Trip Report: Packrafting and Backpacking Meander Canyon and the Maze
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Packrafting and Backpacking Meander Canyon and the Maze By Katherine Thom |
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| BOATING | 05/01/2026 | Class II- |
| Participants: Matthew Lipton, Steve Maliszeski, Mike Seaman, Katherine Thom (Lisa Verzella wanted to join us and we hope she can join next time) We met up at Utahraptor State Park and got acquainted before we would spend almost a week in the backcountry together. Two out of the four were new to packrafting, so gathering the night before allowed us ample time to go through logistics. After dropping our shuttle vehicle off with a "low budget" operator the next morning, we made our way to the Potash Boat Ramp to get our boats ready to run. A ranger at the ramp checked that we had the required gear. Being in a packraft or other portable craft means you don't need to meet all of the larger raft requirements but the Park Service is still trying to figure out what truly applies. For example we were checked for PFDs but not inflating devices (critical!). Traffic on the ramp was no problem and we got our first introduction to a large group of Alta employees on large oar boats tied together to make motoring through the flat sections a bit faster. We had three packrafts, all with internal boat storage, and one inflatable stand-up paddleboard. There was a little trial and error on how to pack and inflate the boats in the first hour or so on the water, but then we had smooth cruising through the canyon as civilization slowly dropped away. The abundance of birds in the canyon was noticeable. We readily saw crows, geese, ducks, herons and sandpipers. We could feel the flow of the river, but at a CFS normally experienced in Fall, we were not getting much of a speed boost. We learned quickly how to predict the locations of sandbars in the twists of the river, but also benefited greatly by having a SUP paddler who could spot them faster. Despite the later-than-planned start, we managed to knock off 15+ river miles on day one, which was right on target for our goal. The map had marked primitive "campsites" but low water and deepening tamarisk groves made them nearly impossible to access. The first night we had a manageable but steep bank to get up, but the spot at Musselman Canyon was flat and scenic. We woke up to a turkey vulture patiently waiting near our site to see what goodies we might have left behind. The next day we got an earlier start, hoping to spare ourselves as much afternoon wind as possible. After a few hours we made it to Lathrop Canyon where we were reunited with the Alta flotilla. They helped us locate the ruins up in the cliff (pictographs too) and offered us a few river-cooled beers. The trail was well worn but snaked all over the hill and didn't always lead to anything. We took a bunch of photos and moved across the river, where we had a picnic lunch at the day use site and took advantage of the only pit toilet on the route. Without any marked campsites after that, we ended up settling on a large sandbar to spend the night. Going up one of the side canyons seemed attractive, but they were too steep and choked with brush in many cases. Since we had started early enough, we had plenty of time to socialize and take golden hour photos of the bright cliffs around us. The first few nights, the songbirds were active through most of the night, even making it hard to settle down and sleep. We were still shooting for that illustrious "early start" as we set off the next morning. Within a few hours, we could hear the sound of fast moving water and wondered what we were about to encounter. It turned out there were some class 1+ rapids to enjoy on river right at Indian Creek. We practiced paddling steadily and bracing to stay balanced. It was a fun initiation to whitewater in a packraft for those of us trying it for the first time. This was to be our longest day because we were trying to get through as many miles as possible so we could finish the remaining river miles and make it well into the Maze in the same day. The wind had other ideas and we settled on 20. Although we enjoyed lovely still water around The Loop, a double oxbow in the river, the full force of the wind was felt as soon as the high cliff walls were no longer breaking the wind coming up from Cataract Canyon. We hugged the right bank as we found crossing to the left almost impossible. We also had what we thought was going to be a larger rapid (class II max) at The Slide. This was a narrowing of the river next to a steep pile of rocks. It didn't make any noise at all and turned out to be barely a riffle. The low water was not enough to create the usual force experienced at that narrowing. From there we had hoped to make it at least to the confluence, but the wind was too much. We finally settled on one of the favorite sandbar campsites of the trip, just enough out of the wind to keep the tents upright with some helpful and creative anchoring. We had a little bit of rain that night and the morning was still quite windy. We crossed the confluence and noticed the slight color change in the water of the wide channel. It seemed like a long way to our take out and we were careful to not miss it as we knew the banks got much higher the further we went down Spanish Bottom. We finally found our takeout beach and got our stuff organized. We assembled boats, paddles, extra water, sandals and a throw bag under a bush near-ish to our approved cache site. From there we donned our backpacks and headed across Spanish Bottom. The trail climbed up to the rim along steep switchbacks and the sun beat down on us as we climbed 1000 feet in a mile. At the rim we ran into the group from Alta again. We had lunch amongst the rocks in the Dollhouse and then continued on to Beehive Arch. The route went in and out of washes and the day was still pretty hot. We eventually took stock of our remaining water and time to assess whether we could safely make it to Water Canyon, our planned destination. We knew we would not be well equipped for a dry camp if we did not make it, so we opted to turn around. It was disappointing because of all of our desires to spend more time in the Maze, but we had to make the practical decision in the moment. If we had planned to dry camp or had experienced less wind on the river in the days before, it might have been possible. We made our way back to Spanish Bottom still in good spirits and found a nice shady spot close enough to the river to get more water to settle and filter. Looking at the lack of options for our remaining days without climbing back up to the Dollhouse, and noting that the temperatures would climb to the mid 80s on our last day, we decided to cut the trip a day short. After a relaxing morning with some brief rain, we packed up camp retrieved our cache. A group of park rangers were watering baby cottonwood trees so we chatted with them briefly while we got ready to launch back onto the river. We had some tense moments with our packraft zippers (finicky things!) but were able to have an uneventful crossing to the Needles side of the park to our exit canyon, Red Lake. We got all of our gear including our boats into and onto our backpacks and then compared notes on how heavy they seemed. It was amusing to see our stuff strapped to the outside and paddles sticking up over our heads. The walk through the wash was fine, despite the intense sun of the afternoon but the steep climb to the upper portions of the trail were very taxing with that much load. We got separated for a bit but were able to find suitable dry camping before nightfall. We still had about 8 miles left on our last day but the walking became easier for a while in Cyclone Canyon which turned out to be shady and picturesque that time of day. Once on the final 4 miles which was the trail to the Confluence Overlook, the terrain changed again. Now we had slickrock sections with large step-ups and step-downs. All would have been relatively easy without the very heavy packs. We took turns assisting each other up and down, offering hands, holding poles, spotting a big step or helping to get a pack on or off. It was tedious but we continued to make forward progress. We stopped for snacks in the shade and enjoyed the views of the sandstone "needles" in the distance. When the parking lot came into view, it got our hopes up that we would be finished soon. Unfortunately, we had to first drop down into and then climb out of a wash with steep walls. At one point there was a metal ladder affixed to the rock. That was a welcome sight compared to the careful foot placements we needed on some downclimbs. Once finally out of the wash, we were back on pavement. We encountered yet another ranger who this time asked to see our permit and our human waste storage systems for the river (wag bags and a hard plastic screw top "jar"). Our shuttled truck was waiting and although it reported a temp over 100, we had really only reached mid 70s for the day, keeping the experience safer with our limited water supplies. We threw our gear in the bed and enjoyed air conditioning for the 110 miles back to our cars at Potash. After that we met up at Milt's in Moab for burgers, milkshakes and fries. Although we might have liked beers as well, we figuratively toasted to a safe and semi-successful trip. Stats: River miles: 55.5 Hike miles: 18.1 Elevation gain hiking: 4,022 Days with rain: 2 Days with wind: all Days with bugs: nil River magic: beers and one floating unopened coke Swims: 1 (only a minor launch error) Injuries: 0 Memories: too numerous to count Learning opportunities: every day |
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