The second year, last year, it was running 21,000 cfs's and we thought that was fast with high water. It was the first week in June.
You should have been there with us this time. 26,000 cfs's and it was high and flying! Our put-in was June 6th at Mineral Bottom via Tag-A-Long. They're a fantastic company that drops you off and picks you up to and from the Green and Colorado Rivers.
A week earlier the river was running at peak 33,000 cfs's and I wasn't really sure if there would be any campsites at all.
Last year I kept promising sandy beaches to the 5 paddlers and far and few there were but we survived. This time I was really nervous about finding a place to camp and just figured it would be another adventure at its best. That it was...
Our drive down the cliff to Mineral Bottom was a trip in itself. The sheer cliff must have been 2000' down and it was a switch-back narrow road down with bicyclists coming up the hill. Then we couldn't believe it, here comes a couple of SUV's and passing was again a little tricky but the Tag-A-Long driver Toby scored again with a little shoulder to pull over onto. No big deal he said... we bring the bus with a trailer down this all the time! Ugh!!!!! I was thankful that we had the extended cab 4X truck this time!
It was hot when we got to the bottom and packing took a short time especially for the canoe. Maybe there is something to packing a canoe... just throw it all in and tie it down. Chris and Jenny were done in 1/3 rd the time it took us to pack 3 kayaks. So they sat and watched us stuff all our gear and had lunch. Finished we squeezed into our boats and in seconds ruddering only to keep in the middle of the river. The river was really moving and then the wind came up so it took a little while to adjust to these conditions. As our adventure went on we adjusted to some wind, the swift moving water, Chris with his GPS said at the end the fastest we traveled was 7 1/2 mph, no sandy beaches except in the canyons, mosquitoes who love some of us, silt water, one inch of visibility meant no filtering for drinking water, good thing we all had one gallon per person-per day, and new paddling friends that were awesome to be with for 5 days!!!
Gary and I have paddled together but I had no idea his son and his two life-long friends were going to be so much fun to paddle and camp with. Wade is from So. Cal and Chris and Jenny traveled all the way from Santa Cruz to be with us. They had a little canoeing and paddling experience and were the best of the best! Thanks to Harold from Southwind for giving Wade a lot of great tips and his first kayaking lessons just a few weeks prior to our trip. Chris had canoed before and taught it so his confidence was high and Jenny was a trouper with us all! We all talked before the put-in about safety, experience, gear and our expectations of this trip so I'm pretty sure we were all very comfortable with each others knowledge and experience.
5 days later we were still giggling and having a good time on the rivers.
Friday we were on our way to Moab for a good dinner at the local place recommended by Glenn. Then to Castle Valley where we were staying at Gary's friends cabin for a much welcomed HOT shower!
Thanks Gary for putting this trip together... Wade, Chris and Jenny you were awesome!
Thanks to all of you for your help... you know what I mean... everyone pitched in to make this trip the BEST!
Come on you CKF folks... where were you?
Next time I go its high water only for me! I've become spoiled by the beauty of camping in the canyons with all the little creatures coming out at night, the toads, birds, coyotes and locust? (We've still yet to identify that critter) and the speed of the flow of the river... no more portaging over the sandbars or hiking up steep cliffs to camp for me!
Paula Chavez
CKF Ventura County Coordinator
Thanks to Chris for researching and finding out what all those noisy bugs were on the river. We thought they were locust and look what Wade has to say.......
Chris found some info on those bugs we thought were locusts. They are actually cicadas and this particular species is called the Wing Snapper (for obvious reason). www.whatsthatbugcom/cicadas.html The web site is great. It has all kinds of bugs.
Wade