June 15, 2009

June 15, 2009

Today we are setting out on a whitewater raft trip down a section of the Green River that runs through Dinosaur National Monument. This stretch goes thru Split Mountain and is supposed to have several sections of Class III whitewater rapids. I am a little worried because we wake to low 50’s weather. This combined with ice-cold snowmelt river water could make for an unpleasant trip. We meet our river guides just outside the park where we are assigned life vests and crash helmets. We then load up on a school bus for an hour ride down a dirt road to the other side of the park.

Along the way we stop at McKee Springs to see a large assortment of Indian petroglyphs on the cliff walls. We also talk to the river guides and discover all but one are University of Arizona geology graduate students from Tucson. I sure missed out on all the cool summer jobs when I was in college. They tell us that the water level is way higher than normal and we are in for a wild ride.

At the Rainbow Park put-in we get a safety lecture about how not to die from hypothermia while swatting away a horde of seriously hungry mosquitoes. Once on the river, it turns into a glorious day. It is warm, sunny and the scenery stunning. It is like floating down a miniature Grand Canyon. Because of the high water level, the run is whitewater almost the whole way. There are a few hairy spots but the guide is pretty good and we go thru them with a breeze. We stop partway thru the trip for a cute geology-inspired shore lunch. After paddling and being sprayed with cold water, we are ravenous and the food delicious. The downside of the high fast water is the nine-mile raft trip comes to an end far sooner than we are ready.

As we rafted I was reminded of John Wesley Powell’s epic journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 to chart this final blank spot on the US map. I always assumed it was a grueling trip. Based on what we saw today he had a stupendous time. (Albeit he never knew whether a large waterfall loomed just ahead)