of laughter was also part of the mix. Off the river it’s no agenda, your trip, your journey.

Even on the river, it’s your journey. Many chose to kayak in inflatables for a portion of or for the entire trip, while others wanted to relax under the raft canopy and absorb the epic geology.

For the most rewarding river experience on the San Juan River, come with an open mind and heart, flexibility, spontaneity, adaptability and the willingness to enjoy absolute solitude from the outside world.

Originally published in the Spring 2024 issue of Spoke+Blossom.

Rafting The San Juan River In Utah