On October 16th Bob joined seven of our friends for a wonderful 84 mile, seven day, river trip down the Green River through Desolation and Gray Canyons.
This was kind of a last minute trip put together by our good friend Dann Coffey. Dann called Bob only a couple of weeks before when he noticed someone had canceled their trip and a permit to launch on the 16
Both Dann and Bob went to work calling around to find out who might be available to join on such short notice and we came up with six others that could make it work. Four had been part of our 2024 Grand Canyon river trip, Alex Heindl, Phil Spargo, Christopher Robison and Kent Gubler, but also available to join were Kent's son and daughter-in-law, Kody and Stephanie Kagen Gubler.
Other than planning and getting to the put-in, the first part of any river trip is to unload the boats, inflate, rig and load them. Here we are late in the afternoon on October 15th putting everything together riverside at the Sand Wash Recreation Area (river mile 96) so we can launch at a reasonable time the next morning.
Sand Wash Recreation Area is a little over 37 miles of gravel road from Myton, Utah and a total of 185 miles from Swasey's Beach Campground near Green River, Utah where we would be taking out.
To make this all work we hired Desolation Canyon River Shuttle to shuttle our vehicles to the take-out so they would be there for us when we finished our trip. They were great to work with.
Heading out on a beautiful fall morning Tuesday, October 16th.
In this picture, left to right, are Christopher Robison, Kent Gubler and Dann Coffey on the oars.
As it turned out, we ended up enjoying great weather unlike what it was the week before when it rained almost every day. Because of that we had a decent amount of water, but it was really muddy. Even though it was the "Green River" we were rowing on a "Brown River".
Like so much of the desert southwest, the geology is extraordinary. That said, there were more hoodoos in this canyon than we've seen in any other than Bryce Canyon.
The Green River through Desolation and Gray Canyons doesn't have an big water, but a lot of smaller rapids and riffles that keep you moving at a reasonable pace downstream. Here Steph and Kody make their way through a small riffle around river mile 62 .
The scenery was spectacular especially with the vibrance of the fall colors we got to enjoy.
The great thing about river trips is they combine the best of backpacking and car camping -- you get to experience the remoteness of backpacking and the luxury of having all the extras of car camping. It really is a great way to go.
On the 19th we camped at Lower Three Canyon (river mile 50). Up on the ridge just outside of camp was another amazing balancing rock that made you wonder why it was still standing. All part of this wonderful place.
Enjoying the calm beauty of "River Time".
October is a wonderful time to float desert southwest rivers because, although shorter, the days are mostly warm and sunny. Nights do get cool however and Bob woke up a couple of mornings with his sleeping bag covered in frost.
Bob and our good friend Phil Spargo who took his kayak to paddle alongside the rafts. It's a great way to do some remote kayaking and let the rafts carry all your gear.
Christopher Robison taking his turn in the kayak.
It was great to be on a river trip where there was no shortage of driftwood for a welcome fire, and a place to hang out for great conversation and laughter among friends.
Our good friend Phil Spargo.
Another great friend, Christopher Robison.
This picture captures the reason to keep doing this.
One of the unexpected outcomes of this trip is that Bob came home with a boat. Our friend, Dann Coffey, had two, one of which Bob rowed, and he wanted to sell it. So, he made Bob a really great deal which led to the next challenge, how to get it home. Bob ended up rolling up the raft and putting it and all the gear in the back of our 4Runner, tied the oars on the roof rack, and strapped the frame to a hitch rack. It all worked perfectly other than the tail lights were a little hard to see. That said, our custom "RVRTME" (River Time) license plates could still be clearly seen and now seem entirely appropriate. :)
One of the amazing late afternoon views Bob got to enjoy as he drove through the San Rafael Swell region of Central Utah. What a magical end to another great river trip.
Back home with our "new" boat all cleaned up and ready to store for the season.
The new lift system Bob built in our garage to store the frame, cooler, dry boxes, straps, bow and stern lines, boatman's seat and other river trip paraphernalia.
And our "new" raft all cleaned, rolled up and stored for the season.