We're spending 5 days in Moab next week and will be quite active; hikes, biking, a wedding at Arches Park etc... I've never been white water rafting and it sounds awesome and I know I would love but I can't help but think with all of our constant activity a lazy tube ride (which I just discovered you can take) might be a nice and relaxing alternative as our friends and us are going and the babies are all staying at home with grandparents!

Are the rapids on the CO River great and I shouldn't pass up white water rafting or should we take a nice leisurely tube??

I'm curious who rents the tubes and where on the river do they do the tubing? We were told that the locals don't go swimming in the Colorado River because of the undertow and the drownings are usually tourist that don't know any better.

The float trip is not all rapids, there are serval slow places on the river. On our tour, we could get in the river in places as long as we held on to a rope and had our life jackets on. We also had water fights with other rafts. All in all a lot of fun.

Utahtea

I'm not sure who rents the tubes or at what points on the river you do it. In my searches for things to do I came across a forum where someone talked about tubing in the area. I could have been misinformed or maybe they took a trip that included Moab and they tubed somewhere else???

A few years ago, we went on a guided 5 day trip down the Colorado River from Moab to Lake Powell. The rapids weren't very big in the middle of summer and the water was a little bit warmer than it would have been in the Spring. The scenery was gorgeous and my husband and son really enjoyed the trip. I know it sounds really dumb, but it was way more camping than the brochure sounded like and I really didn't enjoy it that much. Sleeping on a beach is camping, even though someone else is cooking and cleaning up for you!

That doesn't answer your question, though, does it? I would think, in August, that either option would be enjoyable as the river probably won't be that high and fast right then. Enjoy!

There is tubing on the Virgin River in Zion National Park but I've not heard about tubing on the Colorado River. I guess they could have started doing it.

Utahtea

If you want to see the area where the rafting takes place, then drive out Hwy 128 to Fisher Towers. This is the area where they do the 1/2 day raft trip.

Utahtea

Thanks for the info. The rafting looks fun but I wish we could do the rivers some justice and do a 2 day trip! It's just not possible with the schedule.