How We Research and Recommend
A lot of what's published about Moab rafting is wrong, not maliciously, just old. Permit systems change and the internet doesn't. This page explains how we try to do better, and how we make money without letting it distort what we tell you.
The Problem We're Working Against
River information decays. Permit windows shift, fee schedules get revised, agencies restructure their systems, and flows vary enormously from year to year. Meanwhile, articles published in 2016 keep ranking and keep getting copied.
Two concrete examples we ran into while building this site:
- Canyonlands river permits are frequently described as a lottery. They aren't. The National Park Service allocates them through rolling reservation windows on Recreation.gov, with no lottery and no daily launch limits.
- Westwater Canyon is widely described as a lottery too. The current BLM system is advance reservation with hard daily caps, five permits or 75 people per day between April and September.
Someone planning around the wrong system loses their trip. That's the standard we're trying to meet.
Where Our Information Comes From
Permits and regulations
Always from the managing agency directly, never from another website:
| River section | Managing agency |
|---|---|
| Cataract, Stillwater, Meander | National Park Service. Canyonlands National Park |
| Westwater Canyon | BLM Moab Field Office |
| Ruby-Horsethief | BLM |
| Labyrinth Canyon | BLM |
| Desolation & Gray Canyons | BLM Price Field Office |
We link to the agency page we used so you can verify it yourself, and we note when we checked. Where a rule is ambiguous on the agency's site, we call the office and say so on the page.
Flows and water data
From USGS stream gauges, cited by gauge number. For the Colorado near Moab that's gauge 09180500, Colorado River near Cisco, Utah. It is the reference gauge for both Westwater and the Moab Daily, with daily records going back to 1913.
We give gauge numbers rather than just describing conditions so you can pull current data yourself rather than trusting a number we wrote months ago.
Trips, rapids, and conditions
From time on the water, supplemented by outfitters and boaters who run these sections regularly.
How We Handle Uncertainty
We'd rather tell you we're not sure than publish a confident number that's wrong.
- When something varies by season, water year, or group, we give the range and explain what moves it, instead of a single figure that will mislead you.
- When we haven't verified something against a primary source, we say so on the page rather than presenting it as established.
- When a rule may have changed since we last checked, we tell you to confirm with the agency and give you the phone number.
- When we're guessing, we don't publish it.
Every page carries the date we last reviewed it. If that date is old, treat the specifics with appropriate suspicion, and please tell us.
How We Evaluate Outfitters
We look at:
- Authorization. Whether the outfitter holds the required permits and concession authority for the section they're running. This is not optional and it's the first thing we check.
- Safety record and practices. Guide training and certification, equipment condition, group ratios, and how they handle marginal conditions.
- Honesty in their own marketing. Outfitters who accurately describe difficulty, minimum ages, and what a day actually involves tend to run better trips than those selling everything as an adventure of a lifetime.
- Fit. Different operators genuinely suit different groups. The best trip for a family with young kids is rarely the best trip for four adults wanting to get worked.
- Value. What's included, what isn't, and whether the price is reasonable for what you get.
What doesn't factor in
No outfitter can buy a listing, a ranking, a rating, or a favorable description. We don't accept payment for reviews, we don't run sponsored posts dressed as editorial, and commission rates don't influence what we recommend or the order we present it in.
If an outfitter pays a higher commission but runs a worse trip for your group, we'll send you to the other one. If a trip isn't worth the money, we'll say so. If we wouldn't recommend any of the options for what you're describing, we'll tell you that too.
How We Make Money
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you book through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full details are in our affiliate disclosure.
Two things worth being direct about:
Affiliate links appear where they're useful, not everywhere. If you're researching a private permit launch, there's nothing for us to sell you and we won't pretend otherwise. A large share of what we publish, permit walkthroughs, flow data, shuttle logistics, rapid descriptions, generates no revenue at all. We write it because it's what the river community needs, and a resource that only covers what it can monetize isn't much of a resource.
We mark affiliate links clearly and disclose them on every page where they appear, above the first link rather than buried at the bottom.
Corrections and Updates
We review permit and fee information at least annually, and after any announced agency change. Seasonal information gets reviewed before each season.
When we correct something significant such as a permit rule, a fee, or a safety-relevant detail, we update the page and note what changed. We don't quietly edit and pretend the error never happened.
If you find a mistake, tell us. Include the page URL and, if you have it, the source showing we're wrong. We'll fix it fast.
Our Limits
Whitewater is genuinely dangerous, including on sections marketed as beginner-friendly. People are injured and killed on these rivers. Conditions change without warning, water levels transform a rapid's character, and no written description prepares you for water beyond your ability.
Nothing here replaces swiftwater training, appropriate equipment, honest self-assessment, and current on-the-ground information. If you're uncertain whether a section is within your abilities, it probably isn't. Go with a professional outfitter.
Who Publishes This
Rafting Moab is published by Moabing Media, LLC of Moab, Utah, which also operates Moabing.com. We disclose the common ownership because you should know when two sites recommending things to you are run by the same people.
More about who we are on our about page.
Last reviewed: July 2026