Adventure 1: Part 2 River Trip

Friday September 7th:
Directly after their adventures in Crawford the group was on their way to Dinosaur National Monument for a four day raft trip. First stop: Grand Junction. They went to REI and then made a stop for lunch/dinner at the note worthy Golden Corral. It is an all you can eat buffet place and the food, you could say, was less then excellent. If remembered correctly, there were even a few people asleep on the floor trying to digest their food so they could eat more.
As they were leaving they passed a Salvation Army and decided that, since the last night on the river was a costume party, they needed costumes. After ravaging through the store everyone was able to come out with some kind of costume. As we were leaving Justin Albee found the perfect C.O.R.E mascot. He’s some kind of donkey… or maybe a dog… but anyway they call him Manwell Jorge Rodriguez. He is C.O.R.E.s 16th member, and if you watch closely you will find him on all of our adventures. He was tied to the hood of the car and then they were off!
So, the group was on the road again and only about an hour away from their destination for the evening they were pulled over for a routine traffic stop. Unfortunately, the lights on the trail were out and only the blinkers and the break lights were working. The officer let them off with a warning and we drove to the nearest camp ground to try and fix the problem. While Albee was hard at work trying to get the lights on the trailer to work correctly the rest of the group practiced their slack line abilities on a thin pipe that circled the campground. Walker and Casey were the ones who made it the farthest. 20 minutes later the group was off again.
They finally pulled into their campground around 11:00pm; the group set up camp and got ready for 4 days on the river.

Saturday September 8th:
Today the grouped helped Adrift Adventures get all their boats situated. Manwell was transferred to the front of Josh’s kayak for the day’s river adventures.
Their take off point was through the Gates of Ladore, the scenery was incredible. A couple of hours later they arrived at their camp ground, Pot Creek 2. They set up their camp, prepared dinner and then relaxed for the evening. The beach was really nice, not too windy, and the stars were amazing!

Sunday September 9th:
The team woke up, ate breakfast, and packed up the boats. They were off for day 2 of their adventure. Today the group prepared themselves for the two roughest rapids that they would see for the entire trip, Triplet and Hell’s Half Mile. They stopped at a nice beach and Mark taught them a very critical skill in desert survival, how to catch a lizard with a piece of grass. After Lizard Lassoing they ate lunch and went on a really cool waterfall hike. For some of them, getting to stand under fresh running water was a life saver (for them and the group, there are some stinky kids!). They got back on their boats and continued towards their final destination for the evening, Wild Mountain. The evening was spent sending problems (a.k.a. rock climbing/bouldering), drumming, and doing nifty tricks off of a little sand dune. Once again it was a great night.

Monday September 10th:
This day was packed FULL of excitement! After breakfast the group got on their way. After a short while down the river they beached the boats and went on a hike to a plateau where you could see for miles down the canyon. It was really amazing. Once they got back on the boats Chris, the head raft guide and manager of Adrift Adventures, told them that they were to zip their mouths and throw away the key. The next 6 miles were to be a silent float. This gave everyone a chance to look at the scenery and just take it all in. At the end of the 6 miles the group entered Echo Park, a huge canyon at the confluence of the Yampa and the Green. Your echo’s lasted forever! Mark even pulled out a drum and started rocking out, it was really cool. When they got through Echo Park the group stopped and Chris explained that this was where the Yampa River meets the Green River. It was really amazing to see the two kinds of water collide; the Yampa was a lot clearer than the Green and also noticeably warmer. They went down the river a little ways and stopped for lunch. Dustin had them all sit in a circle so he could give a Dam Yampa speech… haha. But really, it is something he is very passionate about. He explained to them that the Yampa is the last major free flowing river in the Colorado River System and that the future of the entire Colorado River System depends on maintaining the health of the Yampa. If a dam was constructed on the Yampa the health of all of the rivers in the Colorado River System would deteriorate exponentially and the scenery they enjoyed so much would be lost forever. The day concluded at a campsite called Jones Hole. There the group went on the longest hike of the trip. They experienced two waterfalls and received a brief history on the Freemont Indians while viewing some pictographs leftover on the canyon walls from years ago. The first waterfall that they went to was just a small one, but you could walk all the way underneath is and it was COLD! The second fall was Butt Dam falls, this one was especially interesting because you could sit at the top and stop the water with your butt and then someone would stand under where the water came out, and as soon as it built up you let it go and the person at the bottom would get pounded with water. They went back to camp to find Jambalaya ready to eat. Because it was the last night on the river you were required to be in costume to get dinner. So everyone dressed up and the party started. There was drumming and dancing and fun all around. And then came dessert….. It was, you could say, strawberry shortcake river style. One would hold their mouth open and head back while a square of cake, strawberry, and whip cream were shoved into your mouth by Elvis, John Wayne and Sister Markenna (Nick, Albee, and Mark, respectively). The challenge was that you could not use your hands to finish it. The cake was in honor of our guide Chris, because it was his birthday. The night ended with a pounding drum circle and a roaring campfire.

Tuesday September 11th:
Today the group went through the longest and flattest stretch of river EVER! It is called Island Park. It was really slow, but many members of the group were able to have a turn at guiding the oarboats. It was really cool that Adrift let people row the boats as much as they did, and I am sure the guides enjoyed the break also!. While the group was in Island Park it seemed as though there was a car in the river, and as they got closer it was true! There was a Ford Bronco stuck, stuck, stuck in the river bed. During a stop they informed some park rangers who took off to take care of the eyesore on an otherwise pristine river. They ended the day at the take out point and helped pack up all the gear on the trailers. They got back to Adrift’s warehouse and helped them clean boats, organize the warehouse, and get everything ready to sit through another winter in Utah. It was really a great trip! They took off from the warehouse around 8:00pm; it took about 6 hours to get home… The finally arrived at Western around 2:00am, what a long day! The group dispersed, and for most of them they would not see each other again until they arrived in Santiago! Their adventures had truly begun.