Women’s Whitewater Rafting, Yoga & Music Trip in Lodore Canyon

Plan to arrive at our headquarters in Vernal, Utah, at 7:00 p.m., Mountain Time, for a pre-trip orientation meeting. We’ll give you waterproof bags, show you how to pack them, collect your personal drinks, and give you time to shop for last minute items from our store (be sure to see our packing checklist for items we carry).

The next morning, we start with a three-hour ride through rolling sagebrush and mountain landscape to Brown’s Park National Wildlife Refuge and the put-in. After loading the boats, we’ll float through the Gates of Lodore and search out a lunch spot.

After lunch, our first significant rapid of the trip awaits us! After a quick scout, we’ll cheer our way through Disaster Falls and row downstream to our camp, deeper into the red, billion-year-old rocks of the canyon. Ease into your first night of camping with a gentle sunset stretching session and our first riverside concert.

We are now deep inside the Uinta Mountains. Your yoga instructor might invite you to salute the sun as it begins to descend the canyon walls. Your guide might ask you to consider why the river has cut through the mountains instead of flowing around: a geological puzzle to pass the time.

Today we will run the most technically challenging rapids of the trip, including Hell’s Half Mile. An afternoon hike to a dramatic overlook at Alcove Draw will help you work up an appetite for fajita night and maybe a little dancing to some familiar tunes.

We’ll float out of Lodore Canyon and into Echo Park, where the Yampa River flows into the Green and you can test the different water temperatures of the free-flowing Yampa and the dam-controlled Green. Swim in the calm water around Steamboat Rock and then prepare for more rapids as we enter Whirlpool Canyon.

Spend the afternoon hiking, yoga-ing, meditating, fishing, or big horn sheep–spotting at Jones Hole, a riparian gem in the middle of the arid landscape. Enjoy the final evening riverside concert.

The last morning may include a silent, meditative float on the flat water of Island and Rainbow parks. Raptors can often be seen perched in the giant cottonwood trees on the island beaches. Split Mountain looms on the horizon, our last taste of adrenaline before the take-out. We’ll have lunch and enjoy another hour of precious river time before arriving at the boat ramp and loading up for the 35-minute ride back to Vernal. We typically arrive at our headquarters at approximately 4:00 p.m.

Please keep in mind that this is a sample itinerary and not an exact description of your trip. The intent is to give a general idea of what your trip may entail. Rest assured, if you’re not doing these things, it’s because you’re doing other amazing things!