Desolation Canyon Stargazing

Plan to arrive in Green River, Utah, one day before your trip in order to attend a pre-trip meeting at 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time). We’ll go through a brief orientation to prepare you for life on the river, give you your waterproof bags, answer any last questions, and let you know what time to meet for your flight the next morning. Our store will be open if you need to purchase last minute items (please look at our packing checklist for a list of items you can find at our store).

Special note: due to the limited space and weight limits on the aircraft, please plan to bring any specialty sodas, beer, wine, or other extra heavy or bulky items to our headquarters by 1:00 p.m. the day before your trip.

Please arrive promptly at the time established at last night’s pre-trip meeting. We’ll drive you out to the local airstrip to meet your pilots and prepare for your flight to the boat ramp. It’s approximately 30 minutes from Green River to Sand Wash, along the same route you’ll be floating for the next several days. Your guides will meet you at the landing strip, and will lead you on a gorgeous 45-min downhill hike to the river. Be sure to wear appropriate shoes for the hike. Guests who are unable to hike can ride to the boat ramp in one of our vans. We’ll push off into the lazy currents of upper Desolation; imagine you are one of John Wesley Powell’s boatmen, seeing this region for the first time, with no idea what to expect around each new corner. We’ll settle in to camp that night and treasure the rare experience of watching darkness fall in the absence of light pollution.

Wake to the sounds of canyon wrens and your guides calling you to coffee and breakfast. Take advantage of the morning calm to paddle an inflatable kayak. We’ll run our first rapids today as we drop deeper into the canyon. Check out a cultural site and wonder at the story told by the images carved in stone. At night, listen to star stories and learn how to find the rising summer constellations such as Cygnus and Lyra.

Start the day enjoying some fresh eggs cooked to order and get ready for some good whitewater! Today we’ll pass through the deepest part of Desolation Canyon: over 5,000 feet from river to rim! Enjoy a tour of the historic Rock Creek Ranch, where Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch rested their horses and bootleggers traded moonshine for apricots. Camp will offer the opportunity to hike around an abandoned meander or up to a spectacular overlook.

Today we’ll encounter several exciting rapids. We’ll scout one of the wildest rapids in the canyon, Cow Swim. Created by a flash flood in 2008, Cow Swim is an exciting reminder that geology is happening continuously. Look high on the cliffs for McPherson’s Elephant Arch. Settle in at camp for another evening of stargazing.

This morning, we’ll pass out of Desolation Canyon and into Gray Canyon, a dramatic transition made even more exciting by Wire Fence and Three Fords rapids. The afternoon will bring one final rapid to scout, Coal Creek. After an exciting day on the water, hike along a side canyon and examine mineral deposits seeping out of the canyon walls, or lounge on the beach before one last gourmet dinner and dark, starry night on the river.

We will run a half dozen more rapids before lunch and then take out at the end of the canyon, near Swasey’s Beach. We’ll load boats onto trailers and take you for one last ride, 20 minutes down the road to our headquarters in Green River, for an anticipated return time of 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Wilderness river trips are changeable by nature. Please understand that this is only a sample itinerary, intended to give an idea of how your time will be spent on the river. You may have the opportunity to do all of the above activities, or you may have a variety of other memorable and exciting experiences. We encourage you to arrive with an open mind, a flexible attitude, and an appetite for adventure! Read more about why Desolation is the best place for going with the flow.