Green River below Dinosaur NM

As part of my quest to paddle the length of the Green River, I am trying to fill in some gaps, areas that I have not paddled.  For this trip, we were working on the part of the Green below Dinosaur National Monument.   My friend Tom and his wife Joan agreed to participate.

We met on Wednesday September 27th at Outlaw Trails RV park, in Jensen Utah, south of the Monument.   Tom and Joan drove over in their motor home, I brought my tent.

On Thursday, Tom and I drove to Dinosaur National Monument, picked up a “play permit” to paddle the Green, and put in at Split Mountain boat ramp, which is the take out for Gates of Lodore or the Yampa River.  The paddle was scenic, with views of the mountains in the Monument.  We saw and heard Sandhill Cranes on the drive up and on the paddle.  

At one point, we saw some large black shapes in the river downstream.  As we got closer, we saw a bull elk with nine females.  He was calling and keeping them in line.  At some point, they all took off downstream.  We took out a little below the US40 bridge.  It was not a short day.

 

 

On Friday, we planned a shorter day, and parked a car at the Alhandra Ferry road, near state road 45  We put in below US40, paddled to the old ferry crossing, and drove back to Jensen. This section of the river was generally ranch land.  I want to thank Tom’s wife Joan, who cooked us good meals, and sewed while we paddled.

On Saturday, we had hoped for a short day, as the weather forecast was not great, but it was hard to find access to the river.  We ended up leaving a car near an oil jack on the west side of the Horseshoe Bend.  As predicted, the wind came up, and the sand bars forced us to change from one side of the river to the other.   We tried to stay sheltered from the wind.  We made it to the car, drove to pick up the other car, and headed back to Jensen.   We were tired, and decided to declare a rest day, especially as the weather forecast was not great for Sunday.

On Sunday, Tom and I drove into the monument, and visited the bone quarry, which was pretty impressive.   We had hoped to paddle on Monday, but the forecast had changed.   It rained overnight.   

On Monday, the forecast was for a windy and stormy day.  We decided to head home, and continue the paddle next year.  I want to thank Tom for helping me with my quest.  It was good to hang out with Tom and Joan.

Upper Green River paddle

 
On Friday, I drove up to Laramie, Rocksprings and then on to Pinedale. The rain started as I headed north from Rock Springs and by the time I got to Pinedale it was pretty wet. I met Dave at his house in Pinedale, and we went over to the brewery for dinner. He has been doing a lot of work on his old log cabin, and it looks pretty nice inside. His next project is making it look good on the outside, which includes painting, and chinking the logs.

Flattop mountain in the background

On Saturday, we drove up the muddy dirt road to green river lakes. Dave has 2 Wheel Dr., so there was some concern about the road, but we made it without any difficulty. The views are spectacular, I had sort of forgotten how amazing the wind river range is. We put in on the lower green river lake, and paddled up up the lake to the river that links to two lakes, and then to the upper green river lake. We saw a surprising number of boats on the upper green river lake, I believe we counted more than 10, which was very surprising. Dave said he had never seen that many boats on the upper lake. There was a lot of current between the two lakes, no surprise; it’s been a wet winter. We paddled some of it, and we lined some of it, basically dragging our canoes upstream. We continued across the upper green river lake, and entered the the river there. Again the current was strong, and we didn’t go very far. My goal was to start at Green River lakes and paddle up as far as what is feasible, and I believe we’ve done that. We hiked a couple of miles up the trail, which leads to the wind river range. The ride back was easier, no tough currents to fight, but there were still paddling to do to get across the two lakes. We set up our tents in the campground, and cooked dinner. Dave started a fire, which was a bit of a challenge, with a lot of the wood being pretty wet, but he did it.

Dave lining his canoe.

Sunday we put on the water on the lake, and immediately headed for the outlet stream, which is the Green River. The first section was easy and fast, and the sky was sunny. It was quite nice. We pulled over to scout the crux section of the rapids, and neither of us wanted to do it, so we lined that rapid. Then I ran some of that, and then lined a little bit more, and then started running the rest of the rapid. I discovered that my boat, used, but new to me, was not a great choice in white water. It tended to fill up with water, so I had to keep pulling over to bail it out. I wish I had brought my electric pump, but I think I just underestimated the trip. To me, at this water level, it felt like class three.. I will be sure to rig this canoe to accept my electric pump. And also realize that this is probably not the right boat for class three water.

When we got to our planned campsite, Dave got on the bicycle that he had stashed there, and bicycled back to the lake, which is where the van was. The weather was kind of on and off rain; I spent some time in my tent. Later it became very nice but cool, ans we had dinner by the campfire.

Monday it was cold in the morning, with heavy frost on the tent. We waited a while for it to warm up. Dave decided to lash his bicycle onto his canoe, rather than drive down and leave the bike. The paddling was easier than the day before, more or less class II. I only had to stop once to bail water out of my canoe. We saw two trumpeter swans fly across the river; spectacular birds which are apparently rare in the Wind Rivers. Dave got out after the rapids, and I continued on to the forest boundary. This is probably where I will continue from next year. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, were tired, and hit the sack early.

Tuesday I got up early, and was on the road before 7, very early for me. It was very windy, but mostly a tailwind, so I got 30 mpg, even with a canoe on the roof. Occasionally the winds made for some challenging driving, but overall not bad. I drove home below the speed limit, with the canoe and the wind.

A very beautiful area, and good paddling. Thanks to Dave for his hospitality and for helping me with my Green River project.

Escalante River Trip

 Escalante River Trip

This is my write up of an eleven day paddle trip on the Escalante River in southeast Utah.   Rather than a day by day report, I will try to report the highlights, and give my impressions.

We put in mid-May at the Highway 12 bridge, near the town of Escalante, and took out at the lake.   Most users hike in and hike out; almost all the boats that we saw were packrafts, very small and light.  Having hiked in and hiked out with an inflatable kayak, I said never again, too much work.   Our trip was roughly twice as long as the usual trip, about 90 miles.  There were few other parties in the upper and lower sections, but many between Fence and Coyote canyons.

The trip felt different than other river trips I have taken.  The river is narrow, often 20 to 30 feet wide, with trees on both sides.   Our view of the canyon was often limited, but constantly changing; I felt it was a never ending wonder.  The canyon was smaller than many other desert canyons which I had paddled.  The water level was low during the trip, averaging about 20 cubic feet per second; most rivers are considered to be low at 500 cfs!  

This was perhaps the most strenuous river trip that I can remember.   With the low water, we were constantly maneuvering to avoid rocks and sand bars, and often had to get at least partially out of the boat when the boat got stuck.   One strenuous day included a portage and a lot of rocks; after 4.5 hours, we were tired, only having made four miles that day!

Another difference in this trip was the degree of alone time.  Doug and I were the only people on the trip, and Doug likes his alone time, so I had more alone time than usual, time to think, listen, and take in the canyon.  Usually I travel in a group, so camp time is often conversation time.  I read Edward Abbey’s book, Desert Solitaire, during the trip.

The ugly load on my inflatable kayak.

The length of the trip was roughly double a typical river trip, with eleven days on the water.  This contributed to my boat looking a lot like the Beverly Hillbillies truck, with dry bags piled on front and rear. In my canoe, I can easily keep everything below the gunnels, so it looks very tidy.

Doug has run the Escalante many times, and hiked extensively, so he was like a local guide.

One of the highlights of the trip was the pink room, a box canyon with a pool and extensive overhangs.   It seemed to be a sacred space, and almost impossible to photograph.  It was kind of a 360 degree experience, with rock on three sides and above us.

The two headed sheep is in the center.  I enhanced the photo for readability.

Another highlight was the Baker Bench rock art panel.  It was huge, and seemed to go on and on.  It was hard to get your head around it.  This panel is famous for two headed sheep.  These were petroglyphs, pecked into the rock.  As usual, the age and meaning of rock art is hard to judge, and may have included work over  many centuries.  Some of the art is of course relatively modern, with horses and cowboys.

We saw surprisingly little in terms of wildlife on the trip; perhaps animals only come out at night.  We did run into a herd of cows.

There were a few springs that we could use, and in some places we filtered water from a side stream.  The river was extremely muddy, so the springs were critical.

Our tow

We had made arrangements to be picked up by a boat on the lake.  The boat showed up around 9:30 AM, and we stopped to pick up another couple of paddlers.  But then the boat broke down!  We sent a satellite message to request rescue. A tugboat came and towed us back to the marina, but this was a long day. 

I did enjoy the trip, especially the unique aspects of it.  But once is perhaps enough……

La Paz, Cabo, and Todos Santos

Sebastian, Richard, the dog, and Alberto

On Thursday, we drove to La Paz, the capital of the state of Baja California Sur. Our first stop was at Arte La Xoma. Alberto is basically the English-speaking representative of families who do high level custom copper work. The work is done in Santa Clara del Cobre, in Michoacan. The cost of living is much higher in the Baja, so the work is done in Michoacan. They start with a solid block of copper, heat it red hot, and then a team of workers with sledgehammers beat it into a sheet, and shape it to make it a bathtub, sink, bowl, plate, or whatever is desired. We enjoyed our visit, and Richard urged his son, Sebastian, to create a website for the business. Richard bought a copper bowl from them in 2006, when they had a shop in Todos Santos.

The Malecon in La Paz

Our next stop was Bismarkcito, a restaurant on the Malecon in La Paz. The Malecon is a sidewalk along the bay, with palm trees, and is one of the tourist attractions of the town. We started out outside, but the cold wind caused us to move inside. Richard and Sandi had sea bass Veracruzana, which Sandi liked very much. The portions were huge.

We then went to the regional museum of history and anthropology, which took us from the migration of humans to the Americas, all the way to statehood for Baja California Sur, which did not take place until 1974. The Baja has historically been lightly populated, with missions up and down the peninsula. There was a special exhibit of underwater archaeology of a US submarine which sunk near the coast. Perhaps the most impressive exhibit was large photos of the paintings done by the Paleoindians, which are now a UNESCO world heritage site.

We made a brief stop at the Nicholas Bravo Mercado, mostly to let people see a real Mexican market, and then headed home.

Pam, Sandi and Jackie

Friday we drove to Cabo San Lucas to have lunch with Jackie and Martin, who were college friends of Sandi, Pam, and David. We met them at Dona Lolitas restaurant, down the street from our hotel in Cabo, where the owner greeted us like friends, as we had eaten there before. In Todos Santos, we tried to buy fish and get cash from an ATM, but were not successful.

Saturday we had lunch at Cerritos Surf Town, where we were able to watch some folks surfing. We spoke later to some surfers,, and they pointed out the larger waves further from the beach, 6 meters or 20 feet. They said that they had been surfing hard in the morning and were resting now. Sandi and Richard walked on the beach, which was fairly busy with kids and dogs.

 In the evening, Richard went out to watch the music at the Tropic of Cancer Music Festival. His favorite was a local band, los Hijos del Tropico, a perfect name for a group from a town that is bisected by the Tropic of Cancer. There was a lot of energy, they were having fun, and not taking themselves too seriously. He also enjoyed Radio Free Honduras, a band from Chicago, led by a Honduran, backed up by Anglo musicians.

On Sunday we went to mass at noon. It was a bigger deal than usual, with a bishop attending. One of the people on the altar was a woman whose only function appeared to be holding the bishop's mitre when he took it off...... The previous week the priest spoke about the current bishop, nearing retirement age, and the new bishop, to be ordained late in January. We were confused when the bishop appeared to be neither of these. We found out at the end of mass that the bishop was an auxiliary bishop from Mexico City. After mass, we took our picture in front of the Todos Santos sign. Lunch was at Tre Galline, good.

Richard had read about live music by an all woman band at Todos Santos Brewing, so we went there for dinner. The band was Son del Mar, two sisters playing Son Jarocho, a type of folk music from Veracruz. Although they were originally from Monterrey, they had family in Veracruz, and had learned to play in that style. One of their key instruments was the tarima, a small platform with vent holes, which amplified the sound of their shoes on the platform, using their shoes as tap shoes. Their mother wore a mask of an old woman for a folkloric dance, La Vieja.

At dawn Monday morning, Richard drove to Punta Lobos in hopes of seeing the fishermen set out, but the waves were too large that day. We returned to Taller 17 for their brownies, excellent with or without gluten. Then we went back to Cerritos Surf Town for lunch. We enjoyed watching whales; David said that I had done a good job getting the whales to show up. We were fascinated to watch a wedding company set up a photo shoot. They even gave us the flowers left over from the shoot. We stayed through sunset. It was really an excellent way to end our trip.

We got up early on Tuesday morning to head home. We took the toll road to the airport, turned in the car, and waited for our flight to Phoenix. We cleared customs and immigration in Phoenix. We had lunch with Pam and Dave, and then went to our respective gates. The weather forecast in Denver was bad; Sandi booked us a hotel room for Tuesday night at the airport. Three out of four Southwest flights from Phoenix to Denver were canceled that afternoon, but our flight flew on time. It was snowing hard by the time we landed in Denver, so we were happy that we did not need to drive I-25 in a snowstorm, when we were tired.

Relaxing in Todos Santos

 

Thursday we headed north towards Todos Santos. Check in at our Airbnb was 3 pm, so we decided to hang out at a bar until then. On Wednesday, we had met a Canadian musician at our hotel, and learned that he would be playing at Shaka's bar in Cerritos on Friday night. Cerritos is about 15 minutes from Todo Santos, and on our way. We had lunch at Shaka's, a classic funky surfer bar, and hung out. We arrived at our Airbnb before 3 pm and moved in. The road is rough, but the place is nice. The house is decorated in Mexican style, with decorative tile; the owner is a silversmith. The house is almost at the top of the hill; the deck has a great view of the town and mountains. Sandi and I are in the upstairs bedroom. We decided to head to town, and had dinner at Miguel's restaurant. After dinner we shopped at El Sol Supermarket.

Friday we headed to town to go shopping. After a couple of stops, we drove and found Tacos y Mariscos El Sinaloense, where we had tacos, margaritas and beer. After lunch, we found Bodegas Lizarraga, with a good selection of vegetables. We bought shrinp and fish out of the back of a truck across the street, and headed back home. We left the house about 5:45 to drive to Shaka's in daylight, and had dinner there.

The music at Shaka's was a blast from the past,, and started at 7 PM, perhaps keeping in mind the age of the audience. Most of the people there were senior citizens, including the musicians. The music was from our youth. Dave Stone, the musician we met in Cabo, is 69 years old, still rocking, playing the keyboard and singing. His guitar player was about the same age. There were people dancing, and Sandi and I got on the dance floor towards the end of the first set. We carefully drove home in the dark.

Saturday, we drove to the Hotel California for lunch. The story is that the Eagles song of the same name refers to this hotel, but the hotel website denies it. The Hotel is a boutique hotel.  The magazine is from our local REA, which publishes photos of  folks holding their magazine in interesting places.   

Sandi and I walked around the town, looking for shoes and scoping out the stores. Sandi bought artisanal cocoa from a tiny shop. There was a kind of tree in one shopping area, with many anonymous wishes on cards hanging from the tree. Sandi and Pam fixed a nice shrimp dinner. We had seen posters advertising a music festival, with a preview performance at La Morena bar; Richard went down to check it out and learn more about the festival.

We discovered that we are exactly on the Tropic of Cancer, which is 23.4363 degrees north of the equator. The upper deck of the house is 23.4368 degrees north, according to my phone. The road is 23.4365, so the tropic of cancer runs through the yard of the house across the street. Our altitude is 163 feet. To define the Tropic of cancer, it is the northernmost lattitude at which the sun is directly overhead, generally on June 20^th.

Sunday we went to the noon mass in downtown Todos Santos. It was well attended, with an enthusiastic choir. At the end of mass, the priest explained how the new bishop and the old bishop would share the job for three years, and that there would be a big ceremony in the stadium in La Paz for the ordination of the new bishop. All were encouraged to attend the ordination. We had a tasty lunch at Catrina Cantina, with garlic fish that all agreed was outstanding.

We headed north to the nonprofit which releases sea turtles, Tortugero Las Playitas.. They patrol the beach, gather the eggs, and then incubate them in the sand under a kind of greenhouse or hoop house. The Tropic of Cancer is as far north as the turtles lay their eggs, and some do not hatch here without help. They released the tiny black turtles near the water, and they crawled towards the water until a wave carried them out to sea. This time of year, some turtles hatch every day.

Monday we headed downtown to shop; we found tourist items, expensive clothes, and many beautiful things. The ladies bought T-shirts for grandkids, Richard bought sandals, David bought a hat, and we hit mostly the shops north of the church. The sidewalks were challenging to walk, as the town is not flat, and the sidewalks vary a lot. Lunch was at the restaurant Tre Galline, which is Italian for three hens, and was excellent. We dropped off laundry to pick up Wednesday. The ladies cooked fish for dinner.

Tuesday Sandi and Richard went out to visit shops north of the church. Sandi bought some earrings from a silversmithing shop run by a silversmithing family. Her grandmother appeared in a Mexican Silversmithing book. We chatted with a sculptor who had some very nice work in various media. We had huevos rancheros at Tre Galline. We did some grocery shopping, and then came home to pick up Pam and Dave for our cooking lesson at Hablando Mexicano. 

Victoria, the instructor, spoke little English; Richard translated as required. She started with ceviche made with marlin that her father had caught. It takes lots of lemons to make ceviche. We had poblano chiles sliced in thin strips, cooked in light cream, with blue corn tortillas mixed and flattened by hand. She cooked over a hardwood fire. We all had a good time, and the food was excellent.

  

We have to show the dogs who hung around our house.  They were never a problem, except when you had to step over them......

Wednesday we went to Cerritos Beach Club for lunch. Manuel, our waiter, brought a chalkboard to our table with the menu written on it. We enjoyed being next to the water. We drove through Pescadero, which had a commercial district and modest houses. Pescadero is on the east side of the main road, the Carretera Transpenninsular.

Los Cabos

The drama on this trip started days before we left the house. We had booked flights on Southwest Airlines, but Southwest operations had a dramatic meltdown at Christmas, with thousands of flights canceled. Sandi wanted to rebook on Delta, so we did. The schedule was less convenient, but we figured it was a safer bet. Our flight 

 Delta was very early, so we decided to book a room at the airport. As we were pulling into the Hilton Garden Inn parking lot, Delta sent Sandi a message saying that weather was likely to disrupt flights in Salt Lake City, where we were going to change planes. They offered to let us cancel or change our reservation with no fee. Sandi said that in all the years she had been flying on Delta, she had only received a message like that once before. When we got into the hotel room, we decided to try to rebook on Southwest! We were able to get the original flights, for the same money. All in all, a 360 degree turn, before we got to the airport......

Tuesday morning we got on the airport shuttle at 6, waited 30 minutes to check our bags, and headed for the bridge looking for shorter lines; the airport guide sent us to the priority line, and we almost felt guilty bypassing the folks standing in line. Sandy talked to the attendant at the gate, and he volunteered to let us board early, since my hip surgery is recent. The Southwest employees seemed cheerful enough, having survived the meltdown. One of the flight attendants was not quite in uniform, with black tights with big red hearts, and a toy sombrero on her head. We arrived in Cabo on time, but had a long line at immigration. We picked up an X-trail SUV at Enterprise, and headed for our hotel in Cabo San Lucas. The hotel was modest but clean. We decided to head to Mare Nostrum for dinner; it is within the very fancy Pueblo Bonito hotel. The Mare Nostrum was not open that early, so we ate outside off the pool menu, burgers and burritos. The view of the harbor and the rocks at the cape was fabulous. Our waiter was funny and very attentive, and gave us some sweets. We were all tired after dinner, and headed back to the hotel. Sandi and I walked a few blocks to a small Supermarket, and stocked up on water and yogurt.

Wednesday we went two blocks to Wachinango restaurant. Wachinango being a play on the word Huachinango, which refers to a fish. The restaurant was full of funny posters and signs. I particularly liked the satire of a scandal newspaper, referring to the singer Paquita del Barrio, who revealed the secret that Trump was her son.....

Sandi and Richard with the famous Arco de los Cabos in the background

Mama whale and calf

After breakfast we were picked up in a van to go on our Pezgato whale watching tour. The tour was on a 50 foot sailing trimeran, although they never raised the sails. Getting in and out of the marina, the boat traffic was very heavy; the captain had to be very attentive. With one motor, and a fixed propeller, maneuvering is not easy. We paused at the rock formation, El Arco del Cabo, passing the Playa de Amor, and later the Playa de Divorcio. We did get to see humpback whales, including a young calf. Richard enjoyed chatting with the crew in Spanish. The crew was very attentive, and we all had a good time. 

 We went back to the hotel, and then headed to El Metate restaurant for an early dinner. The restaurant was out of town, in an industrial area, far from the bars. The ambiance was simple but elegant, basically outdoors. The food was inventive Mexican food. Victor is the manager, and Daniel was our waiter. The food was excellent, as were the margaritas; Victor shared the margarita recipe. We watched a group making margaritas as part of a cooking class. Sandi was surprised to see a rattlesnake in the mezcal, and a scorpion in the tequila bottle.