Cataract Canyon
IFS RIver journey
Sep 3-11, 2026
September 3 - 11, 2026
Reconnect in Cataract Canyon
Our group will spend 7 days traveling the Colorado River through Meander Canyon and then join the Colorado River at their confluence by raft through Canyonlands National Park. “Cataract Canyon” is a remote river system in the heart of the stunning Colorado Plateau region in southern Utah. Using a combination of whitewater rafts and inflatable kayaks, our group will float through a series of canyons shaped by millions of years of natural forces, including the confluence of the region’s two largest rivers, the Green and the Colorado. Hundreds of years ago, Ancestral Puebloans called this river “home” and farmed its bottom lands. You too will sleep next to the Colorado River and look up at the same mesas and vistas as people have done since time immemorial.
While exploring the external landscapes of Meander and Cataract Canyon, you will also be exploring your internal landscapes. This trip is designed to immerse yourself into your Internal Family Systems (IFS) journey. Each day will provide an opportunity to engage in a group process using IFS therapy as well as solo time to reflect and integrate your experience. This is the opportunity of a lifetime to explore your internal landscapes while being held by experienced guides and therapists in one of the most pristine landscapes left in the world.
This trip is designed for IFS therapists and practitioners, including beginners and more experienced adventurers.
A pre-trip information meeting will be offered in later spring. Date is TBD.
$5000 per person
Small Group of 16 participants plus staff & guides
Itinerary:
Day 0, Sep 3: Fly or drive to Moab, UT, arriving before 2pm. Evening meeting at a designated location. (Block of hotel rooms are available - arrange/pay for on your own). Orientation with OARS and pre-trip meeting starts at 4pm.
Day 1, Sep 4: Finalize packing together over breakfast. Meet with OARS and launch on the Colorado River after a beautiful drive to the put-in.
Days 2-5, Sep 5 - 8: Travel through mellow Meander Canyon past the Confluence with the Colorado River. Time spent learning and connecting on the river, facilitated by skilled instructors, camping each night in a new place.
Day 6, Sep 9: A short distance below the Confluence we’ll enter Cataract Canyon’s famous rapids, camping deep within the heart of the canyon.
Day 7, Sep 10: We’ll leave Cataract Canyon and travel through Narrow Canyon, making our way to the take out at North Wash by 3pm, followed by a scenic flight (weather dependent) or drive back to Moab, UT. Farewell meeting in Moab. (An overnight stay at a hotel in Moab is optional - please arrange/pay for it on your own).
Sep 11: Transportation can be pre-arranged to Moab airport.
Includes:
Skilled therapists and well-designed IFS curriculum to deepen your connection to self, others, and the canyons
Professional guide services provided by OARS
7 days & nights of catered camping, including delicious meals
2 large and 1 small waterproof bags to hold your gear for the trip
12-ounce insulated Klean Kanteen mug for drinks in camp
All camp equipment, including tents, chairs, eating utensils, cups and plates*
Highest quality inflatable rafts and related equipment including personal flotation device (PFD)
Transportation to the river and back, including an internal flight from the takeout to Moab
Ground Transportation to/from Moab, UT, Airport
“Who knew that there was a new mode of IFS therapy available?! Yes, in addition to In-Sight and Direct Access, a sojourner can be led by Jenny & Mike and others not only down a great American desert river but also into the great internal terrain where one can discover, befriend, unburden and integrate one’s sacred parts through a variety of poetic and profound means. Forever grateful for the experience.”
- JW, 2023 Participant
Who is this trip for?
Beginners and experienced campers, hikers and rafters. So long as you can sleep in a tent and navigate uneven ground on your own two feet, this is for you.
Anyone open to wilderness experiences and the unknowns that come with them—rain, heat, wind, sleeping on the ground, bugs etc.
Those looking the chance to slow down and create space for connection to self and each other.
This trip might not be for you if…
Glamping is your idea of camping. ;)
You’re unsteady on your feet or have prior health conditions that make remote camping of high risk. Please reach out if you’re unsure.
Your main goal is a action packed wilderness adventure. Connection is our priority above all.
Meet Your Guides
Jenny Fiebig, MS, NCC, LCPC/LPC
Jenny has been exploring for most of her life. Raised in the mountains of western North Carolina, the woods always held a place of wonder and calm, that inspired her to explore mountains further afield, including a 3 month expedition to Kenya before making the Greater Rocky Mountain West home.
Her first career was working as a wilderness guide for organizations that included the National Outdoor Leadership School and Second Nature Wilderness Program. There she found her love of working with individuals struggling with their mental health and decided to return to school to pursue a career in psychotherapy.
Jenny has gone on to work with individuals, couples and families who are survivors of trauma, specifically outdoor trauma. In 2015, Jenny found Internal Family Systems and the model’s concept of collaborative exploration of our systems fit her view of the world. She is a certified IFS therapist and is a trained Wilderness First Responder through the Wilderness Medicine Institute.
Michael Fiebig, BA, BS, MS
Mike is Director of the Southwest River Protection Program at American Rivers, working with partners in AZ, CO, NM, and UT to protect the region's most ecologically and culturally important rivers. For the past two decades, he has worked domestically and internationally in conservation, education, leadership, and research for institutions like NOLS, the U.S. Forest Service, USAID, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As a former professional guide and a longtime Senior Field Instructor at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), Mike has traversed wild lands on multiple continents and paddled thousands of miles of rivers in the West, including a recent source-to-sea descent of the Green and Colorado rivers from Wyoming to Mexico with his wife Jenny.
He has an M.S. in Natural Resources Policy and Conflict Resolution from the University of Montana (2008), a B.S. in Neuroscience, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Michigan State University (1997).
Dana Rosenstein, LCSW-C
Dana has maintained a private practice in Maryland for over 35 years specializing in working with adults with complex trauma histories. In addition to her clinical work, she provides clinical supervision, consultation, and education to individuals and groups seeking to learn IFS and obtain IFS certification.
Dana is passionate about co-creating community and experiences that connect others to their true nature and to each other. Dana is a white, married lesbian, cisgender woman with two adult children. She experiences healing and harmony through IFS, art, poetry, nature, and authentic connections.
She is also an IFS Certified Therapist, Approved IFS Consultant, and an Assistant Trainer for the IFS Institute.
A container for navigating your inner terrain.
FAQs
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As long as you are open to a multi-day day trip camping outside in a tent, that’s ok. We will teach you the necessary skills to feel more comfortable sleeping outside. Imagine what it will sound like sleeping next to the river at night and listening to the night sounds hundred of miles away from roads.
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We are partnering with OARs, a leader in guided river rafting adventures. They work with all experience levels and ages. Please reach out directly with more questions.
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When we are at basecamp and camping near Moab, UT, we will have access to toilets. On the river we have to carry our waste and we’ll use the “River Groover '' to carry our solid waste. We will teach you how to use the groover and how to properly “pee” in river camps.
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While we are camping on the river, you are able to swim! We will carry the appropriate soap to wash that is not harmful to the river if you feel inclined to wash.
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We are able to carry lots of food on river trips! This won’t be boring canned camping food from decades ago. We will eat fresh fruits and veggies, and yummy meals that are adult tested and approved. We will try to accommodate as many dietary restrictions that we are able to–please let us know in your application if you have any concerns about this. Daily, we will provide breakfast, lunch, plenty of snacks, dinner and non-alcoholic drinks.
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No, this is not a psychedelic assisted therapy trip. For this journey, we discourage mind altering substances. Alcohol is allowed but we encourage you explore what will allow you to be fully present during our time together.
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Since we are going to be outside moving from boats to shore, each individual must be able to walk comfortably on uneven terrain. You must be able to lift 15 lbs in order to carry your personal bags from the boat to your tent location. We can not accept any active suicidal indivduals, or anyone who is in active psychosis. Folks must be healthy enough to be able to mentally navigate changing group dynamics and physically navigate in a remote wilderness setting. You will be asked to provide a medical form and acceptance is contingent upon this medical evaluation.
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This trip is designed for IFS therapists and practitioners. Please stay tuned for more trips! Or if you have a group already in mind, reach out for a custom trip.
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Plan for a wake up call around 7–though you may rise earlier if you’d like–followed by coffee, tea and breakfast. We’ll begin with a morning group meeting that includes meditation, overview of the day’s plan and a group check-in. After the meeting, we’ll pack up camp and get on the river. While on the river, we travel on white water rafts that are human-powered by oars. Each boat will have a guide that is rowing the boat, allowing you the opportunity to watch and learn about the Cataract Canyon ecosystem as we travel downriver. Throughout the day there will be plenty of opportunities to deepen our sense of self, others and place.
Each afternoon/evening, we’ll arrive at our planned campsite and set up camp for the night. We hope to have plenty of free time in camp for individual check-ins, personal time for journaling, meditating, playing games and/or talking. Each night we will have a group meeting after dinner where we focus on our inner growth and share our experiences during the trip. Depending upon the fire restrictions, we may or may not have a fire each night. Bedtime is self determined after our evening group.
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We are in a “high desert” ecosystem. Most of the elevation will be between 4,000 - 7,000 feet.
You will see a variety of trees in the higher elevation such as Ponderosa Pine, Scrub Oak, and Aspens. In the lower elevation, we’ll see lots of Piñon Pines and Juniper as well as the magnificent Cottonwood trees along the river. There are lots of desert shrubs and plants such as Mormon Tea, Sagebrush, Yucca, Buffaloberry, Mountain Mahogany and varieties of succulents.
As for animals, we will most likely see mule deer, rabbits, many different kinds of lizards, Great Blue Heron, Canyon Wrens, and ravens. If we’re lucky, we’ll see bison, bobcats, desert bighorn sheep, black bears and mountain lions. We also will be fortunate if we see native snakes and scorpions. If we are VERY lucky, we may find the elusive and endangered lynx.
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OARS has been carefully following up to date COVID procedures for all guided trips. On the river, we will be traveling and living outside, which allows for social distancing and we’ll have adequate sanitation supplies on hand as needed.
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All of your guides have a Wilderness First Responder certification. This means that we are trained and certified to manage wilderness injuries. We also have In-Reach satellite devices that allow us to call in help if the injury requires evacuation.
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We will accommodate all food allergies as best we can. We will also manage environmental allergies as best we can. We ask that if you have known food or environmental allergies, to please bring your personal Epinephrine and be sure to let us know of all allergies on your application forms and we’ll be in touch if we see any barriers to participation. We will also carry additional Epinephrine in our medical kits.
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To reserve your spot you’ll complete an application and pay a $1000 deposit. You’ll have the option to pay the remaining balance in full or through a payment plan with the final balance due June 1.