Paddling the Upper Green River in Wyoming

I continue to work on my quest to paddle the length of the Green River.   In 2023, Dave and I paddled from Green River Lakes, in the Wind River mountains, to the Forest Boundary.   This year, Dave and I planned to paddle 80 miles, from the forest boundary to the Big Piney Cutoff.   Dave is a part time resident of Pinedale; these paddles are not far from Pinedale Wyoming.   

The drive up was routine, through Laramie and Rock Springs. I did stop at Farson at the general store, which claims to be famous for ice cream; they made me a big root beer float. I went to mass in Pinedale, with a Asian priest, who is very enthusiastic. I grabbed a sandwich to go after mass. I then drove up the Warren Bridge Road to Warren Bridge campsite number 12,  which is quite a good campsite. Dave had been set up with his trailer for hours. He had also run some of the rapids which we would do on Monday.

I had a cold night in my summer sleeping bag.

Sunday, we got up early and drove quite some distance to the national Forest Boundry. Even after the drive, we launched at 8 AM, which we thought was good. Somehow I managed to flip my boat on some flat water. Not sure how that happened. Perhaps a lapse of attention. Dave pushed my boat to shore. I managed to continue paddling, despite being wet and cold. It helped to have a rain jacket. Later, I stopped and took off some of my wet clothes. The dry pants that were in my semi-dry bag were not dry, so I put the other pants back on, which had dried a little bit.

Beaver swimming.  I was surprised it did not dive.

The wildlife was fairly impressive during the day. We saw a moose, quite a few elk, a few Antelope, a pair of Trumpeter swans and a couple of beavers. We saw no one else on the water, and only a handfull on land.

We continued on and reached the halfway point a little after 10 o’clock, despite the delays associated with my mishap. The high water meant that the current was pushing us along rapidly. I arrived at our camp at about 12:30; Dave had decided to explore a site channel not far from our camp, so he was behind me.

Dave was nice enough to loan me an old sleeping bag as a comforter, so I would not have to sleep cold..

Monday  we put in at our campsite. There were some rapids and one class 2+ rapid. I flipped when I hit a rock, and inexplicably flipped when I was in a calm eddy arranging my stuff. I think our average speed that day was about 4 1/2 miles an hour, the river was really moving. We moved to Warren Bridge campsite in the afternoon. We helped a lady with an electrical problem with her RV.

Lots of cattle

Tuesday we put in at Warren Bridge Campground, intending to paddle as far as Daniel. We got there at noon because of the strong current; we were going 6 mph! I decided to continue alone, with Dave picking me up down the river. I stopped at the wrong bridge, and met a polite rancher who chatted for a bit and then informed me that I was on private property. He also informed me that this was not the county road that I thought it was. So I apologized and got back on the water. I ended up taking out at Huston, making it a 30 mile day, probably the most mileage that I have ever paddled in one day.  I was happy not to have flipped. Our moving average was 6 mph! The day was notable for more moose than I could count, including a baby moose.

I had found what looked like a grave near our campsite, so I went to ask the campground host about it. He didn’t know anything about it, and he called his boss, who didn’t know anything about it either. His boss came out with a camera to take a photograph; they’re going to send the archaeologist out. Apparently their practice when they find a grave is to fence it off, which makes sense.

Wind River Range

Wednesday was a short day, from Huston to Sommers, only 5.7 miles, which took us less than one hour.  We decided to treat the rest of the day as a rest day.  Dave headed to Pinedale to do some work on the yard at his cabin.   I headed to Pinedale for shopping and lunch, and then back to the campground.

One of the many moose we saw

Thursday we put in at Sommers at 9 AM.  Sommers is an historic ranch with visiting hours.  We continued to see moose, more than we could easily count, including three baby moose.  We admired an Osprey soaring overhead. The river continued to be very fast; we covered 20 miles in 3.5 hours.  The take out is on the Big Piney cutoff road; it is unmarked, with a primitive boat ramp.

Friday morning we packed up camp and headed for Pinedale.  I bought Dave breakfast at the Heart and Soul cafe, and headed for Rock Springs, then Laramie, and home to Fort Collins.

It was a good trip, with cool wildlife.  Dave is a good paddle partner, and I want to thank him for his help with my quest.