Retro River Rafting through Desolation Canyon with Roy Webb

Sample Itinerary

The day before your trip:

There are a few considerations when planning your arrival in Green River, Utah ahead of your Retro Rafting trip departure. If you have any bulky gear beyond our standard large and small river bags, please drop that and any personal beverages off at our warehouse no later than 1:00pm Mountain Time the day before your departure.  The scenic flight to our remote put-in, while striking, has logistical capacity limitations for baggage. Rest assured your belongings will be safely shuttled to the put in with your river guides.

Regardless of dropping off extra items, please plan to attend the pre-trip meeting at our Green River warehouse at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time. A Holiday guide will provide you with waterproof bags, and give a brief orientation on how to pack and prepare for the flight. This is also a great time to pick up any last minute items from our store (here is our packing checklist to see what we carry).

Day 1:

Please arrive promptly the morning of your trip at the time established during the pre-trip meeting the night prior. We’ll take vans for the 15 minute drive to Green River’s small airstrip. You’ll travel in small, four- to nine-passenger planes, and get a good view of the Green River as we fly over the Tavaputs Plateau and Desolation Canyon. It’s about a 35-minute flight. Your guides will be waiting for you at the airstrip, and will lead you on the first hike of the trip, a 45-minute descent to the rafts waiting at Sand Wash boat ramp. If you’re not physically up for the hike, the vans carrying your river bags have a few seats to ride down to the put in. Once we’re all settled on the boats the river trip begins! Watch as the canyon walls gradually rise up around you as cliff swallows explode out of their nests. Take a short hike to see a turtle fossil or petroglyphs, and make camp on a sandbar or in a grove of cottonwood trees.

Day 2:

River days start early, but don’t worry – hot coffee and tea will be ready for you! Take in a few more miles of calm water as we row around a large oxbow with dozens of geologic “amphitheaters” to peer up into. Lighthouse Rock, named by John Wesley Powell, alerts us to the whitewater just around the next river bend. Try out an inflatable kayak and splash through our first rapids. Hike to ancient cultural sites or explore a side canyon.

Day 3:

The rapids continue to come! Take a short stroll through the historic Rock Creek Ranch, where Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch hid from law enforcement. Then get ready for some of the larger rapids of the trip such as Chandler Falls and the biggest of them all, Cow Swim. Forged from a flash flood in 2008, this rapid will be new to any “retro” river-runners indeed.

Day 4:

Desolation’s walls deepen, red and rugged coming up out of the earth; a colorful finale as we transition into Gray Canyon. Today brings even more fun whitewater with Wire Fence, Three Fords, and Coal Creek rapids. Look for evidence of a planned dam site on the hike to scout Coal Creek Rapid, and check out the ruins of a surveyor’s cabin just downstream. Settle in on a large, sandy beach for our last night on the river. Dinner will certainly not disappoint tonight!

Day 5:

With a variety of rapids still to come, spend the last day listening to the song of the canyon wren as we approach the end of the canyon. We’ll have lunch and maybe squeeze in one more interpretive stop before arriving at the take out at Swasey’s Beach. We will return you to Green River, Utah (via a 20-minute van ride); our expected time of arrival back at our headquarters is 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

As mentioned earlier, 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. It could also be exactly what you do. Keep an open mind, be flexible, go with the flow, and enjoy rafting Desolation Canyon!