On Thursday July 20th we drove from Pleasant Grove down to Moab - about a 4 hour drive. Sheila's van, fully loaded with gear, went down the previous day. Sheila & I went in my car and met the group at the Pack Creek Campground to spend the night before meeting the outfitter bright and early the next day. Interesting drive - we went through about a half hour of torrential downpour-rain and a bit of hail. Unusual for the desert, and the type of rain that can quickly lead to flash flooding. About 10 of us were in Moab in time to go out for dinner and crawl into our tents at a decent hour. The others arrived after dark and we met them in the morning. Lots of sorting of gear and filling of water bottles ensued, since we need to take all our water with us. 16 people * 1 gallon (almost 4 litres) per day * 4 days = 64 gallons. There will be no portaging involved in this trip, so weight and volume was not an issue. We would not be missing any luxuries by the looks of things. Something else unique about this trip (but similar to rafting trips through the Grand Canyon) is that we need to carry a "biffy" with us. All solid waste goes into the biffy and gets carried out with us. Thank you Jim & Judy for carrying that prized treasure in your boat. We had several coolers and multiple bins containing all of our food supplies, all manner of cooking and cleanup equipment, ropes, etc. We also had three tables, two dutch ovens, a back-up biffy, all personal gear in various sizes of drybags, float toys, satellite phone, first aid kits, chairs, etc., etc.
Because our group was so big we had two different outfitters providing us with equipment (canoes, paddles, safety equipment, etc) and transportation to and from the river. Ten of us were with Tex's Outfitter. We were to their place in Moab by about 8am on the 21st. We left our vehicles there and loaded all our gear into the trailer while the ten of us crawled into their van. I didn't pay attention to how long the trip took, but it was at least 1.5 hours. We launched at Ruby Ranch, about 22 river miles south of the town of Green River. This is the last river access until our take-out point of Mineral Bottom 4 days later. Ruby Ranch is about river mile 97 (97 miles from the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers). Mineral Bottom is at mile 52, so we will have 45 miles to cover in 3 days (2 half-days and 2 full days). The weather was looking good - sunny and hot; very, very hot!
The Green River is the chief tributary of the Colorado River, and is 730 miles (1170 km) long. It begins in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. It is only slightly smaller than the Colorado where the two rivers merge, but typically (and was certainly true in our case!) carries a larger load of silt. Before 1921 the Colorado River above the confluence with the Green was called the Grand River. In 1869, the river was surveyed and mapped by John Wesley Powell as part of the first of his two expeditions to the region. He and his men gave most of the current names of the canyons, geographic features, and rapids along the river. They then continued downstream to the Colorado and became the first party to successfully negotiate their way through the Grand Canyon. Enough history...........
The section between the town of Green River and Mineral Bottom is generally known as Labyrinth Canyon, and the section between Mineral Bottom and the confluence is generally known as Stillwater Canyon. We would be doing Labyrinth in the first four days with the group of 16. After taking a 2 day break 4 of that group plus 2 others would then do Stillwater Canyon over 6 days. Here are the three other folks who will be rejoining me for Stillwater Canyon portion. Sheila, Brent and Amy (brother and sister).
Once we got everything hauled down to the river, the packing of the canoes began.
To beat the heat, some of the folks wasted no time in getting into the water.
The Canuck Cowboy was pretty excited about being on the water again!
We had an uneventful first (half) day on the river. It truly is a float. Enough current to keep you moving steadily downriver, but not a rapid in sight; barely even a riffle. The biggest challenge is staying clear of submerged sandbars. We got stuck on only a few during the 4 days and the solution is simple. Just get out and push the boat until it's floating again.
I think there were just two of us who had not been on the river before, so it was a very experienced and organized group. Judy was chief organizer, although Jessie, George, Deborah and Amy were also keys members of the organizing team. We were split into three workgroups - cook, clean & biffy - and rotated duties every day. Gotta say - things went pretty smoothly. Judy was chief navigator; Amy was probably second in command there. The nature of the river is that camping sites come and go as the water level changes from season to season and year to year. The tamarisk (an invasive plant species) is so thick along the shore now that sandbars are really the best bet for camping. Also - if you dare venture into the vegetation you risk being carried away by the bugs.
The current runs at several mph, so over the 4 days there was often very little paddling involved. It was not uncommon to have at least half the group in the water on floatation toys, or just riding the current and hanging onto the ropes from their boats.
One advantage of getting on the river at Ruby Ranch is that you are soon into the beginnings of Labyrinth Canyon. The walls very quickly start to grow around you. After just a few miles, Navajo Sandstone (one of my personal favourites) started to appear.
There was one incident of note on the first day. Lexi the Sexy Rexy was kidnapped and subsequently returned to captain her own boat while Captains America cooled off in the water.
After a hard half day on the river.........
We found a lovely campsite that first night - tents all lined up in a row on the beach. Everyone plunged into the water for a bit - until someone turned around to see storm clouds headed our way. Yikes! Mass exodus from the river...... The dinner crew started to get food ready while everyone else looked for rain gear and tightened their tents. Didn't really help that much, though. The biffy tent collapsed first and the potty spilled over; good thing it was the first night and it hadn't been used yet! My tent was next. All the tent pegs blew out of the sand so I just took the whole thing down. Several other tents were taken down and a pole broke on another one of them. The rain didn't amount to much, and the dinner crew did a marvelous job of cooking in the wind and rain. They didn't even inadvertently light anything on fire, although Sheila's bright yellow rain suit came close a few times! Dirty dishes, though, were put in a bag and left until morning. Just before bedtime I took my tent into the bug-infested higher ground and camped amidst the vegetation. Deborah has thought to bring extra industrial-strength tent pegs so I grabbed a few of those to anchor in the new location. I'll be buying some for myself when we have a few days off in Moab. No wind, though. Based on the number of old cow patties in the meadow and the fresh hoof prints in the sand by the water's edge, I think the sounds I heard outside my tent throughout the night were probably wandering free-range cattle. Just glad none of them decided to step on my tent.
I slept well and the next day dawned with beautiful blue skies once again. Breakfast and then load up the canoes once more. I never really tire of looking at the beautiful canyon walls around us, but I'm thinking the pictures are not all that exciting if you haven't been there. So - I'll add just a sample for your viewing pleasure.
Lunch today was hotdogs and grilled pineapple. Top marks for presentation, and it didn't taste too bad either.
Judy, our leader - and a woman who has taken many Girl Scouts down the river - has a policy of stopping and regrouping every 1.5 hours. It turned out to be a good policy for us big kids too. The floaters caught up with the paddlers and we all had a chance for a snack ('cause we work so hard!). Our afternoon stop on Day 2 was at the "river register". It was a short hike up to a series of rocks where many people have inscribed their names on the rocks. It also gave us a good view of people behind us still coming in.
We had a blue heron accompany us for quite a ways down the river in the afternoon. He/she would perch until we were almost to it and then swoop down close to the river before finding another tree to perch on. This sequence repeated numerous times until he/she got bored with us.
Camp tonight (day 2) was on a small beach so our tents were in rather close proximity to each other. Not an issue, though, as everyone is pretty quiet. Besides - earplugs are a wonderful thing! We had some amazing light on the canyon walls as sunset approached. No wind or rain tonight. But - we did have a birthday boy in the group. Jim had a yummy birthday cake prepared in the dutch oven. We had a little raffle after dinner and I won a little survival kit and a water gun. Hope they don't confiscate that at the border! Jim (the birthday boy) won the most coveted prize - a can of ice-cold lemonade! Sheila won a spork - a good thing since she had forgotten her utensils at home.
We had a fairly early start today because we just had a short paddle to Bowknot Bend at about river mile 70. For the past two days we had encountered two other groups from time to time. One group was a troop of boy scouts (plus chaperones and guides) from California. The other group we just called "the umbrella family" since they pitched large beach umbrellas each time they stopped for lunch or to camp. Since the landing area at Bowknot was quite small, we wanted to beat both groups to it. Success! When we were partway up the hike we saw the scouts' canoes coming in. The umbrella people floated on by - either because there wasn't room to land or because they weren't interested. Bowknot is a bend in the river taking the shape indicated by its name. At its narrowest point the two sides of the river are just 575m apart, yet it takes 9 miles (13km) to paddle around it. In one of the latter pictures below, you can see both sides of the river in the same shot.
Back on the river and an easy float, with occasional paddling, for the rest of the day. As we made the 9 mile trip around the back of the Bowknot those in the group with good eyesight or powerful cameras or binoculars (not me!) were able to see some abandoned uranium mining equipment probably from the 50's or 60's. Miscellaneous pictures below from the rest of the day. When we pulled over for afternoon snacks, lots of people were in the water so they just swam up to the snack boat and were fed like fish. Oh - life is tough!
Another lovely campsite tonight. Great light for photos in the evenings and early in the mornings.
Day 4 already, and we have to be to Mineral Bottom (river mile 52) by mid-morning. A few photos around camp before departure...... Someone before us had dug a big pit in the sand and sculpted a giant frog coming out of it. Had to get a pic.
A few final river photos.............
Here's the takeout area at Mineral Bottom. Good thing we have a lot of people who had done this trip before. Not sure I would have noticed it. We had to come in carefully one at a time.
We were picked up by the outfitter with his van and trailer for the canoes and gear. Then the drive up Sheila's favourite road......
I love the landscape of this part of the US. Along the river the rock formations were forever changing. Different types of rock kept appearing as we went downstream (lower in elevation), and as the plateau rose around us. New layers would appear at river level and then some miles downstream they would be at the top where they would be eroding away. These are the layers that emerged during the duration of our trip: Carmel Formation (mile 96), Navajo Sandstone (mile 95), Kayenta Formation (mile 88), Wingate Sandstone (mile 85), Chinle Formation (mile 79), Moenkopi Formation (mile 70).
Great trip! Now - back to Moab for a few days. Sheila has some swimming commitments at home so Amy, Brent & I will spend two days in Moab and meet up with her (and Abby & Cole) on Wednesday night.
