Pompe n’ Honey on the Yampa River

The night before your trip: Please plan to arrive at our headquarters in Vernal, Utah, at 7:00 p.m., Mountain Time for a brief pre-trip orientation meeting. You’ll pick up your waterproof bags and learn how the pros pack them. The pre-trip meeting is also a great time to buy any last minute items from our small on-site store (see our packing checklist for items you can find at our store).

We’ll meet back our Vernal headquarters early in the morning, packed and ready to go, allowing us a quick start! From Vernal, it’s a 90-minute van ride to our put-in at Deerlodge Park in Colorado. After preparing the rafts and giving an orientation, we’ll push off and begin our transition to “river time”. We’ll enter Yampa Canyon almost immediately, and encounter several playful, splashy rapids. Lunch may be on a beach near a historic cabin used by horse wranglers.

After some more fun, swift river miles, we’ll pull over for camp. You’ll learn how to help fire line bags from the boats, before choosing your campsite for the night. Convene around the campfire for our first night of live music.

River mornings get started early! But don’t worry, the guides will have coffee, tea, or hot chocolate fired up to help get everyone moving. Before packing up camp, we’ll enjoy a hot breakfast and hear the itinerary for the day. Once the boats are loaded up, we’ll begin our float downstream, most likely starting off with a bang with Teepee Rapid, the first Class III of the trip. Try your hand at paddling the inflatable kayak through Little Joe Rapid and Five Springs Rapid before lunch.

There may be a big hike to an incredible canyon overlook in the afternoon, or you can decide to relax at camp and unwind with a good book. The guides will cook up another gourmet feast before we all settle in for an evening of more live music and stargazing.

After another delicious breakfast, we’ll break down camp, load up the boats, and float downstream. We’ll may stop to hike up to a wide cave for a morning concert from our amazing musicians. Follow the river’s entrenched meanders past the spawning grounds for the Colorado Pikeminnow, and below the impressive 1,200-foot Grand Overhang. Watch for the swooping of hunting peregrine falcons that nest on the canyon rim. Count bighorn sheep as they come to the river’s edge to drink, or dance their way along the cliffs. Carefully kiss the Tiger Wall: one smooch will bring good luck for your run through Warm Springs Rapid, the biggest of the trip.

This morning, we choose to may experience a silent float as we approach the confluence with the Green River at Echo Park, a lovely setting for another morning concert. Silent floats are a wonderful way to activate all your senses and become one with this magical place.

The geology changes drastically as we float through the dramatic Mitten Park Fault and into the bedrock of Whirlpool Canyon. Spend the afternoon at the oasis that is Jones Hole Creek, with fishing, hiking, petroglyphs, bighorn sheep, and waterfalls! One more campfire concert awaits us at camp, and we may have a costume dress-up night!

Choose to paddle an inflatable kayak through the last several rapids of Whirpool Canyon or the few miles of calm water in Island Park. Here, the river makes a sharp left turn and cuts its way into the aptly named Split Mountain Canyon. The river drops an average of almost 20 feet per mile for these last eight miles, which is full of swift water and fun rapids such as Moonshine and SOB. We’ll pause for lunch before finally arriving at the boat ramp.

After the boats are loaded up, we’ll then transport you the final 25 minutes back to our warehouse in Vernal. We typically arrive back at our headquarters around 4:00 p.m.

Please note that this is a sample itinerary, not an exact description of your trip ahead. Our goal is to give you an overview of what the trip may be like. We invite you to embrace the inherent flexibility of a wilderness river trip and come ready to have fun and go with the flow!