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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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