After a snowy winter filled with above average snowpack and dreamy powder days that are now filling up area waterways, summer has arrived! With the longer days and warmer temperatures, snow is melting quickly, and the rivers are full, making it an ideal time to get out and experience something different on the water. Grand Junction has the perfect activities to provide you everything from a lazy river experience to all-out adrenaline pumping adventures.
Get wet and wild with Colorado Jet Boat.
Nowadays you can go whitewater rafting almost anywhere, but there is only one place in Colorado where you can experience the rip-roaring thrill of riding a jet boat. Colorado Jet Boat’s ride is both thrilling and scenic. This New Zealand style machine seems to fly above the water. Once it gets started, the boat only needs four inches of water to speed along. The Wet and Wild Adventure Tour will take you speeding along the Colorado River, rocketing upstream and zooming under bridges. The expert guides at Jet Boat Colorado masterfully steer the boat through hairpin turns, drifts, and their famous spins that send water splashing over the sides. The high water levels mean there are even more channels that can be explored and more water to splash around in. Hold on tight and be prepared to get wet! For those looking for a more relaxing experience, feel free to request the scenic tour. Both take about an hour on the water.
Sit back and Relax with Centennial Canoe.
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After the lightning speeds of the jet boat, slow down with a river float trip with the guides from Centennial Canoe. Starting from the Palisade Rim Trail, launch onto the river for a ten-mile float down to the Corn Lake section of the James M Robb Colorado River State Park. Unlike much of the Colorado, this stretch of river is wide and calm, without rapids even during spring run-off, so you'll stay nice and dry. It does make for a strong current, but that just means the river does all the work for you. Take a few paddle strokes to get started, and a few at the end to return to shore, and float the whole way in between. Even in the height of spring runoff, the float takes about two hours.
Centennial Canoe provides the rafts, paddles, life jackets, and everything else you need to get out on the water. All you need to bring is yourself and a cooler full of your favorite snacks and beverages to enjoy along the way. As you float, enjoy the scenic tour along the way. Vineyards and orchards frame the river with their colorful blooming fields that are bountiful with produce such as grapes, peaches, and cherries. Natural springs run underground and emerge on the cliffsides along the river that create vibrant yellow mineral trails down to the water. The high trees that surround the river make perfect perches for bald eagles. These massive and stoic birds sit in the upper branches to watch the river for fish, and it's common to see them as you float.
The Colorado River is also a popular destination for kayakers and standup paddleboarders.
There is no better time to get out on the water to try two unique river experiences that you can only find in Grand Junction.
See more ways to enjoy Grand Junction's easily accessible water on page 13 of the Grand Junction Visitor Guide.
