Upside down raft dropping into the “Claw” – Notice the hand coming out of the water!
Check out our River Conditions for current flows and conditions on the rivers around Moab.
At high water, Cataract Canyon is known by many as the “Biggest Whitewater In North America”. The highest flows recorded were 114,900 CFS on May 27, 1984. Compare that with the peak at 15,070 CFS on 5/27/2012. View the Wikipedia Page or the National Park Service for more details on the canyon and rapids, this page is purely for the enjoyment of watching some whitewater carnage! All of these videos show rafts flipping.
Big Drop 2 – Flip & Re-Flip
This raft flips in the “Ledge Wave” and then re-flips in the “Claw” (A relatively new feature formed by a rockfall between Big Drops 2 & 3). The guide is immediately on the upside boat, and is thrown back into the river as the boats is flipped back over. Everyone survived albeit with a long, scary swim. The problem with Big Drop 2 is that it lies directly above Big Drop 3 and “Satans Gut”. The flow was about 42,000 CFS
Big Drop 3 – Satan’s Gut Surf
This bucket boat is surfed in the “Ledge Wave” and then struggles down the eddy fence while bailing out a boatload of water. It then drops into “Satan’s Gut”, flips, and is violently surfed.
Big Drop 2 – Little Niagra – Surf
Watch a raft drop into “Little Niagra”, get surfed, then have the ENTIRE FRAME ripped off the boat. Remarkably, the equipment was mostly recovered.
Big Drop 3 – Flip in Satans Gut
This raft makes a successful run on the right side of “Little Niagra”, makes it through the Black Hole, and then flips in “Satan’s Gut” in Big Drop 2
Raft Flips END OVER END in the “Claw”
The relatively new feature in the Tail Waves of Big Drop 2 flips a raft end over end. Welcome to Cataract Canyon!
Multiple Rafts through Big Drops 2 & 3 in Cataract Canyon
Numerous rafts run through the Big Drops (Pre-Claw) resulting a flip in the Tail Waves of Big Drop 2 and another in Satan’s Gut of Big Drop 3 of Cataract Canyon
