Paddling the John Wesley Powell Route

The John Wesley Powell Route offers some of the most adventurous paddling in the United States. Across six Southwestern states, paddlers will find trips for all abilities and timeframes—from a few hours to a few months. Canoe trips in Canyonlands. Whitewater rafting in Dinosaur National Monument and Cataract Canyon. Peaceful floats in Browns Park or the Uinta Basin. Paddleboarding on Flaming Gorge Reservoir and Lake Powell. Afternoon kayaking in Red Canyon or a week-long expedition through Desolation Canyon. Plus, the original trip of a lifetime down the Grand Canyon. Along the way, side-hike to ancestral ruins, historic sites, and unexpected waterfalls. With Paddling the John Wesley Powell Route as your guide, come explore the same sections of the Green and Colorado Rivers as the 1869 expedition—and learn firsthand about one of the greatest adventure stories in American history. Explore the JWP route with:

· Practical information for planning your own trips, joining guided trips, obtaining permits, hiring shuttles, renting equipment, and visiting classic sites.
· Stunning photos and detailed descriptions of what to expect, including river difficulty and challenges.
· Overview maps and GPS coordinates for access points along the route.
· Details on further reading, relevant museums, and off-river sites.
· Interviews and stories about modern explorations along the route, plus a lively retelling of the dramatic 1869 expedition.

Mike Bezemek is a writer, photographer, and avid paddler of whitewater rivers, lakes, float streams, and seas across the U.S. and around the world. He is a frequent contributor to Canoe & Kayak Magazine, including his column Regular Paddler, Remarkable Waters. He is the author of Paddling the Ozarks (2017) for Falcon Guides and the forthcoming book series Twit Lit Classics™ (2018), which reimagines works of classic literature as tweets, for Racehorse Publishing. His writing and photography has appeared in a variety of publications, including Adventure Cyclist, Bull Magazine, The Morning News, Hobart, and elsewhere. He is the lead writer of the Velodyne 360 Blog for Velodyne LiDAR of Morgan Hill, CA. For ten years, he taught writing courses at Washington University in St. Louis, including travel writing, adventure writing, blog writing, research writing, and more. Bezemek’s “fresh eyes” self-supported explorations along the 950-mile Powell Pilgrimage route have included a winter descent of the Grand Canyon, a highwater navigation of Cataract Canyon at 35,000 cfs, and exhaustive supplementary research into the myths, mysteries, and subsequent pilgrimages related to the original John Wesley Powell expeditions of 1869 and 1871-72. Articles and images related to this project can be found at http://mikebezemek.com.