Trip to Colorado and Utah

IMHO, in order of preference for August Rafting:

Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Salida, Royal Gorge. This long stretch of river has a wide variety of difficulty, so you can vary where you take your trip based on river levels.

Glenwood Canyon - we went last August and it was a relatively slow trip, but amazing scenery,

Poudre River - above Ft. Collins. Higher snowpacks in the northern part of the state this year may mean longer rafting season into August.

Durango - Might be iffy by August, as much of the snow has fallen in the northern part of the state this winter. Last year, when we were there in June, the river was so low, that even those in inner tubes had to pull themselves over the rocks in places, although summer rains helped a bit later in the summer.

Colorado River around Moab - Beautiful float. This would rank much higher if you were going at a cooler time. I guess the good news is that the water will keep you cool during the raft trip, but the rest of your time out of the water around Moab will be HOT.

Not rafting, but an August hiking trip up the Zion Narrows will be cool, wading up the Virgin "River" in an amazing setting.

For horse back riding, try the east side of Rocky Mountain NP above Estes Park in Moraine Park.

X2 Buena Vista, CO

Arkansas River, Buena Vista Colorado.

As mentioned above river rafting won't be great in August but who cares you are on vacation. Great spot for what you are looking for in Glenwood Springs This is just off (but not on top of) the interstate so you can keep rolling through to Moab (Will be hot!) Head south to Durango and back on home.

We went West last year from Houston and did Colorado, AZ, and Utah. It was a National Parks tour so we did not do any rafting. Depends on what kinds of rafting you are looking for. I've done Cache Lapoudre which was great in June and been rafting in Durango. The closer to the main meltoff the more whitewater you get especially with a deep snow pack. You can also do a gentler raft trip down the Colorado out of Page AZ south of Glen Canyon Damn. Our trip took us to Great Sand Dunes in Co first then up to 70W (stop in and see family) then Grand Junction, follow CO river to Moab which was awesome but Arches NP was hot in August for the hiking. Zion was warm but enjoyable and Bryce was very nice and pretty cool at night. Hit a bunch of places in Utah and AZ and ended up coming home with a stop in Grand Canyon than through Flag to Amarillo and then 287. Good luck. We have so much fun just planning the trips.

Double post.

rmacump5 wrote:
Looking for best river rafting and horse back riding locations in Colorado and Utah. Thinking of trip in August 2014. Looking at National Parks in Utah also. Will be starting East of Dallas, would it be best to go through Utah first then Colorado or vice versa???

Might want to do a little more research -- August is a Float Month - Snow melts in May and June in Colorado so if you are looking for great rafting then you need to move up the time line. Second note is that Utah, for the most part is HOT!!! in the summer so you may enjoy it in August but for me -- get me above 8,000 feet in the Colorado mountains.

Having traveled this are extensively -- my advice would be to change the time line and if not change the priority to 4X4ing in the late summer and concentrate on Colorado. We have found that Utah is best visited in the shoulder seasons and not in the Heat of the Summer.

BOL,