Paddling Flaming Gorge

Anne was organizing a 4th of July sea kayak trip on Flaming Gorge reservoir, and I decided to join them.  The plan was to start in the town of Green River Wyoming, paddle down the Green River, and continue on into Flaming Gorge reservoir.   This turned out to be a small group.  Anne, Gary, and I in sea kayaks, and Ken and Jeanne in a tandem canoe.  Since most vehicles will not hold three people plus gear, I ended up driving alone.

On Friday we drove to the town of Green River, and then headed out into the desert to camp.  We had a 360 degree view, and could look down on Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

On Saturday morning, we packed boats with camping gear, and shuttled cars.  We left one car at Buckhorn Marina, and one car at Holmes Crossing.  I drove back to Green River with the drivers.   We planned to go as far as Holmes Crossing, but left the car at Buckhorn in case we made slower progress than we expected.

The Green River in that area is placid.  We let the current carry us into the lake, and then started paddling in earnest.  The upper part of Flaming Gorge reservoir has very little boat traffic.  I noticed that Jeanne's canoe tended to turn 90 degrees whenever she stopped paddling, somewhat typical of a river canoe.

Leaving the town of Green River.

We camped on the bank.  All in all a fairly quiet day.

Anne

On Sunday morning, we continued paddling south on the reservoir, where we ran into more boat traffic.  As Anne said, most of the boats stay within a mile of the boat ramp.   

Note the glassy water in the morning

It was all fairly routine until early afternoon, when the wind started to howl, pushing us towards a cliff. Those of us in sea kayaks had an advantage in the wind, as our craft are low profile. Ken and Jeanne struggled a great deal; the wind would blow them in random directions. Gary ended up hooking up a tow line to help them, a heroic effort on his part. After very hard work, and very slow progress, we finally reached the other side, where we were very happy to get out of our boats, and to find a place to camp.

Jeanne and her tiny guitar

We did in fact get on the water before 8 AM, not an easy thing for a group to do.  We dropped off Jeanne and Ken at Lost Dog around 9 AM, and paddled steadily and diligently until we reached Buckhorn Marina at 11 AM.   Shortly after we reached Buckhorn Marina, the wind started to blow hard.  Gary and I went to Holmes crossing to pick up his truck, and then I drove to Lost Dog to pick up Ken and Jeanne.  Ken and Jeanne were surprised to see me that early, and had set up a tent to get out of the sun.   By that time, the wind was blowing so hard that I had to hold onto their tent to keep it from blowing away, while they were taking it down.  Our plan to get off the water early turned out to be very wise. 

We all met in Green River, where my car was, the vehicles arriving within a few minutes of each other.  We loaded my boat and gear in my car, and we all headed home.

It was good to get out in my sea kayak, which I do not use too often.  Anne did a great job planning and leading the trip.   The scenery is beautiful, as you can see.  I hope to come back and paddle more of the reservoir, as part of my quest to paddle the length of the Green River.

As a result of the trip, I decided to work on becoming more flexible, so that I can sit up straight in my sea kayak while paddling.  I am now going to fitness classes taught by my friend Dora.

Honeymoon in Poudre Canyon

Two days after the wedding, we headed out in the RV for our honeymoon.

Sandi had said that she had only two requirements for the honeymoon:  It had to be somewhere that I had not been before.  And it had to be a secret from her.  After some head-scratching, I choose the Poudre River canyon.  Since the honeymoon started midweek, I expected to find campsites readily available.   To add to the mystery, instead of going the usual route, I decided to get there via Masonville and Buckhorn road, which I had never driven.

Our first campsite was Kelly Flats.  We found a campsite next to the river and settled in.  We bought some wood from the campground host, but found it not easy to burn.  It appeared to be wet.   We were able to have a campfire, however, which was important to Sandi, who loves campfires.

 The next day, Thursday, we took a hike through a meadow.  On the other side of the meadow we found a group of small cabins, which appeared to still have outhouses.

RV at Tunnel campground

On Friday we moved the RV up to Tunnel campground, on the Laramie River.  The name refers to a tunnel that brings water from the Laramie River to the Poudre River, a transmountain diversion.   We hiked a bit to take a look at the tunnel.  That Friday was the first day that the campground was open for the season.   The campground hostess was a determined older lady with a leg brace; she was taking care of the campground by herself.

Richard did a little fishing on the Laramie River, but only caught willow bushes.   The mosquitos were out, which they had not been at Kelly Flats.  Richard had to remove a tick after wandering through the bushes.

On Saturday, we took a hike out of the valley, on the West Branch trail, into the Rawah wilderness area.  There were quite a few hikers, including a youth group.   Some of the folks were backpacking.   The trail was not too steep or muddy.   At a certain point, we ran into trees fallen across the trail.  For each tree, you had to hike up and around it, and then back down.  We decided that was high enough for us, and turned around.

Richard was playing with our new DSLR camera.  He used a long exposure, and got the following shot of the creek.  Arty but crooked; he did not have his tripod, so braced on the crooked footbridge.  ;-)

On Sunday, we moved back to Kelly Flats, escaping the mosquitos, and even got the same campsite.

On Monday, we drove home, back to reality and obligations.