Business
Happenings - June 2001
Tag-A-Long Expeditions: The Adventure Company!
June
means snowmelt in the Rockies, which means big waves on the Colorado
River as it stretches through Moab and beyond. It’s time to
don your life jacket and jump in a raft, kayak or J-rig and head
downstream for a big adventure!
Tag-A-Long Expeditions is a good bet to take you there. Join one
of Tag-A-Long’s professional guides in a raft, jeep or jetboat
and you’re guaranteed a good time. These folks have been guiding
people through whitewater rapids on the Colorado, Green, and San
Juan rivers for 37 years now. Bob loves to see the snow begin to
melt and watch the river levels come up. It means he can roll up
his sleeves and start showing people a good time again.
“There are so many options to have fun on the river,”
says Bob, who has been managing operations here since 1982 when
he and Paul Niskanen, his Portland, Oregon, partner, purchased Tag-A-Long.
“What trip you choose all depends on what kind of adventure
you want. If you’re going for the big thrills, we’d certainly
recommend you jump on a J-rig and go down Cataract Canyon anytime
in June. That’s when the rapids are the biggest and wildest.”
Not
to scare away those with less of an adventure quotient, Bob reminds
us that the daily stretch of the river near Moab is a great, splashy
ride. “During this time of the year, the waves can be pretty
rambunctious, but it’s a hoot. I can’t think of anyone
who wouldn’t like a ride on the Fisher Towers area of the Colorado.
It’s fun and really, really scenic.”
An in between option is Westwater Canyon.
Westwater is one of the most unusual canyons near Moab. A very narrow
canyon, this stretch of the river is rocky and quite technical when
it comes to rafting. Guides must be very skilled to navigate the
rapids. It is also geologically spectacular because the oldest rock
layer in the world is exposed in this canyon.
One more water option for those seeking
a more relaxing river expedition is an excursion by jetboat. This
trip, exclusive to Tag-A-Long Expeditions, takes guests down a calm
water stretch of the river to see Canyonlands National Park from
a seldom-seen perspective. The jetboat-jeep combination trip allows
guests to transfer to a 4X4 vehicle and spend half the day exploring
the backcountry roads of the Island in the Sky. This trip allows
people to see Canyonlands from both the river and land perspective
– and only Tag-A-Long is permitted to do a dual expedition
like this.
Speaking
of 4X4 expeditions, Tag-A-Long offers a full venue of wilderness
expeditions into Canyonlands National Park. If you have a hankering
to see the wild interior to Canyonlands National Park, including
the remote Maze district, Tag-A-Long can deliver that adventure,
too. The roads are rugged and you are miles from anywhere civilized,
but Tag-A-Long guides have been driving the area for years.
Bob loves to brag on his staff. “Our guides are absolutely
the best. We have many professional guides who have been exploring
in this area for decades. They love to share the river and the parks
with people who visit here. I can guarantee anyone who goes on one
of our trips will learn a lot, as our guides love to help educate
people about the area,” says Bob.
When Tag-A-Long isn’t hosting visitors to Moab on a daily or
multi-day river trip or land trek, they are developing and hosting
creative charter trips for clients worldwide. Tag has always been
a progressive, creative company when it comes to designing its trips,
but they have almost come to specialize in challenging charter trips.
“There’s nothing I like better than an opportunity to
create a trip with unusual or challenging demands,” says Bob.
“As soon as someone says, ‘you probably can’t do
this, but…’ I’m ready to have fun and show them we
can do it!”
The company has taken Walt Disney Productions, all their crew and
cameras down the Colorado to film whitewater rapids. The movie is
still playing at Disneyland today. Tag is also locally famous for
hauling a grand piano downriver some 30 miles, and then moving it
up the river bank through a winding, narrow path into a grotto.
After the piano is in place,
Tag-A-Long transports musicians, other instruments, and finally
concert guests to this idyllic setting for classical music. If you’ve
never encountered a grand piano floating down the Colorado River
– or experienced world class music in the wilderness —
it’s something you need to do at least once in your life! Bob
has also arranged for ballet and opera on the shores of the Colorado
River. If you can think of it, Tag-A-Long Expeditions can do it!
It’s
also hard to imagine Bob Jones anywhere else but Moab and Tag-A-Long
Expeditions, but the fact is, he came to Moab via Portland, the
Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone National Park. His life has been dedicated
to the travel and tourism industry, first as a director of incentive
trips, then manager at park facilities, and finally general manager
of all lodges, restaurants, gift shops, snack shops, and outfitters
at Yellowstone National Park. He was well-prepared to operate an
outfitting company in Moab. Along with his partner, they have about
80 years of experience and thousands and thousands of river, jeep,
and bus trips under their collective belts. That’s a pretty
good bet you’ll be happy with the kind of adventure they offer.
For more information, call Tag-A-Long at 259-8946 or from out of
town call 800-453-3292 or visit their website at www.tagalong.com.
Better yet, stop by and talk to the staff about your own adventure
quotient and what kind of fun you’d like to have while in Moab.
They are located on the north end of town at 452 N. Main.
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