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.
