Westwater Canyon

Westwater Ranch to Cisco Landing · Class III–IV · UT

Reservation

6,380Oct 22 snapshot

Runnable

Snapshot from Oct 22, 2026. Live reading loading.

Runnable range 1,500 to 15,000 cfs. This is a draft estimate that paddlers have not reviewed yet.

Season

Year-round, busiest April to September

Character

Seventeen-mile canyon with Class IV rapids.

Watch for

The BLM recommends it for experienced boaters only.

Gauge

USGS 09180500
Colorado River near Cisco
6,380 cfs at 6:00 PM MT on Oct 22, 2026 (snapshot)

Permit

Reservation

No lottery. Reserve on Recreation.gov up to two months ahead, opening at 8 AM MST.

Apply on Recreation.gov Official page

Fees and rules

$10 per person per trip, plus a $6 non-refundable reservation fee.

Permits are required year-round for private and commercial use. One permit covers one launch of up to 25 people, either a day trip or one overnight. Private quota is 5 permits or 75 people per day from Apr 1 to Sep 30, and 7 permits or 150 people per day from Oct 1 to Mar 31. Dates are non-transferable, and the permit holder must be 18 or older.

Source: Recreation.gov and BLM Moab pages.

Snowpack

Lower Colorado (UT)Early seasonDam-regulated

Snow water equivalent 0.4 in. Early season — median too low for a meaningful %.

Upstream aggregate — combined Upper Colorado + Green River snowpack.

Dam-regulated: Flaming Gorge Dam. Flows on this river also depend on reservoir releases — snowpack alone does not determine flows. Reaches this stretch through the Green River upstream.

Outlook indicator, not a flow forecast. Spring temperatures, rain, soil moisture, dust on snow and reservoir releases also matter. NRCS SNOTEL data as of Oct 31, 2026 (provisional).

See basin snowpack

Draft details for paddlers to review and edit. Community voting on runnable ranges is coming.

Trip reports

Wavetrain is an early build. Flow readings are USGS provisional data and may be revised. Runnable ranges and run details are drafts for paddlers to review. Permit dates and rules come from the agency pages linked on each permit and can change. Snowpack figures come from NRCS SNOTEL stations, are provisional, and are grouped into basins by watershed, so they may differ from official NRCS basin reports. Nothing here replaces scouting, local knowledge or a conversation with a nearby outfitter.