** This is an old post from last summer (June 2023) that I never got the chance to share. Since I had the time and space today I figured I would update it and get it out to the world.***
I had spent a handful of days on the river when I first saw the Green River running though Dinasaour National monument. I had gotten into a free program in college in which a non-profit flew myself and few other students around Colorado in small planes to see Colorado’s rivers and talk to locale interest groups about their work on the river. Seeing the canyons from a birds eye view, I was struck with the determination that I would get into whitewater to one day boat that river. So when a friend extended the offer to hop on another friend’s Gates of Lodore permit, I was excited to take the opportunity.
Two of my close friends from Salida were joining the trip too, so we loaded up their truck with two rafts, my kayak, and all the various necessities for an overnight rafting trip. The drive to the put in took us through rural northwest Colorado into the very corner of the state. After driving for hours through rolling desert grasslands, we arrived at the put in where the Gates of Lodore rose up in shocking contrast to their surroundings. We spent the night at the put in, swatting away mosquitoes and making introductions with the rest of the group. The next morning we took our time getting packed and rigging boats, in no rush to start paddling the three miles to our first camp. Light rain started as we pushed off, and the lack of current and low water at the top of the canyon made for a surprisingly slow paddle into ‘Wade and Curtis’ camp.
As we tied up boats, the rain gave way to clouds of mosquitoes, making it hard to enjoy the leisure time we were afforded arriving to camp early. Eventually, however, the bugs too subsided as the air temp cooled and we enjoyed a short hike to Winnie’s grotto, a little less than a mile downstream from our camp. After the long drive and all the leadup work, several folks were happy to take the opportunity to nap or just relax in camp chairs while that nights cook crew prepped dinner. We sat around the campfire as we enjoyed the thai noodles Kirk and Rosalee had prepared. We stayed up awhile chatting, but when the rain returned we moved first under our group tarp, then to our individual tents.
The next day, we woke up excited to get on the water. Our permit was assigned so that we were boating all of the major rapids in one day. We only had to cover about ten miles of river, but with everyone new to this stretch of river, wanted to leave time to scout some of the more challenging rapids.
The rain started almost as soon as we left camp, and came down in a cold steady drizzle for most of the day. Our group navigated the rapids with relative ease, despite one raft flipping in the first rapid less than a quarter mile from camp. The accident made for an easy clean up, and after throwing on a few extra layers, the passenger and pilot of the flipped boat we no worse for wear.
When we reached camp at ‘Rippling Brooke’ that night we were excited to see the clouds part and find this camp had far fewer mosquitoes. We enjoyed a rainless evening at camp, celebrating the fun day on the river.
The rain had returned after we made our way to bed, so we made a slow start out of camp trying to air out our wet tents as much as possible. A few of us made our way up the drainage just upstream of our camp to a beautiful waterfall tucked a mile or so back in the canyon. Once on the water, we made our way toward the confluence of the Yampa, finding less and less current as we neared echo park. We left the trickling upper stretch of the Green River (flows were being restricted at Flaming Gorge Resevior) onto more than 15 times that amount of water after the confluence.
The big water made for fun, class II wave trains, and had every body on high alert, as we were careful not miss our camp at ‘See Cliff’ in the pushy current. We set up our tents and aired out our wet clothes from the day before in the remaining sun. We cooked and ate dinner before enjoying a dance party late into the night on the sandy beach by our boats.
When we headed out the next morning, we weren’t on the river long before we pulled over at Jones hole, a popular side hike that also boasted front country access. We saw a number of other hikers, exploring the desert canyons and looking out for known petroglyphs in the area. After a couple hours of hiking, we made our way back to our boats, finding we had accidentally blocked in a commercial trip’s Eddie. We laughed amongst ourselves at how early they had arrived at camp (1pm) and had some friendly interactions with some of the guides and clients, while the commercial trip leader gave our TL a stern talking to. We moved on downstream, happy to leave the hubbub of the crowded campsite, towards our own camp at ‘the cove.’
As Mac and I, at the front of the group, discussed the importance of keeping our eyes peeled, not wanting to miss this hard to find camp, we heard someone a few boats back yell “camp!” We had already missed it. We pulled over as soon as possible and lined our boats the short way back up to the eddy.
We found this camp, hot, lacking in shade, and overrun with mosquitoes. Since the trip up unto this point had been mostly cold and cloudy, it was the first time that most of us had been willing to swim. We enjoyed the cold dip, but scrambled to return to our clothes as quickly as possible to avoid any more mosquito bites. The sun finally went down and we enjoyed a night around the fire at our last camp of the trip.
We woke up with the sun and cleaned up camp quickly, trying to get out before the mosquitoes returned, and in anticipation of our last and longest river day. The day started with a long oxbow, after 3 miles of paddling with little current, we could see back to where we had camped the night before. When the current picked up, however, it yielded some fun rapids with huge waves and more beautiful canyon. The rest of the miles past quickly and soon we were at our takeout at Split mountain.
We pulled in, exchanged a few high fives for a great trip and began packing up. We said goodbye’s as folks de-rigged and soon the boat ramp was empty. Only Mac, Sarah and I hadn’t brought a trailer, so we were the last to leave as we tetrised our gear into the back of their truck.
We stopped at the dinosaur quarry in Dinosaur National Park on our way out, impressed by both the tourists and huge collection of fossils. Mac drove us back to Salida, where we were excited to see their dog Sailor and Mark waiting for us at their house.
The trip was one I would repeat any time. Despite not knowing a large portion of the crew beforehand, it was an easy group of people to be with, and I’ll be excited to get on the river with them again!
-Nic