Five Days Rafting the Green River

Bow Knot bend was a highlight of the trip

I explored the idea of going to rafting guiding school after my blow your mind adventure on the kern river this past August. I know I can be fickle, though, so I decided that I should learn more about the hobby before I commit my time and money towards expertise. My boyfriend, Robin, has gone on many overnight guided rafting tours and thought that this would be the perfect thing to introduce just how much adventure rafting can open your world to. Since he also played around with the idea of guide school, he decided that we should stretch our planning muscles a bit and guide ourselves. I am a comparative neophyte in this arena of overnight rafting adventures, so I let him do a majority of the planning. This is new.

Robin chose an adventure that would be forgiving for our unlearned nature, be a short trip, and would be a beautiful place that would be worth the adventure. He chose a five day float on Green River flowing through Labyrinth Canyon near Moab Utah. October is a relatively low flow time of year, offering class 2 rapids in a very worst case scenario. The objective of the trip wasn’t necessarily cut your teeth excitement, but to see if we even enjoyed the mechanics of overnight raft trips. In theory I could not imagine why I wouldn’t have the time of my life. It would be just like backpacking. It would be a way to get away from it all in beautiful relaxing scenery with just the essentials.

Logistics.

The logistics is really something with rafting, isn’t it. It seems like you need an army to get a raft trip started. Just for this sport only, I include a logistics section below.

We rented a raft and Kayak from Navtech in Moab. We hired a shuttle driver to drop us, a trailer, and the raft in Ruby Ranch, then pick us up 5 days later at Mineral bottom right before the green river veered into Canyonlands, which offered much harder to get permits.

The price of rental was worth while considering that we live in San Diego, and the logistics of getting a raft from San Diego to Utah would have been prohibitive even if we owned it outright. A raft is close to $6-8K, and we were able to rent the raft for 5 days for ~$750. The raft included some nicities like a full sized cooler specifically fitted to the raft with custom straps, as well as a custom table that also fit eerily well.

The shuttle driver also took a huge logistical hurdle off our plates. It would have cost us at least a extra day to shuttle my truck with a trailer if we owned our own rafts. The road to mineral bottom wasn’t an impossible one, but definitely would have been an eye opening, tumble over the side of a cliff adventure for anyone that wasn’t a local. Having a shuttle driver also took just an iota of ease from my mind. I programmed her cell phone number into my garmin in reach just in case we hit any snags in our trip planning. It was nice knowing that there was someone in town that know to receive a mild emergency text. (a serious emergency text, of course, would go to the emergency dispatcher).

The permits themselves were self issued. We got one online for the trip, but forgot to print it out before our trip. (Robin doesn’t use the meticulous folder system for planning like I do) Luckily Ruby Ranch offered a pile of self issued permits next to their Honor System pay-to-use money box.

The Green river.

Going in low-flow October offered a casual, no rapid trip. We smuggled in our well behaved 5 month old puppy, Gigi, onboard. We minimized her impact to the river by outfitting her in rubber booties that gave her additional dexterity and traction on the thick plastic raft surface.

The next five days were filled with jaw dropping red sandstone edifices that begged to be climbed. Indeed, we saw a trailer for a trip done by Alex Honnald and Daniel Woods who did a rafting climbing trip of the area. We took turns Oaring through the almost still water.

At one point a wind tunnel offered a strong head wind that caused Robin to strategically zig zag through the water to make progress. This was the most harrowing drama we faced.

We drank Beer every day at lunch and docked our boat after an average of 4 hours per day paddling. We camped on the sand in the evenings and watched the shadows darken the red rocks into a deep umber.

I had the most fun on the inflatable kayak where I paddled ahead and read a paperback non-fiction waiting for the raft to catch up with its 2000lbs of people and gear.

On the Fourth day we docked to do the short ¾ mile hike up to bow knot bend’s pass. The river had this strange snaking quality that caused it to double back on itself. By hiking the short pass you could see the same river on either side of you. This was one of the greatest pay off to hike length ratio I have ever done. It was truly magestic to see the river formation that offered Labyrinth Canyon its namesake.

This is truly one of the chilliest trips I’ve ever done.

My least favorite part of the adventure, unfortunately, had to do with the mechanics of raft having. It took hours every day negotiating how to pack and unpack the raft. These are not difficulties you find on backpacking trips. Carrying coolers, tables, groovers, and water jugs was a slog in the way a long distance hike isn’t. It didn’t quite feel worth it. It was nice having the puppy aboard, but at what costs? I enjoyed the scenery and the opportunity that river travel afforded. However, a lighter weight travel option may be more my style. I am going to turn a serious eye towards canoeing and white water rafting for my river exploration adventure.