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.

Grand Mesa and Black Canyon of the Gunnison

 On Wednesday we packed up the camper and headed east. We saw on and off rain, which became more intense as the day went on. We fueled in Fruita, and headed for downtown Grand Junction, and the Western History museum. It is a modest but professional museum focused on the history of the area. Sandi enjoyed the 1920's dresses. Richard was fascinated by the collection of guns carried by the Sheriffs over the years. The early sheriffs carried big six shooters; around 1910 they switched to semi-automatic pistols, then to police revolvers, smaller than the six shooters of the past, and finally to Glocks, which the police carry today. So they went from revolvers to semi-automatics to revolvers and then back to semi-automatics, which I might call a 720 degree turn. We were surprised to run into Ron and Judy in the museum; but we were all quite a ways from home. Sandi and I had lunch at the Trails Edge Brewery on Main St. Richard was interested in the public art, found on every corner. We headed east towards Grand Mesa. We did not get very far on highway 65 until we ran into a state police roadblock due to a major accident. We headed back towards Grand Junction, and turned off to Clifton and Delta, in order to get to the Grand Mesa from the other side. The rain kept falling, intensely at times. Richard was tired by the time we arrived, around 6 PM. Perhaps we should have stopped earlier. We found a campsite in Little Bear campground, and camped in the rain. The forecast is for more rain......

On Thursday morning,, we woke up in the clouds. We had rain on and off thoughout the day, but we did see some sun. Richard did some fishing in the morning, and Sandi took a walk. The campground host saw Richard, and we paid $20 for two nights, thanks to the senior pass. We walked around the area, and found the Island Lake campground, and the boat ramp. Sandi liked the water gushing down the rocks below the dam. We headed over to the nice visitor center, where Rocky Mountain Conservancy assists the forest service with staffing. We were also able to check email using their WIFI. We took a drive to Mesa Lakes, looking for moose, but they did not show. 

We drove out along the edge of the mesa to Land's End, which had a spectacular view, including Grand Junction and the Manti-La Sal mountains. We saw a Steller's Jay and some Clark Nutcrackers. We saw a lot of cows, and stopped at an old cowboy camp. We came back, and Richard did some fishing while Sandi fixed a good dinner. Richard fished after dinner as well, but no luck. Richard did some research, and concluded that we could fuel and dump in Delta. Our plan is to drive to the campground at Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, and then drive to Montrose to see the Ute museum.

1800 feet down

On Friday, we headed down from the mesa to Delta, where we bought fuel and dumped. Sandi suggested that we go directly to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, to arrive early to get a campsite. Most of the sites are reservable, but one loop is first come first serve. We picked a campsite that looked good, but the person who was there the night before showed up with a new stub for today, so we kept looking. We ended up in a site that was tight, but workable; it took a while to get the rig in. We learned that there was a Hispanic event at the Ute Museum on Saturday, so we decided not to go on Friday, and headed for the park Visitor Center. We caught a talk on earth-like planets in other solar systems. We drove the rim road, stopped at overlooks, and chatted with other visitors. We returned about 5 PM, and Sandi cooked dinner on the grille. We walked over to the ampitheatre, and set up our chairs in the back. The place filled up gradually. The speaker was talking about dark skies and lighting, urging us to minimize outside lighting, and suggesting the blue light was not good for our sleep. They had telescopes set up after the talk, but the lines were long, so we returned to our own picnic table to admire the milky way. The Sky Guide app on Richard's phone let us identify stars and planets.

On Saturday, the skies were blue, and we headed to Montrose for the Culture Fest at the Ute museum. We enjoyed the event very much, and chatted at length with the local community radio station manager, the Spanish teacher who was raising money to send students to Peru, and folks from the local Art Council. We ate ethnic food, including pupusas. The museum was also interesting; we learned about the three Ute Indian tribes, and visited Chipeta's grave. Chipeta was the wife of the great Ute chief Ouray. We attended another sky talk at the ampitheatre that night, showing us constellations.  We left in the middle of the second program of “live” photos of stars.

On Sunday we headed east, stopped in Gunnison for fuel and coffee, and drove over over Monarch Pass. We were headed for the mining museum in Leadville. The museum was more extensive than we had expected, including dioramas, a simulated mine, information about mining, and a gift shop. We spent the most time watching the video tour of the Marble quarry in Marble Colorado, especially since we had recently been to Marble. We stayed until the museum closed, and did not see everything. We then headed for Turquoise Lake, and went to the Matchless campground, which looked like a large parking lot near the lake. We drove through the Silver Dollar campground, but saw nothing that looked good, so we headed back to the parking lot. Our site including a fire pit, a picnic table, and a view of the lake, so not really a bad site. Sandi cooked a good dinner on the fire.

On Monday we had a routine drive home.

Green River

This trip has a couple of purposes. Richard wants to work on his quest to paddle the length of the Green River. One of the sections that he lacks is immediately north and south of Green River Utah, from Swayze's Beach to Crystal Geyser. After that, we will do some touring on the way home, including Grand Mesa and Gunnison Colorado.

On Saturday, we drove to Rifle Gap State Park, which neither of us had ever seen. This is north of the town of Rifle Colorado, the home of the infamous congresswoman Lauren Boebert. Our drive there was routine; we stopped for lunch at Butterhorn Bakery and Cafe in Frisco, where Sandi and Tina the waitress compared notes on motherhood. We got off I-70 at New Castle, and drove Bufford road to the State Park. Once we got off the interstate, the driving was slow. We stayed in Cedar campground; it was nice and quiet. The lake was very low; it is only 360 acres when full, so it looked like a pond.

Sunday morning we got up and drove through Rifle, turning west towards Utah. After the usual gas stop at Loves in Grand Junction, we drove to the state park in Green River Utah. We had just missed the melon festival; there were a few floats around from the parade. We bought some melons, and learned how to thump watermelons. The state park campground is a green oasis in the desert, next to a golf course. We went to mass at the tiny Catholic mission church, where we were the only visitors, and one of the few who were not native Spanish speakers. The young priest from India greeted us warmly, and preached enthusiastically in Spanish. (Summary of the homily: Give alms). We ate at the popular food truck parked in the old gas station,Tacos La Pasadita. There was a line to order the entire time that we were there; it has five stars on Yelp, out of 568 reviews. We drove north out of the city to check out the paddle put in and take out.

On Monday we got up early, and drove to Swayzes boat ramp, north of the town of Green River. Richard got on the water at 8:45. The first challenge was the dam; there was a boat chute, and Richard ran it in his canoe, probably class II. At one point he stopped to go to the bathroom and ended up in boot sucking mud, where he fell and got pretty muddy. The float was straightforward otherwise, with farmlands on both sides, and water pumps sucking water out of the river. We had originally planned to get out north of town, but everything was going well; he continued to the state park where we are staying, arriving around 12:30. This was the first real trip in this particular canoe; it worked fine. He worked to rinse some of the mud off the canoe, and Sandi picked up Richard at the boat ramp. Richard worked to resolve an issue with the trailer lights, and was successful, after a few trips to the hardware store. We drove to Crystal Geyser, the take out for Tuesday, and were lucky enough to see the geyser gushing. This is a rare cold water geyser powered by carbon dioxide; the water is heavy in minerals. We had celebratory burgers and beer at Ray's Tavern, a traditional stop after multi-day river trips.

On Tuesday, we drove the a few hundred yards to the boat ramp, and Richard put in. This was a short distance, perhaps 4 miles. He was only on the water about two hours. Sandi drove the truck over the dirt roads, which included BLM 325 – Area 51, to reach Crystal Geyser. We loaded up the boat, went back to the campground, washed the mud off the boat and Richard, and put the canoe back on the truck. We drove next to the town library, where Richard sent off some emails, and we met someone from Nebraska, driving a van with a peace and love license plate. He was a character, who had worked on the Delta Queen riverboat, as well as cruise ships, and described himself as a philosopher/theologian.

After the library we went to the John Wesley Powell museum, where we learned more about Powell and the local history. Sandi was fascinated by the wooden dories used to run rivers before inflatable boats were widely available. The museum also has a River Runners Hall of Fame, with posters giving the history of the key people in river running in the area. It rained while we were in the museum. Sandi cooked up fajitas, and we went for a walk around the campground. We enjoyed talking to two couples from Quebec, who were on a big road trip with their jeeps with tents on the roof. We finished the evening at a campfire lit by Richard using only one piece of newspaper to ignite the kindling. The forecast for the next few days is wet; there are flood watches out for the entire area for the next two day.