EMERY COUNTY, Utah — When it comes to Utah’s most magnificent natural wonders, not everyone knows about Muddy Creek.
“The canyons are amazing, really scenic," said Jaydon Mead, Outdoor Recreation Planner with the Bureau of Land Management's Price Office. "The chute is just breathtaking. 300 foot walls, water from wall to wall.”
However, the wall-to-wall water is not usually there.
“On drought years, it can actually dry up and go completely dry," said Mead.
The Muddy Creek flows once a year for about a week during the spring runoff. Few people are able to float the whole thing.
“Usually by the time they hear that it's floatable and they put together a trip, it's no longer floatable," said Mead. "This year, it has been.”
'The Chute of the Muddy’ trip is 15 miles long, and it takes an estimated more than seven hours to float. Because of hazards like trees, rocks and flooding, the BLM recommends only experienced paddlers try it.
Matt Pesce and Shelby Carter, Moab residents and experienced paddlers, had never gone down the Muddy Creek in rafts before, and both got stuck around a tree that had fallen across the length of the creek Thursday.
“We walked it actually, and it was truly muddy," said Pesce. "Mud up to, you know, knee-deep sometimes, and so that made me wonder what it would be like to do it with a raft.”
The Creek has been flowing for weeks already, and the BLM guesses it could be full of water until July.
“It's really nice to see some of these things, some of the ephemeral washes flowing," said Carter. "It's just been kind of a different year, [you] get to see a different side of the place.”
With more people having the window of opportunity to float the Muddy, Mead hopes visitors remember to pack in, pack out and leave no trace.
“Definitely a very unique and remote place," he said. "I hope we can keep it that way.”
