Yampa River Stargazing & Rafting Trip

Sample Itinerary

The night before your trip: Please meet at Holiday’s headquarters in Vernal, Utah, at 7:00 p.m., Mountain Time for a brief pre-trip orientation meeting. During this time, you’ll pick up your waterproof bags and learn how to pack them. The pre-trip meeting is also the time to buy any last minute items from our on-site store (see our packing checklist for items you can find at our store). You’ll meet some of your guides and have the opportunity to ask any immediate logistical questions. But don’t worry – there will be plenty of time on the river to learn the ins and outs of river life!

Day 1:

Return back to Holiday’s headquarters in Vernal, Utah early in the morning to load your gear into the boats and hit the road! The 90-minute drive to the put in at Deerlodge Park in Colorado will pass quickly. Watch the spectacle at the boat ramp as your guides efficiently load boats into the water and get ready to welcome you to the river. Once on the river, Yampa Canyon swallows us up, and we’re off! Rapids begin almost immediately: small, but splashy! We’ll pause for lunch along the shore, and set up camp in a grove of juniper trees just above Teepee Rapid. After a scrumptious first dinner on the river, hear from our ‘Star Lord’ about our spot in the Universe, and learn about the rods and cones in our eyes and our nighttime vision.

Day 2:

“Hot coffee (and tea!)!” will be your wake-up call. Hold on tight for Teepee Rapid or challenge yourself to paddle it in an inflatable kayak. We’ll hit several more rapids on our way to lunch, and maybe go for a hike up Starvation Valley, the side canyon that feeds Big Joe, the second big rapid of the trip. Camp tonight at Harding Hole, where the white canyon walls are lower and wider, making for excellent stargazing conditions.

Day 3:

Another gourmet breakfast leads to a gentle float past The Grand Overhang and Cleopatra’s Couch. We may stop for lunch near an archaeological site. In the afternoon, we’ll float past Tiger Wall, a dramatically striped sandstone overhang. They say kissing it brings good luck; just a few miles downstream we’ll run Warm Springs Rapid. In 1965, a massive debris flow from Warm Springs Draw choked the Yampa with boulders, forming the river’s largest rapid. Celebrate our successful passage with a meal of chicken fajitas and homemade sopaipillas! Stick around the camp circle until astronomical twilight and be regaled with stories of constellations!

Day 4:

The Yampa joins the Green River at Echo Park, where the canyon widens and the rivers flow together around Steamboat Rock. Here the river enters Whirlpool Canyon. The afternoon may be spent hiking or lounging at Jones Hole Creek: a blue-ribbon trout stream with side canyon petroglyphs and a waterfall. We’ll camp downstream for one more night of stargazing. Count the stars in the Pleiades through binoculars, or use a telescope to see the rings of Saturn.

Day 5:

Enjoy a peaceful morning in Island and Rainbow parks before the river carries us into yet another massive gorge. The Green’s powerful forces have cut laterally through Split Mountain’s uplifted and colorful core. Rapids come one after the other all the way to the take out. After loading up the boats and gear, it’s a 30-minute ride back to Vernal. Our expected time of arrival back at our headquarters is about 4:00 p.m.

Please note: this is a sample itinerary and should not be thought of as the trip you will experience. It is intended to give an idea of what the trip will be like. Keep an open mind, be flexible, go with the flow, and enjoy!