Green River Labyrinth Canyon Stargazing Trip

Join Holiday for a special stargazing and yoga trip in Labyrinth Canyon this summer. Few places on the planet can match the serenity of Labyrinth. This section of the Green River is calm, which makes it ideal for quiet floating or paddling an inflatable kayak or stand-up paddleboard. The scenery, however, will take your breath away. Smooth, massive canyon walls rise out of the river, colored fifteen different shades of red and orange. There are also good hiking opportunities and fascinating historical sites to visit. Yoga instructor Jennifer Gilmore will also be a part of the trip and will offer guided stretching and mindfulness sessions.

This five-day trip gives your mind a chance to unwind from the rush of your life back home. Spend your mornings hiking in a side canyon or to the saddle at Bowknot Bend. While away the afternoons floating through red-rock splendor. And at night, adjust your eyes upwards into the cosmos. We’ll be floating through one of the few remaining pockets of pristine dark sky in the United States. As a result, Labyrinth Canyon is one of the best places for stargazing in Utah. Stretch out on a sandy beach, look up, and let star guide Tom Beckett lead you on an intimate encounter with the universe.

What makes Labyrinth so special? Check out our Insider’s Guide.

Green River, Utah: Things to Do and Places to Explore

Featured Review:

“This was my first commercial raft trip. It was well-planned, and yet spontaneous! The philosophy of being in the moment seemed to be at the heart of everything we did. Our guides offered a morning “quiet float” where we just sat on the rafts and pondered our experience. This was one of my favorite moments. Each evening we were provided an educational moment about the night sky (which was incredible because of the lack of light pollution) and I learned more on those five nights than my previous 35 years of sky watching. The amount of work the guides put into our adventure was astonishing. This company truly gets what it means to have a river “experience,” not just a vacation. Oh, and the food was great!” (Forest Jordan)

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Trip Overview

Type:
Naturalist
Location:
Canyonlands National Park
Length:
5 Days
Dates:
September 11-15, 2023
Meet at:
Green River, UT @ 7:00 pm (night before the trip)
Difficulty:
Beginner
Min. Age:
8
Deposit:
400

Highlights

Camp under some of the highest quality dark sky in Utah
Easy, calm water for inflatable kayaks and stand-up paddle boards
Beautiful, classic red rock canyon country
Unique hiking opportunities in countless side canyons
A rare opportunity to experiece Labyrinth on a fully outfitted trip
A hidden treasure in the heart of the Colorado Plateau

Getting Here Before You Go Packing List FAQs

Rates & Dates

5 Day

Adult:
$1,155
Youth:
18 and under
$1,155
Senior:
65 and older
$1,155
Group:
10 or more
$1,155

Book This Trip
Check Availability

2023

September 11-15

Itinerary

Situated due north of Canyonlands National Park, Labyrinth Canyon guides the Green River gently south through Navajo and Wingate sandstone. Float past the confluence with the San Rafael River and deeper into designated wilderness. This is a calm float through abundant, arid beauty and wide open spaces for night sky viewing. The take out point for Labyrinth is at Mineral Bottom, just a few miles upstream of Stillwater Canyon and the national park boundary.

Sample Itinerary

Please arrive at our headquarters in Green River, Utah, in time to attend a 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) pre-trip orientation meeting. This is when we’ll issue dry bags and collect any drinks you’d like to bring. We’ll go over some of the trip details and answer any questions you have. We’ll also have our warehouse store open for any last minute purchases (see our packing checklist for items you can pick up in Green River).

Day 1:

Meet back at our warehouse bright and early (meeting time will be set at the meeting the night before). Depending on the river’s flow and other factors, we may start our trip just across the bridge at the Green River State Park, or we may travel a bit farther south to put in at the iconic Ruby Ranch.

Days 2–4:

With each mile the surrounding cliffs become more dramatic. Hikes include wandering along the ephemeral stream that flows at the bottom of Three Canyon, and climbing to the saddle of Bowknot Bend, where the river travels in an eight-mile loop only to return to within 100 yards of where it started. Check out historic inscriptions in several places. Find markings left by Norm Nevills, Buzz Holmstrom, the Kolb brothers, and the elusive French-Canadian fur trapper, Denis Julien. Each night we’ll turn our gazes upward and listen to stories about the constellations and use binoculars and a laser pointer to find the Andromeda Galaxy and build a mental map in the sky.

Day 5:

Enjoy one last morning of coffee and breakfast on the river. We’ll float the last handful of miles to the take out at Mineral Bottom, with one more stop for a short hike at Hell Roaring Canyon. The drive out of the canyon from Mineral Bottom is absolutely spectacular, as we climb up a series of steep switchbacks that were literally carved out of the canyon wall! We’ll aim to be back at our Green River warehouse between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m.

Or: consider extending your trip! Instead of departing the river at Mineral Bottom, join the Stillwater and Cataract Canyon stargazing trip and just keep floating.

Please keep in mind that this is a sample itinerary and may not be the exact trip you will experience. You may go on different hikes and explore slightly different parts of the canyon. This is just meant to give an idea of what the trip will be like. It could also be exactly what you do. Keep an open mind, be flexible, go with the flow, and enjoy!

One of the advantages of a river trip is the flexibility of the daily itinerary. It can vary widely from one trip to the next based on group desires, campsite availability, Mother Nature, and courtesy for other groups on the river. This sample itinerary illustrates a trip through Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River: one of the most spectacular canyons within the Colorado Plateau!

Reviews

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Holiday River Expeditions

Average rating:

6 reviews

Marlena Lambert

Oct 5, 2021

by Marlena Lambert

The guides all went above and beyond the call of duty with regard to accommodating my various food sensitivities. They were incredibly thoughtful and pretty much checked in with me before every meal about what was going to be served and how best to meet my dietary needs. I was really, really, REALLY impressed. Really. Wow. Holiday has always had great crews but I never imagined how great....now the bar is set pretty high!

The crew was incredibly accommodating to the various wants and needs of the entire group of 20 diverse people. The addition of Tom's astronomical knowledge was better than chocolate (and that is saying a lot, IMHO). Their thoughtfulness about every little detail was impressive, from who had what food sensitivity to the best sightlines for the bano. Just WOW. (Insert Susan's "wow" facial expression here!) Thanks ever so much.

David and Jill Held

Oct 5, 2021

by David and Jill Held

The Stargazing Labyrinth Green River trip far exceeded my expectations. The trip leader and guides were so helpful and knowledgeable of the history and geology of the area. They worked incredibly HARD to make sure everyone was comfortable, well-fed, and taken care of. Everyone in the group was friendly. The addition of a yoga instructor and Tom the astronomer was an added plus to the trip. Tom taught the group so much about the universe in which we live. Need I say the stars at night were phenomenal. A special shout out to Susan, our trip leader, who was a powerhouse in organizing the trip and helping our family ensure we had a great time.

Bill Rawsky

Nov 5, 2018

by Bill Rawsky

We were with Bonnie Carol's Moons & Tunes on June 8-12 Don't know how you could have done anything better - great trip! This was our first raft trip, so we didn't know what to expect. We were absolutely thrilled with all aspects of the trip. Our guides were knowledgeable, professional and fun, as well as being awesome cooks! It was a great experience. Thanks, Holiday!

Pam Graham

Nov 5, 2018

by Pam Graham

Bonnie Carol does a great job of organizing trips Guides were excellent. Susan did an excellent job leading the trip. Everyone was wonderful dealing with my 8 yr old granddaughter. She loved them. I appreciated all the women on the team for the 3 girls

Max Krimmel

Nov 5, 2018

by Max Krimmel

I can’t promise you’ll rise before sun up just to see the first light on the canyon walls. I can’t promise you’ll hike further up a side canyon than even your guides have ever been, then slide through a rapid like cream cheese on a bagel. I can’t promise a storm so thick you can’t see the other boats, with hail so hard it hurts and enough water to bring cascades free falling hundreds of feet from the canyon rim to the canyon floor, then fill a wash, that hasn’t felt water in years, to bank full. I can’t promise the sun will break through or a rainbow downstream. I can’t promise you Ravens, Hawks, Herons, Eagles, Avocets, Otters, Beaver, Bobcats, Big Horn, Bears, and Mountain Lions or even their tracks. I can’t promise a camp of camaraderie, laughter and praise for a day well spent. I can’t promise you’ll fall asleep to a chorus of frogs and cicadas under a sky so dark you can see Andromeda, only to awake in a few hours to see the moonlight creep down the sides of the canyon just as the sunlight did so long, long ago.

No, I can’t promise you’ll experience any of this. But I can promise if you don’t go, you won’t experience it. So the main thing is -

You’ve got to go.

Max Krimmel - Moons and Tunes

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