I love fly fishing the Green River as it's crystal clear tailwaters flow out of Flaming Gorge Dam in the north east corner of Utah. There is another section of the Green River that I have come to enjoy almost as much.
July 19th I joined 10 young men (the Teacher and Priest Quorums from our ward) and 4 other adult leaders on a 44-mile canoe trip down the Green River in Southern Utah. This was my third trip canoeing this section and I joined my 16-year old son Cameron. What a thrill to spend three days in a canoe together! I've now had this experience with each of my sons. (My daughter Allie still holds it against me that I haven't taken her. I'll get her and her husband Jeff down there yet!)
The trip began by camping overnight at Ruby Ranch (109 degrees when we arrived). That night we shuttled vehicles to the takeout at Mineral Bottom. We then spent three days canoeing, including two nights camping on the sandbars in the river.
The river flows along at a mild pace eventually winding its way through Labyrinth Canyon in Canyonlands. The views are spectacular and the flow of the water is such that jumping in to float alongside the canoe is almost as fast as paddling!
Below are some photos and videos of this awesome trip. I highly recommend it!
Cameron was a great canoe partner.
Lunch along the river
It rained two of the three days we were canoeing. This is a waterfall created by the rain on the slick rock across the river from the sandbar we camped on the second night. This is also the location of the first two-hand touch football game (in the rain) in the video below!
A spontaneous game of two-hand touch football broke out in the rain on the sandbar campsite. In the video, Hadley Clark hits Cameron for a long diving touchdown.
Cameron, Chance Gold, and Brandon Bringhurst at the River Register, where paddlers have carved their names in the rock for decades. Cameron inscribed "CJM," I inscribed "D24," and we also inscribed "Lori 7/21/10" as it was mine and Lori's 27th Wedding Anniversary the day we stopped at the Register.
Our third night (second night on the river) was spent at a panoramic bend in the river. We watched a thundercloud roll in over the cliffs in the distance and bring rain for the second night in a row.
Cameron and me at the only site on the Green River listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Denis Julien, a French-Canadian fur trapper, in 1836 became the first white man of record to navigate the lower Green River, including Cataract Canyon (a white water section). The inscription says "D. Julien, 1836, 3 Mai (May)." Julien also inscribed a boat, and what the map says is a bird. Cameron and I had fun discussing what it might have been if not a bird (since Julien never told anyone what it was :-)).
The road out of Mineral Bottom is narrow, steep, and carved right out of the slick rock.
Jared Taylor and Dave Tobler driving out of Mineral Bottom ahead of me. Nice Tundra, Jared!
