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Green River - Labyrinth Canyon, Utah
Green River - to Mineral Bottom
August 24-25, 2002
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This was a weekend trip with Jerry and Marci Nolan. We started at Green River State (mile 120
according to Belknap's Canyonlands River Guide counting from the confluence with Colorado River)
and finished at Mineral Bottom 70 miles later.
photo © Marci Nolan >>> |
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The water level was very low: 650-750 cfs as observed at the town of
Green River, UT.
There were some shallow and rocky channels within the first few miles but only one or two places forced us to get out of our boats. |
| Mile 115.5. Our first stop at the Crystal Geyser. It is not very active these days but sediments are beautiful. Some water was flowing during our visit. | ||
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Mile 101: Passing Dellenbaugh's Butte (Anvil and Inkwell) |
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| Mile 94.5. Lunch break below Red Wash. First appearance of Navajo Sandstone on the river. | |
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Mile 81: Tenmile Bottom. Overnight camping on a sandbar. Nearly full moon at night.
<<< Morning water reflections |
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 Mile 74.5: Jerry and Marci under D. Julien "16 MAI 1836" inscription. The earlier Julien's inscription "1836 3 mai" can be found in the Hell Roaring Canyon (mile 55.5). |
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Mile 69.5. Bowknot Bend. The photographer on duty was sent to the ridge: 20 minutes hiking up, 20 minutes
for shooting pictures and 20 minutes for walking down.
I regreted not having my regular camera with wide angle lenses. However, my digital Canon S40 performed very well for the rest of the trip. |
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I was paddling my Texas Water Safari boat, Q-continuum, with a minimal camping gear.
next 3 photos © Marci Nolan |
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Marci and Jerry represented a different approach to packing. They took almost everything. It didn't stop them to paddle fast. We didn't have any wind in the canyon though ... |
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This was not really a weekend trip for me. I started my driving from Fort Collins at 4 pm on Friday and arrived to Green River State Park in about 7 hours, i.e., 11 pm. I stayed in a motel at Green River for the night after the trip and returned home on Monday taking longer breaks to hike to Hanging Lake in the Glenwood Canyon and to photograph Georgetown. |
One goal of our trip was to explore possibility to organize a paddling race on the Green River: 100K+ Labyrinth Canyon Kayak/Canoe Race. The idea would be to start the race at late night (or several hours before sunrise) to cover the less scenic part of the river in darkness and to finish the canyon part during the next day. At the very low water conditions we needed about 14 hours of paddling to cover this course. However, this race cannot be organized as a weekend event due to remotness of this area, a long driving time from Denver and Front Range and a long shuttle. At least 3 days would be necessary. Of course, it would be interesting and more challenging to continue paddling for the next 50 miles to the confluence with the Colorado River and then upstream for 47 miles to Potash Landing or 64 miles to Moab ... Jerry's local river guide covers Green River and includes more pictures from our trip. Related trips: 4 Winter Days in Canyonlands
Guide books, maps and history: River Runners' Guide to Utah ... River Guide to Canyonlands National Park ... |
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MarekUliasz.com |