After having rafted through the Grand Canyon, we weren't sure how the scenery would stack up, but it certainly exceeded our expectations. Beautiful wild-west vistas, with buttes, mesas and mountains wherever you looked, and numerous fantastic side canyons for hiking. The canoes, mandatory toilet, and water jugs were rented from Tex's. All the other equipment was ours. Tex's shuttled us to our put-in at Mineral Bottom. From there we floated about 50 miles to the confluence with the Colorado River, just above Spanish Bottom, where Tex's picked us up with a jet boat and ferried us back up the Colorado to Moab. There are no rapids on this stretch of the Green, but the water was at peak spring flow, so there was a great 5/mph current which made paddling almost optional. We could have done the trip in three days, but our leisurely itinerary allowed plenty of time for hiking the side canyons, which is often more fun than the canoeing.

Our campsites:

Camp 1 / May 31 - Horsethief Canyon
Camp 2 / June 1 - Millard Canyon
Camps 3,4 / June 2, 3 - Unknown Bottom
Camp 5 / June 4 - Deadhorse Canyon
Camp 6 / June 5 - Water Canyon

 

Please email me with any corrections, additions, or comments
(sperrin@umich.edu)