Fantastyk Voyage: Green River

Showing posts with label Green River. Show all posts

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Labyrinth, part II

This is a continuation of my Labyrinth Canyon canoe trip that I took in March 2008 with my two sons and their boy scout troop. We paddled down the Green River in southern Utah, near the towns of Green River and Moab. This was a seven day trip with four and a half days on the river. We paddled a total of 45 miles and hiked several as well.

The Green River is all flat water along this stretch with beautiful, towering canyon walls on both sides. You feel like you've stepped back in time when you are here. Virtually untouched by humans, it's a great trip for nature lovers. The only drawback is that all supplies must be carried along every day, including water, tents, food, and potties. We had to make and carry our own "honey buckets" because it is a BLM wilderness area and supports the "Leave No Trace" method of camping.

At times, we would be as far as a mile apart along the river although we had to have at least a buddy canoe nearby at all times for safety. We stopped for the day when we found areas that we could camp on.

Sometimes the river was so calm, we could just sit back and let the river move us downstream while we enjoyed the sunshine. Although it was March, the weather was great, cold nights and warm days.

Can you see the half circles in the rock wall?

Some days the winds kicked up and the water got choppy. We traveled down one section of the canyon with whitecaps on the water. It was actually pretty scary when the canoes were bobbing up and down a foot or so in the waves.

This was at the end of the day where we found a beach to set up camp.

The boys loved to get out in the shallows and pull the canoes free whenever they hit sandbars.

We had adventures along the way too. This was a place called Bowknot Bend where a steep hike and climb rewarded us with views of the river on both sides. It is over seven miles by river to go all the way around to the other side. We had to hike through these bushes that were over seven feet tall, kind of like Jurassic Park. One boy actually got lost in them for a short time.

Then we all had to climb to the top. You can see one person, in blue, around the middle right of the picture by the dark triangle. Two people had some trouble getting down. They got rimrocked and had to go back up to come down a different way.

Here I am climbing the last section.

If you look very carefully you can see our canoes along the shoreline. Look for the white dots towards the middle of the picture along the shore. We were really high up!

Here is a group shot at the top of Bowknot Bend. My two sons are next to me: one in black tee, kneeling, and the other in white tee and bandana.

Here I am, showing the view of the river.

And here's Ross proving that he made it, with a view of the river from the other side.

There were some very unusual formations in the rocks along the river.

Along the way, there were many sites with ancient Fremont petroglyphs. We visited a few sites.

There were some newer carvings as well. One of the most famous graffiti artists of his time was Denis Julien. He signed his name to several of the places he visited, "D. Julien, 1836, 3 Mai," along with a drawing of his vessel. We found these in one of the canyons near our campsite.

One boy got out and walked over to this island on sandbars that surrounded the island. You can just about see him on the left. Meanwhile his canoe continued across the river with the other boy because the currents got stronger and faster once they got past the sandbar that was around the island. My older son had to paddle across and get him since his buddy wasn't strong enough to paddle back for him and the river was too wide, deep, and cold to swim across.

You can see the ripples in the water. This was a pretty fast current at this spot. This spot is across from the boy stranded on the island.

This is a view of our camp near Launch Marguerite. The Marguerite was a stern wheeler that traveled up and down the Green River to the towns of Green River and Moab in the early 1900's. We found a rock wall with a huge black inscription, "Launch Marguerite, 09.01.1901."

I love all the canyons and buttes. This was taken on our last day of canoeing. John Wesley Powell actually named the Labyrinth Canyon in 1869 when he traveled downriver. He wrote, "There is an exquisite charm in our ride today down this beautiful canyon. It gradually grows deeper with every mile of travel; the walls are symetrically curved and grandly arched, of a beautiful color, and reflected in quiet waters...We are all in fine spirits and the badinage of the men is echoed from wall to wall."

Here's part of our group, posing at Mineral Bottom.

This is a picture of the treacherous road up from Mineral Bottom. My boys love to tell me the story of how, one year, they got caught in a snowstorm and couldn't get the canoes out as planned. Everyone (23 people) piled into a surburban and a pick up (the only cars that were able to travel the road) and spent the night in the Moab KOA gameroom because they had no tents or any other gear. They went back early the next morning while the ground was still frozen and loaded up all the trailers, canoes, and gear.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Labyrinth

It was one year ago, last week, that my two boys and I paddled down the Green River in southern Utah. We canoed down the Labyrinth Canyon, almost 50 miles, with their Boy Scout troop. We had an awesome time!

My husband took this exact trip with our two sons and daughter, three different years in the past. I never went along. I always thought that I had too much work to do at my job. Also, I wanted my children to have some bonding time with their dad. Now that Scott is gone, I wish I had gone with them. That's why, when this trip came up last year, I decided to go.

We put in at Ruby Ranch, outside of the town of Green River. We planned to be on the river for 5 days and come out at Mineral Bottom, near Moab.

Here we're loading the canoes. There were eight adults, eleven boys, six canoes and two kayaks.
Everyone was responsible for their own gear and canoes. All the gear needed to be packed into the canoes and lashed down in case of capsizing. It didn't take long for the boys to figure out what needed to be done.

Because we were traveling downriver with a maximum current of about 3 miles per hour, we set up a new camp every night. We had to carry all our gear and food with us. Here's some of the boys at one of the camps.

I found it amazing how much energy the boys had. After a whole day paddling, they still wanted to rock climb. I wasn't really aware of how high they went, until after the trip, and we looked at pictures. Otherwise, I might have freaked!