Topic: Boating

Ramona Bruland headed to Moab, where she tried out rafting and kayaking. With the gorgeous Utah desert only a couple hours from Telluride, it's the perfect getaway for just a couple days or even a couple weeks. Mountain biking, rafting, kayaking, hiking – it's all there.

Need a break from the mountains? Try heading to Moab for bit of rafting or kayaking, where the cool rapids are the perfect match to the warm, dry sun.

Everyone in Telluride seems to be heading from the hills these days, packing swimsuits, bikes, boats, climbing and camping gear for a much needed warm vacation. And it's no wonder - the mountain is closed and the Snocats are digging around, making it difficult for hikers to access any remaining and new dumps of snow.

So if you're fretting about what to do in the off season, here are Plum's picks that are perfectly ripe for the pickin'.

It seems unfair that it is so easy to flip upside down in the river, and yet so difficult to put yourself back on top in your boat, but Plum host Ramona Bruland makes it look simple as she takes a dip in the San Miguel River to perfect her kayak roll. And Jagged Edge's boating pros helped her perfect it.

The boating on the San Miguel River that runs through Telluride is as brief as it is beautiful — the heavy snow sheds quickly in the spring, and there is a burst of kayaking and rafting, before the summer heat returns the river to its lazy, shallow beginnings. In the late spring and early summer, however, boaters are treated to one of the least-travelled, most scenic river experiences in the Southwest. The river has consistent class two rapids, tumbling through a canyon with sheer red rock sides and lots of birds, otters, beavers and fish. Boaters can pick a section for a day trip, or take a multi-day excursion west toward Utah, where the San Miguel hooks up with the Dolores River in a pristine pink and yellow canyon with a hanging flume left over from the days of uranium mining.