Boating: How to Boat: Advanced: Paddle Sports

Pack your boat, plus your bikes. The slick rock of Canyonlands National Park is a Mecca for mountain bikes. But two great rivers converge here as well: the Colorado and the Green.

The Confluence Overlook trail is a classic Canyonlands hike. From that promontory, visitors gaze down at the merging Green and Colorado.

The two rivers have distinctly different colors-like a river of tea flowing into a river of milky coffee. From the overlook, one can see the distinct line as the waters merge and the two rivers share one channel. But the overlook offers only a small glimpse of the rivers themselves.

The Green River offers a route into the Maze District. This sandstone labyrinth is an Ed Abbey paradise: one of the loneliest, loveliest and most rugged places in the lower Forty Eight.

One popular float is from Mineral Bottom, on the Green, to the confluence of the Colorado. Mineral Bottom is at the end of a crumbling cliffside road left over from the uranium boom (which is an adventure in its own right.) Allow at least five days on the river for time to explore the side-canyons through red slick rock. The flat water is suited to sea kayak or canoe, although the headwind can be brutal.

Commercial jetboats run the Colorado from Moab to the confluence and will shuttle your gear back to Moab. Also, the Colorado around Moab offers mild-mannered day floats with a chance to see desert bighorn sheep.

If you can't bear to leave your mountain bike behind, four-wheel-drive roads lead to both the Colorado and Green rivers and are gear-straining, all-day rides through the full-range of desert stratifications.

Wow Factor? Hear the sweet, flute-song of the canyon wren greeting the warmth of another sunrise.

Contact: Superintendent, 2282 S. West Resource Blvd., Moab, UT, 84532-3298. Phone: (435) 259-7164.