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Cataract Canyon trip. Water fill spot beta, anyone?

5K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  semievolved 
#1 ·
Hola,

Got a Cataract trip planned for May, bunch of first-timers to the Upper Colorado and Green. Anyone have details on places to fill water jugs once on the river trip? Appx river mile, that kind of thing. We're gonna try and bring as much clean agua as we can. However, we would like to know all of our options before we try and settle out buckets and go that route, if needed. Also, is there something we can put in the water buckets to aid in settling before filtering? Has anyone been down to either Mineral Bottom or Dirty Devil lately? How are the roads looking?
Thanks and keep it hair side up!
 
#2 ·
All the trips I have done we always just carried all the water for the trip. Its a lot of weight but there aren't many options in terms of springs and what not. If you are putting in on the Colorado river side you could camp at the mouth of Indian Creek (dont have the approx river mile) and maybe get water from there. But you would probably have to settle the water out before treating it. It probably wouldn't be much better than just settling and treating water straight out of the colorado... I suppose if Dark Canyon had water in it you could get it from there (there is normally a little flow that pools up in Dark Canyon about a mile up the canyon) if you were REALLY desperate. Perhaps someone has some secret hole they wouldn't mind posting though... A lot of people use Alum to settle muddy water to make it easier to treat. It is a powder that is available in most grocery stores in the spice isle...
 
#6 ·
it's the desert, dude, that's what we do down here. and bring extra, extra. there is none at either put-in. seriously, you'll probably appreciate the extra, low stable weight for the "big stuff"!

we are just jealous of you PNW boaters that have water that you can just drink!

there is a place in town, Gearheads, on the main street through town, right next to the gas station at the City Market, that has a free filtered water station set-up. nice folks and good gear, too. they have some boating related camp stuff.

canyon voyages is the place to hit up for strickly boating gear if you need any. great folks also.

enjoy your trip. it will be a blast. 8)

bob
 
#17 ·
Matramony Springs

From Moab drive north until you reach hwy 128. Turn right and pass the brand new huge parking lot. Just after the parking lot you will see a large pull out. Park here and if you are looking closely you will find some 3 toed dinosaur tracks in the sandstone, and delicious spring water.
 
#18 ·
The Rio Colorado can be kinda gross at high water, as it brings everything that has been accumulating along the banks for the last year, including cow pies (and other types), dead livestock, lots of trash like tires and empty oil bottles, and some really big trees.

So carry all your drinking water in if at all possible. Use good jugs, not the $6 Wal-mart type, they don't hold up to Cat.

Ya take some flocculant and treatment/purification, but use it as a last resort.

For a smaller group, if everyone has a 6 gallon jug each, full camelbacks and other misc containers, add another jug or two for the group, and bring lots of beer and gatorade, that is a good start. You can settle river water and boil and/or treat for dishes, you'll run out of clean water if you use it for that.

I'm sure others will chime in on quantities, etc...
 
#19 ·
the green river dumps nasty water in from all the fertilizers and other industrial joys it picks up going through dairies and farms and cattle ranches. i don't know about other people's experiences, but we found the water from the Green river to be much worse than the colorado. anyway, i agree with the others here that it's not hard to carry the water you need. as long as your person to boat ratio isn't too much above 2 and each boat can carry 2 jugs so that you end up with about 1 1/4 gallons per person/day it seems to work out fine with extra water at the end.

one year we started at westwater and did the whole float including a layover and day hike up into the doll's house. just 2 16' cats, 2 5 gal jugs per boat, with 4 people total and we had plenty of water left over. it was october though and plenty cool (cold actually).

your mileage may vary
 
#20 ·
i guess i could have been clearer - we filled up 4 x 5 gal jugs and quite a few personal containers in moab, spent 3 days/nights getting to brown betty where we were blown batty, two nights there, and then 1 more night after cataract before motoring across to the take out. so, like 7 days without refilling.
 
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