White River Rafting

White River Rafting Multi-Day Trip Schedule & Rates

Detailed information about the White River in Utah

White River rafting offers a wide range of outdoors experiences for every taste.

A paddle raft or inflatable kayak White River rafting trip is a step back in time following the footsteps of Western history. Born from snowmelt in the Colorado Mountains, the White River meanders over 175 miles to its confluence with the Green River in Utah.

As the river wanders into the White River Canyon, near Bonanza, Utah, it enters one of the least visited canyons in the West. In this remote canyon the White River still retains many of those pre-dam characteristics not seen on many Western rivers: piles of driftwood, abundant beaver, low water beaches, groves of old-age cottonwoods, native fish, and open vistas.

Stark tawny cliffs clasp you in solitude. At night, one of the darkest night skies in North America is festooned with billions of stars. Wild horses and other wildlife trek to the White River to quench their thirst in mornings. Spring flocks of colorful mountain bluebirds flutter past waterfowl staking out their territory, and the graceful song of canyon wren paints the background.

The White River races along impetuously, sweeping around each bend as if some great rapid awaits below. It then slows and chatters over easy rapids. This is truly a place for people to learn and hone their river running skills: from young to elderly. At the takeout confident smiles from families and groups betray the intimacy discovered here. For many that intimacy develops a feeling of protectiveness for this unique place that is becoming more and more threatened.

In 1871 three men from John Wesley Powell’s Colorado River Expedition hiked cross-country from the Green River to map the area. Near mile 37 they discovered an area of pinnacles and spires named Goblin City by a previous expedition. Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, artist and mapper for the Powell Expedition wrote: “What lies before you is a series of stacked ridges with towers, spires... ‘numerous small buttes and square rocks, almost in rows and about the size of small buildings, so there is a striking suggestion of a town.’” The whereabouts of Goblin City had been forgotten and lost until a local resident researched and rediscovered it in 1989. The trail from the river to Goblin City is a rewarding moderately 2-hour hike to the ridge overlooking this geological oddity and photographic opportunity.