Late Summer in Deso-Grey

The theme of the summer's trips definitely seems to be "after years of"... So... After years of floating the green river daily and wondering what lie upstream, we finally snagged a deso-grey permit this year and got to pack raft through it!

No week long trip can start it seems without some drama... Leading into the trip solidly we had a few drop out last minute and most of the rest of the crew seemed threatening to drop out, myself included. Seems like work is universally consuming everyone right now, so feeling wholly unready for a week of travel thru the remote regions of Utah, but also wholly needing it, I set off for green river to start our complicated shuttle logistics. Andrew and I met up in green River to drop a car and start the trek to the put in, I had planned to come from the north per so many recommendations online but, as luck would have it, udot closed the highway thru Indian canyon, joy, we would get to try wrinkles road which has a reputation, with no info as the sun was setting! It turns out the road was fine, in better shape actually than the road in from Myton to the north, it even had occasional cell service due to an unexpected oil and gas chemicals plant. 

Sand Wash at night as intermittent electical storms move through

A collection of moments

Day 1:

A ranger loosely resembling a young and more river-rat esque Zach galafanakis checked out permits 

Flat. So flat that even Lindsay went for a bit of a swim in the murky water. It was sandy bottomed but i was surprised at the fish life in these waters, we did not expeience anywhere near this number of jumps or other signs further downstream, that is heartening in a world where it seems like so much is on the decline.

The Desolation Canyon put in seems remote, i mean its 30+ miles down a dirt road regardless of how you get there, but rounding the corner above Tabyago riffle, we are greeted with a white Tacoma, presumably someone from the Ute Reservation. I cant help but wonder what they are doing here, maybe just here to enjoy the river? I sure would if i lived closer. 

A moment of peace at our first camp

We make it to camp, which is set back amongst the trees and shrubs. It seems we humans are drawn to corridors among the shrubs as this camp ends up ranking high amongst the group, though i prefer open beach camps. We enjoyed dinner under the cottonwoods and took a brief walk to a large rock outcropping behind camp to see a small petroglyph panel.

Day 2:

I woke up shortly after dawn and made my way back down to the river while half the group was sleeping. A beaver was already at work in the river, swimming in the eddy next to camp taking advantage of the waning summer days.  

After a short time on the river we pull over to try and find a turtle shell print in the rock. We all get out and fan out, scouring the cliffbands looking for a layer that seems like it would hold fossils. We all overlook the obvious and after 15 minutes of looking, we glance over to the opbvious boulder at the base of the cliffs holding a perfect turtle shell imprint on its top. 

The rapids begin, though haltingly. We ran through rock house rapid which was nothing much to talk of. The river picks up pace a bit but remains largely flat. Somewhere around lunchtime we have made it to mushroom rock and we take a quick detour to see the petroglyphs. On the way back I did a quick V-tree scramble traverse of a funky old cottonwood.

The crew examining mushroom rock

We eventually find camp, a beautiful beach in an Eddy between two drops with steep canyon walls above, with a first class site overlooking the river. We are around our makeshift dining table, a giant triangular slab, complete with evening entertainment of a herd of big horns navigating their way to the rim as the sun fell.

Everyone gathered around the dinner table for some desert, worms and dirt!

Day 3:

Shortly after setting off, I spot two massive birds circling the right canyon wall, as we get closer one lands. I bearly catch a glimpse, it's two giant golden eagles gorging themselves on a breakfast catch.

Desolation, peaceful in the morning light

We have some stout winds to look forward to today, or so the forecast says, never the less we take a quick detour to see the flat canyon petroglyph panel and wonder what those who came before us were trying to convey. 

Back on the water we are met with the occasional stout gust but things are mostly workable. Just after Dripping Spring, though, a gust catches Hannah as she is broadside to it and flips her, the first and only unexpected swim of the trip. Luckily, after years of trips, the crew is dialed, with some going to grab Hannah, and others immediately fetching gear before the wind and canyon claim it. The wind continues and so do we, we want to make miles so we can wait out the worst of the gusts while hiking, or that's the plan at least. As we round the bend above steer ridge, we discuss waiting for a break in the gusts as this should be a class 3 and this more complex than most of what we have run so far. The wind seems to die down and I commit to going first. Just as I hit the first of the drop, one of the strongest gusts we have seen hits, blowing me back up the rapid. What would have been a relatively straightforward class 2 at this flow becomes more of a hazard because we are being tossed around at the whim of the wind. The group is noticably shaken so we circle up at steer ridge camp and discuss. The group quickly comes to a consensus to continue and try to make our hike, Hannah, however, still shows signs of concern, and as the newest member of the group it seems she doesn't want to speak up. We start over and discuss again, this time with Hannah leading off about her concerns, amplified by her swim. The group is decided again, this time we wait it out, wait for the wind to die. When paddling especially, I am a big believer of respecting every veto and not going forward unless everyone is in agreement as accidents can quickly turn deadly with whitewater involved.

We are marooned on a beach, continuously getting sand blasted by the highway speed gusts. Some try to sleep. Lindsay sets up a hammock and appears to be going for quite a ride. A few windblown hours later I had had enough of our marooned beach and was getting restless. It seems the others were not excited about the prospect of overnighting at the beach either. A few whistle blasts gets the crew to circle up as some had wandered off. In short order it is decided, we brave the wind and continue; the worst of the gusts have subsided. 

The girls during the nightly bath ritual

Little more than an hour later we make it to camp at Snap Canyon, bypassing the ope of hiking up rock creek, that will have to wait for the next time we go through deso-grey. At Snap, everyone gets in the water to "bathe" and clean off some sand that has found its way everywhere.

Sunset at Snap Canyon Camp

Day 4: 

A long day. The Goal? Range creek which should have clean water for us to pump. We also have 3 of the 4 big rapids today to run through. 

Cotton Candy Sunrise at Snap Canyon as mixed thunderstorms move through

A little more than an hour into our float we run down a side channel with the hope of finding a mid-channel spring to draw water from. Not knowing anything about this spring other than that there is an island and this spring should be at the downstream end. We fan out scouring the island, then notice a black looking pit on far river left next to the island. Thats it! In the middle of the desert, in the bottom of the river channel is a spring of perfectly clear and cold water, a little oasis of clean water in the midst of this murky river. 

Taking advantage of an oasis in the water, a spring in the water channel coming out clear and cold.

Joe Hutch Creek Rapid is much ado about nothing, we stop and scout nonetheless. Joe Hutch Canyon is our first proper Class 3, Andrew and i run boats through while others go around. On the beach downstream we see our first "outsider", Kevin, a retired ranger who is going solo down the canyon in his canoe. We are just to late to help him portage, but chat a bit before we head back up to run the remainder of the boats. Shortly after Joe Hutch we officially leave Desolation Canyon behind, a bit bittersweet as i thoroughly enjoyed seeing this stretch of the earth for the first time.

Leaving Desolation canyon and the Roan Cliffs behind

Wire Fence Looks nasty but turns out to be some fun waves on bedrock. We run boats through and head down to three fords. I opt to river scout the first drop, the rest of the crew pulls over early and walks the whole rapid. After the first drop there is a hard left, and just beyond things get difficult. At this point the boys are feeling good and we run through Three Fords, some huge fun waves and probably my favorite of the trip. Instead of running boats through we go back and help portage the remaining boats. 

What we assume are fire hardened ground wasp/bee nests exposed by the fire at Range Creek

We get to range creek close to sunset. As we round the bend, i remember that this area was ravaged by a fire last year and the beautiful beaches and cottonwood groves i had been looking forward to were a thing of the past. Instead, we see countless scarred bones of old cottonwoods. We look for range creek, eventually finding it in a shallow box ravine, not nearly as clear as i had hoped. We dam up a small section with the hopes of pumping in the morning.

Walking through a forrest of bones. This grove will likely never recover.

Day 5: 

The sky is angry. Dawn never really comes, the world slowly gets brighter but everything is still varying shades of dark grey. A light rain begins to fall. Around 8:30 during a break in the rain i make the run over to the "circus tent", our communal tent that Andrew was using during rainy periods on this trip. A short while later things really open up, pea to grape sized hail falls amidst rain that is causing flooding. The teepee style tent has no floor and water beginds to intrude so we dig channels to divert around the center to keep us dry. In watching the river is ee that things are beginning to come up fast. Andrew and i make a mad dash to pull all boats and gear further up the beach to ensure we dont loose anything to the flood. In the end, the river came up about 2 feet and tripled in voloume. 

Range Creek, a now boatable torrent. 

After breakfast things start to calm a bit. We take a group excursion to Range creek which i can tell has flashed because the river is a well divided red in the main channel and grey close to our beach. Range creek, which was a few feet wide and an inch or so deep last night is now a torrent that has filled its low box ravine, 10-15 feet wide and probably 5 feet deep. It looks like a great, if short, paddle but no one can be convinced to sieze this moment. 

By the time we put in, the river has gone back down a foot but is still noticably higher, and now has large mats of debis filling every eddy. 

At Coal Creek, the last "Large" rapid of the trip, we get out and scout alongside Kevin, who we have met up with again. We pass the remains of an effort to dam this river; I am glad we didnt, although there is a need for some water storage, it si becoming increasingly apparent that our water system in the west is broken and we have lost more than enough beautiful spots to the whims of "progress" during the golden age of dam building in the west 70 years ago. 
Coal creek looks big, but not outrageous. The problem, a ginat pit of a hole at the bottom, something that would suck you in if you so much as looked at it. The waves are powerful, rejuvinated by the morning's flood. The boys opt to shuttle boats through, but we decide to first run everything over to the opposite side of the river as this will set us up better to avoid that pit of dispair. 
On the way over, Davis isnt feeling it anymore and drops out, respect every veto. Andrew and i discuss, we both still feel good and we will have a few people watching for safety. There are a few must make moves but otherwise things dont look crazy. We commit to the rust colored water and what looked menacing turns out to be more relaxed, less pushy, but still with sizable waves. We return and run the remaining 4 boats through once the line is found. 

Just as we near camp at School Section canyon, the sky clears up and the world seems bright and happy, as if to give us one last night of beautiful stars before we have to return to every day life, work, and the stresses of society. We spend our last night admiring the millions of stars, watching the Milky Way slowly rotate overhead.

Day 6: 

Although we are in somehwat of a hurry, several people need to be back in society for jobs the following day, we have enough time to explore up School Section canyon. A few hundred yards out from camp i spot bear tracks in the wet sand, we must have had a friend come through the night before. We become childeren, allowing some short exploration, wondering what will be beyond the next bend in the canyon for a short while. 

Some bear tracks just out of camp in the wet wash sand

Much too quickly, we have made it to the boat ramp and back into Green River for some late lunch at the Taco Truck. Here we part ways, Hannah back south to New Mexico, Davis and Lindsay back to Salt Lake for work, Andrew, Jennifer and I back to the put in to grab our vehicles before we go on as well. Driving through 9 Mile canyon, we allow a diverson to see a few of the rock art panels that 9 mile canyon is famous for, as we are here in the daylight this time and know the road ahead is not at all similar to its reputation. 
One Final challenge. A few miles out from a paved road, on the windspept and now cold north slope of the Tavaputs, set amongst the many oil derricks, Andrew suddenly pulls over. He has lost his clutch. We have cell service, luckily, as we have been out of service for most of this 60 mile journey on dirt roads. Like the engineers we are, we dive in, looking at hydraulic systems, vacuum pumps, everything seems to be in order. Andrew decides to "do the stupid thing" and just look at the pedal... Sure enough the pedal linkage had rattled its way out and was now disconnected. A quick remedy and we carry on, making it back to Salt Lake around 10:30, Andrew stopping just outside Montecello around the same time to rest before his final leg back to Pheonix.

Owl Panel in 9 Mile Canyon

Another successful trip, one that rejuvinates the soul. So much has been said of Deso-Grey, much of it seemingly diminishing, as this permit is "easier" to get and the rapids are not as legendary as other stretches nearby, but i found the trip wholly enjoyable and hope someday to return and see some of what we missed. This is the kind of place that you could spend a lifetime in and still not see everything. 

Teton Crest

Several years ago i gave the Grand Traverse a handful of goes and failed each time. It is an ambitious objective to be sure, technical climbing to 5.7, miles of 5th class scrambling spent above 11k ft in high consequence terrain. I managed to always get up and over the Grand Teton, but never managed to make it to South Teton. I have been back to the Grand Teton a handful of times since, climbing the peak and enclosure peak depending on partners and weather (last year i went up with some friends in september and we encountered near 0 F temps and several feet of snow... despite several parties reporting that they made it to the upper saddle i can confirm, i was the first on that day to make it because i set the post hole bootpack). Some day i hope to at least complete the remainder of the traverse from South Teton through Nez Perce, however when i started trail running more seriously another traverse entered my radar. After years of hemming and hawing about it and not feeling fit enough, ben finally convinced me to commit to running the Teton Crest trail, some 40 miles from Teton Pass to the south through much of the park past the Grand and out Paintbrush canyon in the north, covering about 10k feet of climbing en-route. 

Even so, i didnt feel properly trained going in. Previous failures on the grand traverse showed me that fitness prep was everything for bit days in the tetons, but ben had already booked the campground spot so we were "committed" and at 5 am, after one of the shittiest nights of sleep i have had in a long while (due to car alarms constantly going off all night at the campsite) we woke up to go for a run. 

A forrest of fireweed on the way up to the top of Phillips canyon

We parked at an unexpected empty Phillips bench trailhead and got started as dawn broke at 6:30. Right out the gate we came upon another party also going for the crest, which I knew was popular but was not expecting to see the number of people we did on it (easily hundreds, with maybe 20 running it that day). 

Some smooth singletrack in the Jeddediah Smith wilderness

The initial climb out of Phillips canyon is a bit out of character for the rest of the run, as it goes gradually upwards through deep vegetation in lush meadows of wildflowers. Cresting over our first pass was an unexpectedly long slog though thick brush, you think you're there then you turn a corner and realize it still goes up, but once on top and less than two hours in we started to cruise. The miles through the upper Jedediah Smith wilderness cruised by quickly, mostly running through broad open meadows on excellent single track without too many people out on the trail quite yet. Shortly after entering the park around the death canyon shelf people seemed to come out of no where, and what was an empty trail quickly was full of people, surprising for how far one has to walk to get there.

Some friends on the Death Canyon shelf looking down death canyon

The death canyon shelf is what dream runs are made of, long and gradual amazing single track with amazing views, but before too long we were dropping into the upper Alaska basin and starting to climb again. As to be expected for this long of a run, there was bound to be some difficulties and our first came when Ben kicked a rock on accident, nothing seemed broken but it looked painful and slowed us a bit. Coming out of the Alaska basin was a beautiful Saphire blue lake and large fields of wildflowers, but the climb to the schoolhouse divide was a grind. At this point we were just over halfway in but the fatigue was definitely setting in. Luckily, after cresting the schoolhouse divide we were greeted with amazing views of the central Tetons, upper Cascade canyon, and an ever shrinking schoolhouse glacier. Ben definitely picked it up, like a light switch and went from a slow plod to a full hearted run down the north side of the divide. A few miles past the divide we finally committed to the first full break of the day for lunch and to refill water, and most importantly, ice down the feet and legs to recover a bit, we still had 18 miles and 3.5k gain, 6 of loss ahead of us.

Schoolroom Glacier and upper cascade canyon

The long trek out of cascade canyon up to the Paintbrush Divide

The decent of Cascade was definitely a metaphorical high point, however I the fatigue was chasing me at this point, I could feel the aches and sore was building. At the cascade trail branch we had a decision to make, do we cut the run short or are we feeling good enough for another 3k climb up and over the paintbrush divide? After a quick team check we continued on, aiming to run intervals up the divide. Of course that ended real quick and we admitted a running defeat, I was just going to walk it at least. At this point we were entering the most sun exposed portion of the trail, at mid afternoon, and it was as warm as it was going to get. Ben was pushing for a short break at lake solitude, an halfway in to the climb, but I knew that I needed to keep momentum and continue on, lest the fatigue set in and the legs start to freeze up. I left him laying in the grass by the lake and started the long gradual and hot climb up to the top of the paintbrush divide. The climb starts as gradual, but it is consistent and longer than it seemed. After switching back it seemed we just needed to switch back again, and the saddle I originally thought was the top turned out to be a few hundred feet shy of the actual deicide, but just before 4 pm I created the divide with Ben just a few minutes behind and we began the long final descent down to the valley. At this point I was running quite low on water and Ben was itching for a break and swim, we settled on a 10 minute break at lake Holly to recharge. Of course I was the cattle driver with the whip in this case, and when 10 minutes came I nearly had to drag Ben out of the lake, but on we went. The decent was long and steep but gradually flattened, the poles were a lifesaver for my knees to keep me moving. We had originally planned to try for an extended version, pushing on to Jenny lake, but two miles of flats were suddenly quite unappealing and, after notifying Lindsay, we committed to the standard string lake trailhead finish. Just before 6:30, nearly 12 hours after starting and after 11 hours of movement I crossed the final bridge into the parking lot and it was done!

Finally made it to the Paintbrush Divide!

Dropping down towards Paintbrush canyon

The only snowfield remaining on the route, a short 30 ft crossing

After looking around for Lindsay for a while (eventually she found me...) we all went for a quick dip to clean off and freshen up before finishing the day off with tacos! In the end we were a bit slower than desired, but all in all it was another excellent day out in the Tetons!

The final bridge to the String Lakes trailhead

Dinosaur - Late Season Yampa

 The theme of late season float trips for 2024 turned out to be Dinosaur NM. This part of the west has long been a black hole for me; I have been thinking about getting to this part of the west for a while but for one reason or another never made it. At the beginning of the year, i was lucky enough to pull a Yampa permit for late fall, and, when thinking about what to do for a long weekend in august, we settled on the stretch below Flaming Gorge dam. 

Land of 10000 Trout

The stretch below Flaming Gorge is beautiful, if very unnatural. The water is crystal clear and the gorge is amazingly beautiful, but man that boat ramp may be the most busy boatramp anywhere. That is probably why i have avoided it for so long, well that and the non-reservable campsites that are notorious for getting poached. Nonetheless, in an effort to get everyone together for a short weekend trip, i booked a site and we set off. As with many other locations, the laws still haven't come around to the idea of packrafts. Per the rules, we would need to have all boats inflated to drive down and use a ramp. Oh well... When we did finally get on the water the canyon beauty definitely was on display. We cruised through the A section pretty quickly, looking to get to our grasshopper site. Really, one could easily do the A/B sections in a day, but stopping at grasshopper (next time I would stop at trails end or tree tops instead) gave us plenty of time to hang out, fish, go for a swim and have a fire to introduce a few new people to river trips. Our day 2 started off a bit stormy, but we still were able to get out of camp by 10 or so. In a bit of a rush, we really only stopped at Red Creek for scouting. Red Creek goes pretty easily for packrafts on the left at class 2, but on the right there were a series of big waves/holes that were more class 3. Two of us ran the class three option, and I ended up flipping in my new refuge, it definitely floats quite a bit shorter than the expedition.We tried to hurry, battling slower water and the ubiquitous headwind, to get to the takeout and get some people off on their way to the airport. A bit rushed but nonetheless great for a weekend!

Late Season Yampa

Cramming in the subaru to head to Deerlodge

Early Morning joy

The Yampa, what a river! Sure we didnt see it in its swollen spring runoff glory, but in fall, it sure was a treat to see this naturally flowing watercourse. After a bit of a whirlwind of prep, i was coming directly off a conference and some extensive car maintenance and prepping for a conference immediately after the trip, with others in various work crunches of their own (Unfortunately work seems to be taking over all of our lives these days, hopefully some day we can find that fabled balance that is always sought), we set off for the Yampa from our various states. The "OG" crew, Davis+Jennifer, Lindsay + me, and Andrew all met up at a very dark Split Mountain boat ramp to shuffle into a single car to head off to the put in at Deerlodge CG in Colorado. I am glad we didnt get to see the beauty of the takeout area because it turned out to be a treat to come back to but more on that later. 

Night zero was a cold one, we woke up to temps in the low 20s and elk bugling off in the distance (with all manner of animals making their noises the night before). Unsurprisingly, we were the only ones looking to put in, and the only other group at the campground quickly packed up and left (probably hunting?). I was a little apprehensive because we never got the official blessing from Dinosaur NM to float as an unsupported packraft crew (their regulations require a support craft for all packraft or SUP trips? alongside the most extensive list of redundant equipment i have yet seen). Ultimately, no ranger showed up and we put in at a bit after 10:30 am.

Day one: Familiar but diffferent. On the river started flat and wide (we had flows between 330 and 370CFS), but luckily not much in the way of walking as the channel was mostly able to be found. Within about 20 minutes we had passed through the anticline and into the Yampa river canyon. 

In general our experience on the yampa was characterized by 4 different sections: Above the canyon the river was wide but moving at ~2.5 mph. The canyon through Big Joe rapid was mostly boatable with the occasional need to walk due to wide spreading flow and a lot of rocks in the channel with lots of boat scraping (an extra 100+CFS would have made this stretch perfect) with easy rapids, below the outflow for big joe the river heavily alternated between swifter rapid sections (nothing harder than warm springs which was maybe 2+) and long stretches of deeply pooled flat water with almost no flow but also no scraping. 

Ponderosas near Teepee Rapid

Big White Butts

The goal for day one was to get to Teepee camp/rapid. We were fresh, and with the river being somewhat steep, we were able to make it to teepee by lunch. Here, after some discussions, we pushed on, shooting for Big Joe camp to allow for shorter days further down canyon where we could explore a bit more. Teepee, our first "major" rapid, was more or less a rock dodge for the main part of the rapid. It is obvious that spring floods push the side canyon debris relatively well, as the mile and a half or so below each rapid was wide and shallow and peppered with large rocks making scraping an inevitability. A surprising moment of joy was seeing all of the large beautiful ponderosa living in the river channel, something i feel we dont see too much with our desert river exploits. Much of this stretch below Teepee was very reminiscent of the San Juan, simultaneously familiar and yet new. Mid afternoon we saw our first group of bighorn sheep, who are often mentioned in all of the put in signage for floats we do but are almost never seen. I guess the benefit of now sustained flow is that this canyon has the majority of the year to be without humans, it was nice to see a more "wild" stretch with so much fauna out and about. The longer the day went on, the lower the sun. Eventually we found ourselves on miles long stretches staring directly into the sun trying to dodge rocks in the channel. Right around sunset we finally made it to big joe camp. Big joe is a nice camp with lots of space up off the river under some trees. One of the benefits of doing late season trips is that the tribe gets together for a few hours around the fire every night. Also, the stars! we had a few nights of clear weather and, being so far from any major city, this was an excellent area for seeing the milky way. 

Day 2: Big Rocks and wide channels. Just before setting off down big joe (or first "class 3") we got some sunlight at camp to warm up a bit. I also took a brief jog up Starvation Valley, the canyon behind camp. Its a constant lament, but i wish i had more time to explore these areas, starvation valley looks like it holds some interesting treasures, including a potentially interesting cave, just close enough to draw my curiosity but too far for me to tell if it was just a shallow alcove or if it held something interesting, but alas we had to get going downriver. Big Joe, at this level, is really just a few rocks in the channel you need to dodge. We went left of the main boulder which lined up for an easy outrun. 

Low Water Big Joe, we ran to the right of the large boulder looking back upstream

deflated river people drying out

Evening river flows

Just Downstream the Weber Sandstone, the main event geologic layer of our trip, made its first real appearance high up on the walls. All at once, the river stopped its straight dive west and began to heavily meander, entrenched in the sandstone above. The river slowed down and we were met with long sections of glass, perfectly reflecting the golds, tans, reds and greens of the canyons above. Rounding into Harding Hole, a perfect flat and open park after a long journey down a deep canyon. Harding Hole camps look great and the idea to hike to the rim was attractive, however because they are very sheltered, they would be very cold this time of year. A pair of hikers had descended the trail from the rim and saw us passing on the river as they camped at harding 4. We did stop briefly at Signiature cave, something i thought would be kinda lame but the cave was unexpectedly large and deep, with a few older petroglyphs and many newer "signiatures" some unfortunately scratched right overtop of the older artwork. 

The Weber Sandstone emerges

Reflections

Descending towards Harding Hole

Looking out from Signiature Cave

Downstream, we came to the Grand Overhang- a point as dramatic as any on this or any river we have seen. The cliff overhangs the river and rises some thousand feet above the riverbed. Pretty cool stuff. Downstream is a mini- grand overhang at Mathers Hole, a camp that i had initially booked for us. It looks like a really cool site but we were hoping to push ahead a bit more, maybe we will try to stop there next time round. Downstream of Mathers hole we hit a very long stretch of flat water above the private ranch. Before the wind kicked up i managed to snag a few nice shots of the scenery but shortly thereafter we entered the gring, trying to get through the flats and to camp. Just after the Mantle Ranch there is another archeological site that i wanted to hit. Looking at the map, we stopped somewhere in the middle of the river, as if i needed more reminder that we were at low water. Finding the trail up to the bench was tough because it was hard to tell where people would land at higher water. The site itself was pretty cool, another deep alcove with the remnants of a bunch of graneries and some rock art, plus we were able to see some outstanding cottonwood colors juxtaposed against the grey rock. Camp that evening was a short ways downstream at Laddie Park 1. Note for next time, bring some climbing gear! The wall above camp held some of the best looking routes thusfar, a few splitters that went several hundred feet up, plus a few potential pocketed sport routes up the large huecos that linked almost the entire wall, very unusual for sandstone. Laddie also had some great tree alcoves with some nice meadows in between, definitely the preferred of the two as laddie two was just juniper. That evening at camp we celebrated river life with crackerless smores and "scary" stories that lindsay had brought along that were great for some laughs. 

The Grand Overhang

Reflection of the eastern edge of the Uintas

Cottonwoods

Mantle Cave

Laddie Park, Laddie 1 is on the left, 2 is on the right

Boat parking

Shmallows

Day 3: The last of the Yampa. Tiger wall came all to quickly after leaving camp. The consensus was, although the grand overhang was grand, it was so grand that you felt disconnected. Tiger wall, still easily a few hundred feet tall but with some namesake black streaks, garnered more awe. Its hard to say why. Downstream the yampa really began to sing in its full glory; the walls rose to sweeping sanstone flanks hundreds to thousands of feet tall and resonated like few canyons do. The water was placid but moving and as we sang, the canyon returned our notes fourfold. Not too far later, a young bald eagle looked down on us from a high wall with curiousity, surely wondering what these river things were doing making so much noise. All too quickly, the placid waters came to a halt above Warm Springs rapid, in theory the hardest of our trip, typically a class 4 but at this low water it was farily straight forward 2+ that drops in two major stages. The entry is pretty simple, then after running generally left of center through the middle, i ran right of the major rocks on the final drop out, pretty straight forward but probably a whole different animal at high water. Downstream of the magnificant warm springs cliff is a section i termed in my head as rockfall alley; every few hundred feet the sides of the canyon were swept clear of growth into rockfall chutes. While nothing happened while we were there, a few of the chutes looked like they have been active recently. Shortly before the green confluence was sand canyon, probably the biggest miss of our trip was not exploring up that canyon, definitely something to do next time. One more pitstop before the push to camp in whirlpool canyon, we stoped at the toe of Steamboat rock to check out some more rockart, and in my case, discover an old layton kor route up a steep set of shallow changing corners that looked amazing. Standing up above the confluence, it was cool to see the mixing of waters, the green coming in crystal clear from the dam, and the yampa coming in heavy with silt as it is free flowing. 

Tiger Wall

the "Echo Cliffs"

Runout on Warm Spring Rapid

Rockfall Alley

Mixing Waters

the Darkness in Whirlpool Canyon

Whirlpool canyon starts abruptly, to put it lightly. The dark depths of this canyon contrasted the yampa starkly, i can see why Powell did not look lightly on this canyon after their fiascos in Lodore, it seems like some difficulties await downstream. Luckily, it was mostly just good (looking) riverside climbing (we didnt have time to actually climb) with some consistent if small pool-drop rapids. The push to jones hole was tough, we were loosing light and the group was tired from a few long days on the river. We were hoping that Monday would be short and allow for a solid side hike up jones hole. Finally, just as the sun seemed to finally begoing down, we came upon Jones 1, and we grabbed the first spot we found. Jones probably had the worst landing of all the camps we had used thusfar, a mucky slow pool somewhat far from the flow, but that might be different at higher water (jones 2 looked much better, but hindsight is always clear). Really, all of the jones sites looked stellar, in some low box elder and cottonwood forrests, and jones creek looks like a true gem of a creek in the desert. 

Jones Creek

Day 4: The weather moves in. What was looking to be a large storm moving in on tuesday, our last day, became a forecast for a bit of a dreary rainy day with the prospect of paddling in snow on Tuesday. The group came together and decided to forgo our hike (which would have been in the rain) and instead get up and out early so we could run the final 18 miles to the takeout on monday and avoid paddling in the windy snow on tuesday. After packing up in the rain, whirlpool ended as abruptly as it started and we were out into island park. The river so dramatically transitions into wide open and braided fromt eh deep narrow canyons that we had been enjoying for the past few days. After gettting through Island, then Rainbow parks (with some group difficulties, splitting the group never goes well), we stopped for a group circle up at the Rainbow park boat ramp for lunch. In general the group was feeling good enough to send it through the final canyon which would also hold the biggest/ hardest water of the trip. Lindsay opted to hang at the boat ramp because she wasnt feeling well, and i could come get her with the car when we got to the split mountain ramp. Coincidentally, just as we started in to split mountain the skies parted and the sun came out. Split mountain was a true gem, i wish that it was legal to camp because there were so many areas that looked amazing and i would have loved to spend more time. SOB turned out to be the hardest whitewater of the trip, a series of waves and holes with an interesting right to left side of the river transition mid rapid interestingly, Schoolboy held much larger waves than anything else and caught us a bit off guard because of its 2 rating. The end of split mountain is also stellar, as the weber comes back to river level then abruptly dives under the surface right at the boatramp, decorated with the best cottonwood groves of the trip. At the Split mountain CG we enjoyed one last campfire and hashed out some group baggage. These trips are great fun but also are a great way that we can all grow together and we hashed through some of that with the safety of knowing that there was no more risk in our trip. 

Looking back at Whirlpool in a light Drizzle

The Sun appears as we head into Split Mountain

Sandstone Fins late in Split Mountain

Emerging out of Split Mountain to end the trip

Day 5: Dinos! Because we had finished so early, we took a group excursion to explore the Dino NM visitor center. Wow! it was really cool to see so much in such a concentrated area. These layers are quite familiar as we have been through them (morrison, mancos, etc) on so many other trips, but in this area there is such a concentration of bones, it was a treat to see them protected for the future, rather than just extracted and sold of, as would have happened without a NM and as has more or less happened at Petrified Forrest. The drive home was sporty as we drove through the storm we were trying to avoid, but we made it; and i immediately turned around and went back to the airport for another work trip. 

Some Petroglyphs

More Rock Art

Walls of Bones