Smoking Rivers > American Southwest

Experience The Rugged Beauty of The American West

Smoking Rivers’ destination canoe trips to the American Southwest are trips of a lifetime. Well, you may decide after going once that it needs to be a trips that happens a lot more often than once in your lifetime! These trips are great for family vacations and for serious die-hard paddlers alike. Nothing compares to the majestic cliffs and gorgeous back country you will encounter on these canoe adventures.

Rio Grande Canoe Trip

The Legendary Rio Grande- Flowing through some of the most beautiful and desolate desert canyons on the continent is truly one of America's premier wilderness rivers, and a true classic of the American Southwest.

Complete San Juan River Trip

The San Juan River canoe trip is best undertaken by those with some prior paddling experience, due to the fast-moving current and larger whitewater.

San Juan Upper Float

Originating in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, melting snow in the spring provides a run-off that slowly makes its way towards southern Utah each year. Regulated, in part by Navajo Dam, upstream of our river trip, flows are generally quite standard each April.

San Juan Lower Canyons

Smoking Rivers’ 5-day canoe trip on the Lower San Juan begins at the small town of Mexican Hat, Utah and we enter one of the most dramatic canyons on the entire river corridor. The Goosenecks, as they are known, are a series of dramatic sweeping bends in the river featuring 1,000+ foot canyon walls.

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"Our 6 day canoe trip went by way too fast! We were lucky enough to have some beautiful fall weather and the colors were amazing. The guys from Smoking Rivers completely made the trip. It just wouldn't have been the same without them. They worked hard and took great care of us. The food was delicious and they accommodated my vegan diet! We had so much fun and I've made some lifelong friends. I hope to do this trip again next year! Highly recommended!"

- Tonia Polak

"We decided to have a family canoeing adventure for our girls' 12th birthday. I can now declare that I wish most of the decisions we made in life were as brilliant! It's hard to nominate the star of this trip: The stunning river, the amazing woods and wildlife, the thrill of crossing a patch of whitewater, the blessed distance from the rest of the world- these are all good candidates, but the gold medal has to go to Jason and Dan, our guides. We never canoed before, let alone on a lively river, in what felt like the edge of the world, and we felt completely safe the whole time. These guys 'walk' the river on their canoes like we walk a city sidewalk, with ease and confidence and strength..."

- Dr. Anat Maril

"Just had a great camping & canoeing trip down the St. Croix- Maine at its finest! Beautiful scenes of the river, sky, and the woods with cool wildlife thrown in! Plenty of whitewater excitement too! None of our canoes ever flipped, while many others' did! That speaks loudly of the skills of our two guides, Jason & Dan, who provided us with great training as to any different paddle strokes and lessons on reading the river for the 'V's.' However more importantly they were always near to help when we happened to forget some of that training- they both are the consummate professionals - Our whole group loved the experience and wow can those boys cook !!!"

- Esq Mark J. Berardoni