Tubing the Ogden River | Adventurin'

Tubing the Ogden River was one of my fondest memories as a child. I remember my mom getting black inner tubes, packing a lunch, and heading up North Ogden canyon. Harmony shared an awesome spot for toddlers to play in the Ogden River a few weeks ago so we went to check it out. AMAZING!!! We had SO much fun, we ended up going back with friends a few days later.

The High Adventure Park in Ogden is on 18th st, one block west of Washington. Its in a quiet neighborhood with great shade, big trees, awesome play ground and a river. There really is something for everyone.

Check out this little video of our adventures! We don't recommend entering the river from the rocks (unless you don't mind getting wet!)

There is a little grassy area thats well shaded next to the river, behind the play ground. There are big boulders separating it from the river, so this is where we set up base camp. It kept the toddlers contained and gave us a great view of the river so we could watch the kids.

Even our pup Bokeh wanted to tube.  If he wasn't on the tube, he was running up and down the river chasing us on dry land.

The park behind the river is so amazing. It's one of our kids favorite! Behind the pavilion is a bathroom. (no TP, you've been warned). And next to the bathrooms is a little doc and beach area that kids can play. This is the perfect "starting point" for tubing the river.

We chose not to set up base camp here because we couldn't see the end of the river and I wanted to be able to watch my kids get off the tubes, rather than get on them. Just to make sure they got out of the river ok. Otherwise, this is the perfect place for littles to play.

This is a shot of my sister Lori and I with my little 5 yr old Riz. We each held onto his tube. We did the same thing with her Special Needs daughter Lundyn. She is 13 and almost as big as me, so we were very cautious entering the water. She has CP. She can walk, but she has limited motor skills and we didn't want her to fall into the water (its shallow, but cold). We didn't want her to panic and fall in. She we each held her hand and had another adult at the end to help pull her to dry land. She did AMAZING! She loved it! It's so nice finding an activity that she can do with all of her cousins of all ages! 

If you have a special needs child and take them, please let us know how it goes! We would love to hear.

This video is the full river from start to finish, it is not edited, so you can see exactly what you are in for. Every dip and splash! Some parts are slow, some are faster, some are super shallow (I hit my bum) and some are deeper (up to your waist). But this gives you a good idea as to how fast it is and what to expect. 

*This is the trail we took. You can get on and off the river at different points, but we felt that this was the best kid friendly area.

We had 4 adults, so between all of us, we took turns riding with the kids and helping them exit at the end. There are 3 big rocks in the middle of the river, towards the end (from our view at base camp). The river slows there and bends around, so I didn't want my kids going further than the rocks. They would ride down, then sit and hang out in front of the big rocks, then run up the trail and ride down again. 

After a few runs, we didn't have an adult helping them get out. They were confident and knew the rules that we had set up. We only had adults helping with the littles or my special needs niece (she LOVED the river). I know that we need to be cautious and take precautions. But I also strongly believe in letting kids be kids. Letting them learn cause and effect and learn the power of the river. It may be shallow, but it can still knock you over, or pull you into deeper water. These are valuable lessons that I want my children to learn by experience. Yes, I was there to supervise but I really just sat back and let them learn about the river.

My kids didn't have life jackets, I didn't know that we needed them, but someone informed me that you do indeed need to wear a life jacket or you can get a fine. 

We saw at least 2 dozen other tubers the 2 times we were there and maybe 5 people had life jackets on. There were also police there the last time we went and they didn't say anything to us about life jackets. (maybe they were busy looking for bad guys?).

Hope this info helps, as always, safety first, but don't be afraid to let your kids be kids. If you have any questions, please let us know.