The Green River Canoe Trip

Back in February when I was confined to a recliner at home for a number of months after breaking my knee and having surgery on my tibia plateau, I received an email from my good friend Bob from Nashville asking me if I would be interested in joining his church group, St. Geoge’s Episcopal, on a 55-mile flatwater canoe trip down the Green River in Utah in September. My first thought was that I should be mobile enough to do this trip so within minutes after discussing the opportunity with my event coordinator and home scheduler (Mary) I was signed up.

The section of the Green River that we paddled basically cuts through Canyonlands National Park along the beautiful sandstone walls of Stillwater Cayon to the confluence of the Colorado River. We spent a total of five days and four nights exploring and tracing the same route that Major John Wesley Powell did back in 1869 down this very section of the Green River.

A big thank you needs to go out to Steve Hinkley and David Smith for organizing, planning and preparing our meals on this trip. You two truly did a fantastic job. Also, a thank you needs to go out to the Rev. Colin Ambrose, Gerry Senechat and Don Padfield for their work planning and conducting the morning and evening devotions for each day that we were on the water.

Tuesday, September 9th – We had an early morning start gathering of all the gear at Tex’s Riverways in Moab, and then packing, organizing, having a groover education, and then taking their shuttle down to the put-in at Mineral Bottom Boat Ramp. Being a fairly simple light weight backpacker for years, I was totally amazed by all the gear required and loaded for what was basically a four-night camping trip. Our canoes quickly became small cargo vessels that compared proportionally to any freighter crossing the high seas. With that being said and after reading and later watching a number of YouTube videos on a Green River canoe trip, I quickly realized that all this gear was very normal for this adventure.

Getting to the river put-in took us about an hour and half drive out of Moab. The last couple of miles down to the river became a pretty epic ride in the bus. We traveled down an old uranium mining exploration road descending somewhere close to 1,000 feet from the top of a mesa down a narrow road with some rather steep and off the edge switchbacks to the Green River below. Today this old road is part of the BLM and provides numerous recreational opportunities for all to enjoy.

Below is a general map of the Green River and Colorado River sections that we traveled by both canoe and jet boat.

After packing all the canoes up with our gear at the Mineral Bottom Boat Ramp, we were finally off heading downstream on the Green River. We paddled in the sun and heat that afternoon for roughly thirteen miles to a camping spot called Tent Bottom. It was a great campsite up on a ridge where several of us just cowboy camped under the stars. The stars above were awesome until the full moon appeared.

Wednesday, September 10th – It was another hot and sunny day, but a super day on the water with more beautiful scenery as we paddled further down the river. By early afternoon, we were approached a spot in the river called “The Ripple” which equates to a class .01 rapid rating that unfortunately does end in a small eddy up against a rock wall. The goal here is to skirt the outside corner, move to the inside and miss where the current will take you into the eddy and wall. All of us made it around the corner except one boat. It was like watching a slow motion capsize. There was a moment where I honestly thought that they were going to remain upright. But I was wrong when I saw their canoe broadside up against the wall. I quickly changed my mind and realized it was going to be a matter of seconds before the eddy would grab them and slowly turn their canoe over. Most of us watched the fun carnage from the sandbar on the opposite side of the river as Greg, Joe and the gear got recycled a couple of times in the eddy prior to Andrew Gregory throwing them a rescue rope. All was good and we recovered Greg, Joe and their gear fairly quickly and resumed heading downstream. However, we did end up losing all our bread for the reminder of the trip which was in a black plastic box their canoe at the time. Cheers!

Later that afternoon, we arrived at camp number two where most of us took a short two-mile round-trip hike out to Picture Rock or what I think is called the Boulder Glyphs near Turk’s Head before dinner. It was a large boulder up from the riverbank with some very interesting and unique petroglyphs.

Thursday, September 11th – The day was pretty much spent paddling along some very beautiful and towering red sandstone cliffs with a short lunch break on a small sandbar. Most days we only covered somewhere between 13 and 15 miles on the water.

We got to camp three fairly early that afternoon, which was on a pretty large sandbar where almost everyone took a break from the sun and heat lounging along the tree line of the sandbar through the reminder of the afternoon. When the sun finally gave way to the cliffs behind, the games and fun reappeared prior to dinner.

Friday, September 12th – Our final day of canoeing arrived on the Green River, and by midafternoon we merged into the Colorado River at its confluence. It was another early morning start from the red sandstone cliff canyon that was our camp the night before. The paddle from camp down to the confluence was absolutely beautiful. It was one of my favorite sections. We made a quick stop and scrambled up to an old granary that was built by Ancestral Puebloan under the overhanging rock ledges dating back some +/- 1,000 years ago and used to store food supplies such as corn, beans and squash.

Throughout the morning, we noticed that the skies above were changing. By early afternoon we found ourselves in the middle of gusting high winds, rain and hail. The temperature changed quickly from being very warm to very cool. We located a small sand / rock bar where we took some shelter from the passing storm. After a short time, we shoved back off the small sand bar and within a few miles we had met up with the Colorado River. The canyon opened up some here as we paddled on down the Colorado to our final camp at Spanish Bottom. It was located just above a more adventurous section of the river called Cataract Canyon. I’m pretty sure I would enjoy that section more in one of my whitewater kayaks vs my currently overloaded canoe.

Shortly after arriving at camp, several of us noticed a large bird flying downstream across the river from us, when it suddenly took a turn and swooped in on the beach with us. That large bird turned out to be a turkey. We pretty much concluded that this may be one of the smartest wild turkeys known to exist or that she may have been truly mentally handicapped. Either way we quickly realized that this was her beach, and she was definitely the mayor of it!

Saturday, September 13th – We woke up early for coffee and breakfast, along with our newfound turkey friend. The day mainly consisted of getting the gear loaded on the jet boat that arrived around 10:00 a.m. that morning to pick us up and headed back upstream on the Colorado River towards Moab and the Potash Boat Ramp.

Wow, what a fantastic trip! Thanks for the invite, Bob! It was great privilege to meet and get to know some new folks!