This
is a quickie article to meet a deadline. I’ve been
busy at work, rendezvous and keeping up with family
life. I’ve been asked to write about some of my canoe
adventures. So, I’m throwing this together on the
hurry – please forgive my lack of preparedness.
One of the best
canoe trips I have done is the Lower Green River in
Utah. This was a 5 day, 123 mile trip. It is rated at
class I+, which is beginner easy. Class I is easy,
smooth water, class V or VI will kill you (possibly). We
like to do class II , or less. This is the first (only)
trip I’ve done that required the assistance of an
outfitter. The reason is that the Lower Green River runs
into the Colorado River just above the Grand Canyon, in
Canyon Lands National Park. Once you get to the
confluence of the two rivers, there is no way out but up
river – no roads.
At the time the
outfitter cost $120 per person, plus a couple of
incidentals. This was in 2000, so things have probably
increased in cost. We used Tag-A-Long Expeditions as our
outfitter, which I recommend. I don’t have experience
with the other outfitters, but Tag-A-Long was great for
us. They are in Moab, Utah. This is where we all met.
There is a local campground in Moab, which was our
meeting place. There were seven of us who shared this
adventure. We were from Florida, Colorado, California,
Iowa, and Missouri. We all met at Portal R.V. Park &
Fishery, which is on the main Highway through Moab. On
Monday morning we all went over to the outfitter, loaded
our gear on their bus and trailer and they took us to
Green River State Park. This is where we entered the
waters of the Green River.
As there was an
odd number of us, we had to decide- three to a canoe, or
does someone solo? I had two canoes along, one is a
light, fast canoe which I had soloed for afternoon trips
before. We decided that I’d try soloing, and if it was
too much we’d trade off soloing so no one had to work
too hard. As it turned out I did ok, and did the whole
trip solo. I had a bit of trouble with the wind the
first day, or two – but was pleased to be up to the
challenge. Soloing is definitely harder than having a
canoe partner.
As usual, we
worked hard the first part of the trip. As we have a
certain average miles per day to be on schedule, we like
to ‘bank’ miles at the beginning of the trip if
possible. This helps us if we encounter problems later
on. Better to be ahead of schedule, we figure. As it
turned out this worked well for us. Our fourth day we
mostly just floated – enjoying the scenery, etc….
One of the historical places on this trip is an
inscription on a rock wall by a French fur trapper,
Denis Julien. Denis was on this stretch of river in 1836
and spent time inscribing his name and date on a rock
wall. There are also Indian ruins, etc…. along the
river.
One of the reasons
this trip was my favorite is that there were only seven
of us. I’ve done trips with as many as 21 folks along.
This can cause problems with ‘group dynamics’. This
trip went so smoothly, we all worked as a team with no
problems. I met Mike Moore (fellow NAF member) on this
trip. The rest of the fellows I’d known before. All
but one I’d made river trips with before. We had a
good cohesive group of like minded folks. It was most
pleasant.
I could go on
forever about the beauty of these multi layered deep
canyons we passed through. It makes one feel so small,
the height of the canyon walls. And the agelessness of
these ancient haunts makes one feel like a mere second
in the expanse of time.
Once you get to
end of the Green River you enter the Colorado River. Don’t
go too far or you’ll enter Cataract Canyon (class V),
don’t go there! There are several nice beaches to sit
and wait for the boat to come down from Moab and pick up
you and your gear. It’s a pleasant several hour trip
back up the Colorado River in a big Jet boat to Moab,
where your personal vehicles are safely waiting for you
at the outfitters secure location.
