Colorado River Music Trip with Spencer and Friends

Sample Itinerary

The night before your trip:

You will meet at our Green River, Utah, warehouse for a 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time pre-trip meeting. Your guides will give you waterproof bags and offer some tips on how best to pack them. You will have time to purchase last minute items from our store (look over our packing checklist for a list of such items). Please consider dropping off any personal beverages (specialty sodas, beer, wine, etc.) at this time so that we can pack them into our coolers.

Day 1:

We’ll meet you back at our Green River headquarters in the morning at the time determined during the pre-trip meeting. It’s a 90-minute ride to the put-in. A brief orientation to the rafts and small crafts and then it’s time to see what awaits us downstream! Hop in an inflatable kayak or onto a stand-up paddle board (SUP) for some exercise, or settle in on a raft. We’ll lunch on a sandbar and maybe take a short afternoon hike to an exposed petrified wood boneyard. Look up high to wave to visitors at Dead Horse Point State Park. Settle in to camp on one of the Colorado River’s many giant, sandy beaches and enjoy the first of five nights filled with music and laughter.

Day 2:

Morning sun makes the walls glow extra golden. Listen for the descending song of the canyon wren, or paddle your SUP along the shore in search of otters and great blue herons. The Colorado meanders peacefully in this section. Swim alongside the rafts or lounge under an umbrella; the afternoon may provide the opportunity to hike to thousand-year-old rock structures built by the Fremont Culture. On these long flat stretches you might get the opportunity to enjoy a Spencer and Friends music party barge while the guides float you serenely down river.

Day 3:

As we continue downstream, keep your eyes scanning the cliff walls to identify ancient food storage structures called granaries. The morning will be our last bit of calm water for a while. We’ll reach the confluence where the Green River joins the Colorado; a spot some cultures believe to be the center of the universe. Buckle up your PFD to swim through the line where the two rivers intermingle. Cast your gaze to the canyon rim where you’ll see a dramatic collection of freestanding sandstone columns known as the Doll House. This is one of the most remote regions of the Maze District of Canyonlands. Just around the river bend, rapids await us! Run rapid 1, Brown Betty, and then we may stop for camp on a giant sandy beach.

Day 4:

Wake to the sound of nature’s white noise machine: rapids! After a hearty breakfast, we’ll review whitewater safety, snug up our PFDs, and prepare to get splashed. We’ll stop and scout a few of the biggest rapids, giving plenty of time for the suspense to build. Hold on tight for the Big Drops: Little Niagara and Satan’s Gut! We may stop and look at some historic inscriptions or explore one of the many side canyons. We’ll roll into our camp for the night, and celebrate our successful runs with a riverside feast. Although more rapids await us tomorrow, we’ve officially transitioned from Cataract Canyon into Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Hear from the guides about this section of river, which is in constant flux these days, and then kick back to listen to Spence and Friends, perhaps they’ll even share some songs that capture the specialness of where we rest tonight.

Day 5:

As we wave goodbye to our camp, turn your eyes downstream. Imperial rapid, a guide favorite, awaits us with morning splashes! These lower canyon rapids are frequently changing; your guide may have stories about how they’ve even changed in the past year! After a few more splashes, we’ll pass through Gypsum Rapid and enter Narrow Canyon. Side hikes are aplenty around here, and we may spend the afternoon hiking and climbing up any number of special canyons. Once buried under the high waters of Lake Powell, as the reservoir water level drops, buried treasures are uncovered. Settle in for one last magical night of music on the river.

Day 6:

With calm waters again the canyon walls rise, smooth and majestic. This section of canyon is variably – when the reservoir level is high, we’re on a lake. And yet, when the reservoir level is low, as it has been recently, the Colorado River current remains strong. Depending on the reservoir level, we may get an assist from our “Seldom Seen” motorboat. We’ll float under the Hite Narrows Bridge and pull over just beyond the mouth of the Dirty Devil River. A two-hour drive brings us back to Green River. Our expected time of arrival back at our headquarters is from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Wilderness river trips are changeable by nature. Please understand that this is only a sample itinerary. You may have the opportunity to do all of the above activities, or you may have a variety of other memorable and exciting experiences. Holiday’s motto is “Go With the Flow,” and we encourage you to arrive with an open mind, a flexible attitude, and an appetite for adventure!