Canyonlands Packrafting Trip

[Parma]

Big thanks to @steve and @Tess for inviting me on this trip, and @Backcountry Post for the forum to allow people like me to meet up with them, or else I never would have experienced this amazing trip. @Mike K and Lane missed out on a good one!
This was my first multi-day trip in Canyonlands, first time I've ever gone with people I didn't know (@steve and I did go to lunch the week before so we knew we were both weirdos willing to camp with strangers) and I've gone backpacking and rafting, but this was my first pack rafting trip. So it was an adventure in multiple ways...though my wife was convinced that this was just a ruse to lure me out to the desert so someone could harvest my organs or something...Ukrainians don't trust anyone though.
The permits were tricky/time consuming since we were going thru Needles, Maze, the Green River and the Colorado River, so there were plenty of rules and regulations we needed to follow. One was a life jacket, packing one in an already filled backpack is a chore.
@steve did take PLENTY of video and maybe by Christmas he'll have it edited and up on youtube. So look forward to that.
Here's a link to my Garmin tracks to see exactly where we went: http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/parma26/canyonlands-packrafting-trip/#overview

It ended up being 49.5 miles total, 30 hiking and 19.5 floating over three full days.
Day one (Thursday) we started off by meeting at @steve's house and were on the road around 6:00 pm. We stopped at Grogg's in Price, and that burger was awesome HIGHLY recommended: http://www.groggspinnaclebrewing.com. This night we planned on camping near the trailhead outside of the Needles Visitors Center. But it was getting dark so we found the first available spot before entering Canyonlands.

Day two we got up and headed to Elephant Hill 4WD Road to leave my car, jumped in with @steve and @Tess in their Honda Fit and headed back up to the Needles Visitors Center. We got there minutes before they were open.

We did get to see them raise the flag in the morning though.

Went inside to finalize everything and check-in. And we found out that a Honda Fit isn't "fit" to drive down the road thru the parking lot toward our starting point. SO we just added about 5 miles to our day. And they were right...we wouldn't have made it very far!
We topped off our water containers and emptied every last bit of whatever we had inside us before leaving.

All packed and ready to go. Normally my backpack weighs 30 lbs for a trip, this one I added a Kokopelli Nirvana packraft: http://kokopelliraftco.com/collections/packrafts/products/nirvana a life jacket, and a paddle that breaks down into five parts (bar into 3 and the 2 blades). So I was at about 40 lbs! This is the heaviest pack I've had to haul...and yes I whined a lot!
We followed the 4WD road for five miles. Nothing too exciting, all the fun stuff was off in the distance.

There was a sign pointing to what I thought was a pinewood derby track...nope.

Off in the distance you could see the Needles district.

The people you meet in the backcountry seem to always be amazing and interesting to talk to. We had a couple drive up behind us and I'm pretty sure @steve is still drooling over their rig. Meet Henk and Marianne from the Netherlands.

Henk's rig is called the Blues Cruiser and he and his wife have driven it over some of the gnarliest roads and regions our planet has to offer. They have over 500,000 kilometers on it. Here's their website: http://www.henkmarianne.nl/ And their Blues Cruiser is a 1995 Toyota Land Cruiser 4.2 diesel pickup: http://www.henkmarianne.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=14
Their camper on the back expands and has solar panels on the roof.

I think this will be @steve and @Tess in the not too distant future.

Amazing couple and they were great to chat with. We probably could have visited with them for hours, the places they have been were unreal!
We went our ways and headed to the Colorado River.

After a while we were finally closer to the water.

And finally we see it, the Colorado River, now we just need to find a way down to it.

Thanks to @Kullaberg63 and his tracks from a previous trip, we were in good hands. After a mile or so we found the way down to a great looking beach to launch, a perfect spot for lunch, and a chance to refill our water.

After eating and resting we unpacked the rafts, inflated them with our inflation bags, and we were off.
@steve is in the red one, @Tess is in the blue one, and mine was yellow. We were quite the picturesque group floating down the river.

The water is pretty slow. The only quick moving water is at The Slide. A rock slide caused the river to narrow and makes for some faster water...maybe a class I rapid. With the steep walls on both sides of the river it sure did amplify the sounds and make it audible for a ways up river.
It's about seven miles from where we put in to the confluence with the Green River.

Coming down the Colorado River side of the Confluence we couldn't really see the color difference where the two rivers met. Later in the trip when we came down the Green River we could...maybe it was the lighting?
After a couple miles you see the warning sign for Cataract Canyon on the left. This sign also signifies that Spanish Bottom was coming up.

Most of the beaches had someone already there, mostly canoes. We continued on to the end to what I thought was rock steps leading up the bank from other photos I've seen. But to my dismay, it was dirt. And we got pretty muddy hauling out our wet rafts.

A couple ladies from Colorado were camped here, but were kind enough to share their camp with us as we packed up everything and prepared for the hike up to The Dollhouse.

Spanish Bottom

As you can see, the sun was going down, and the hike from Spanish Bottom to The Dollhouse is a steep one! It was a well marked trail, but it was A LOT of rock steps straight up the mountain side. Someone put in some work to make this trail.

We made it up, slowly but surely, it was dark so we broke out the headlamps and found a place to camp for the night.
It was cold over the night. My watch thermometer said it got down to 36 degrees. Morning came and it was good to see the area in some daylight.

We ate breakfast, packed up, and ditched our packs and headed for The Granary. Here are some views headed that direction.

After a short walk, 1/4 mile or so, we found The Granary.

Back to the packs, and we were off to Chimney Rock thru The Dollhouse.

After a bit we approached a couple slots we needed to get thru. One was too narrow for our packs, so we slid thru with them in front of us and hoisted them up and out.

After The Dollhouse we had a couple miles of a sandy 4WD road to Chimney Rock. We were starting to get low on water and were really hoping some Jeeps or someone would come by. Lucky enough we found someone at Chimney Rock, a couple...one from Colorado and the other from Iraq. It seemed like everyone we met was either from another country or Colorado.

From Chimney Rock the views were great, all the way to the La Sal mountains.

So we stopped for lunch in a nice shady spot below Chimney Rock.

Obligatory flower photo

From here we needed to go thru Shot Canyon to Water Canyon and then to the Green River where we'd camp for the night.

This rock looked cool. I think it looks like a big hammer just whacked it and left it crumbled.

Making our way into Shot Canyon, notice the walking sticks with @steve. It's his paddle with little rubber caps on the ends. They worked OK, but the carbon fiber ridges weren't very comfy so he taped them up and made due. And later they would prove useful for a couple bees that decided to follow him for a couple miles.

To get down into Shot Canyon there are some interesting stairs, they don't look very stable, but they surprisingly weren't too bad. @Tess still didn't trust them and took a different route.

And the final decent into Shot Canyon

Temps were getting up there so keeping the ears and neck from the sun required a fashion statement

Here's a view of a couple Natural Arches as we cross from Shot to Water Canyon

And the 360 degree view from the top of the pass was amazing.

This is looking down into Water Canyon

Another cool rock, and it's hard to see where these come from and the nice edges that are formed when they break lose too.

Meandering our way thru Water Canyon we found our friendly neighborhood snake for all you snake lovers

And here's the source of the water in Water Canyon. Spent some time here drinking and filling up for the day/night.

Now we needed to make our way from Water Canyon to the Green River. This is a trail not maintained by the park and was the sketchiest part of our whole trip.

This is looking back up from where we came down.

The whole time making our way down we needed to find a camping spot for the night. We heard that the portion of The Green River where we were headed was a very popular spot for floaters and would most likely be filled with people by the time we got there. Nothing was suitable for us so we hoped something would be open.

Once we reached the river, we found many nice spots...but no people! We had our pick of the litter of camp sites. So naturally we took up a couple and made ourselves at home.

Here's my setup...In a van down by the river (in a Matt Foley voice)

While eating that night we realized that some mice were in the area too. Steve will have to tell you all the exact smell proof bag he uses, but it worked! Morning came and our food was safe.
It was a very warm night, almost too warm. My watch showed it only got down to 49 degrees that night.
Ate, packed up, inflated our rafts and hit the silty water of the Green River.

The Green River flowed noticeably faster than the Colorado. And floating the morning was the way to go. Very peaceful, great weather and very relaxing compared to lugging a 40lb pack up and down the trail.
I just placed my pack in the front of my raft and put my rain cover over it because of the water that would splash it from paddling. I'd change from feet up and out like this photo, or tucked under on the sides of my pack. But tucked under was a little chilly against the cold water.

After a couple miles we came up on the Confluence again. Steve wanted a photo so the grassy area right at the point of the Confluence was perfect. Only trick was to get up on it. He made it and from there he said the color differences of the two rivers was visible.

Back at Spanish Bottom looking up at The Dollhouse.

This is looking from opposite of Spanish Bottom where we took out a couple days prior at what the map refers to as Butler Wash.

Where we took out there were some workers clearing some trees. And a Park Ranger talked to us and checked our permits. Most of everything was in order. Only thing lacking was an approved method of disposing human waste since we were on the river. Our reusable and sealable bags weren't sufficient. Luckily enough the Park Ranger gave us a warning instead of a $175 ticket (not sure if that was total or for each of us). We did promise to tell all yall that if you are required to have a disposal method that you need a Wag Bag and a dry bag to store it in. Even he wasn't sure if one for the group was enough or if we each needed one. I think they are still trying to figure out how to handle packrafters. Regardless, we were grateful for letting us off with a warning.

We packed up, ate, topped off our water and headed out.

This stretch from the river to the 4WD road in Devils Lane was only five miles, but I swear that was the longest five miles in my life! It's a tough go. Between sand, rocks, tumble weeds, multiple passes over The Grabens, and the heat...it was rough!
For the first bit you follow the wash in thick sand.

Then the hike up, but it did have a view of The Dollhouse.

Then the tumble weeds/stickers.

I found this rock formation that looks like The Sphinx (aliens probably made it)

Then a much needed break, where we discovered Steve's jerky bag throwing abilities were lacking...maybe it was the heat that caused it to stick to his hand and fly on top of the rock behind him instead of to me right in front of him

Now the Needles District is in sight.

The last stretch is an easy hike on the Elephant Hill 4WD Road. These are also not Honda Fit accessible roads. There are some rough areas, and they look pretty fun too!

This narrow stretch had some scrapes and paint on the walls.

Some of the fun 4WD hills

And even another pinewood derby car hill!

And the car is in sight, and still there in the parking lot.

Here we are after three days, we planned on doing it in four days, but were covering more ground than we planned.

It was a great trip! Steve has some great video footage he'll post hopefully sooner than later. And it's always good to meet new friends.

Featured image for home page:


**Here's the video from this trip:

 

[Joey]

Awesome trip! Look forward to the video. And the Groggs burgers are definitely worth stopping for.

Couple of questions: Was there any water in Shot Canyon, right before you climb up to cross over into Water Canyon?
I know there isn't much vegetation, but was anything blooming? I'm hoping to get out there next week, and the pollen has been killing me this week (I get hay fever pretty bad).
Also, which beach do you think was better for camping, at the mouth of Water Canyon, or down in Spanish bottom? My friend who is going with me next week has his mind set to spend one night of our trip down by the water, and I'm trying to figure out which beach we should camp at.

 

[Mike K]

Sweet! I look forward to reading this and checking out all the pics. I'm bummed I missed out. =(

 

[steve]

Fantastic report @Parma, you captured it just how I remember it. Great photos and great writing. While I'm not stoked to do this trip again, I am looking forward to camping and hiking with you again in the future. I'm really glad you could join us.

 

[steve]

Couple of questions: Was there any water in Shot Canyon, right before you climb up to cross over into Water Canyon?

The only water in shot canyon was in a few puddles before we crossed over the saddle into water canyon. It wasn't much more than 4" deep. I'm guessing they'll still be there next week, but I wouldn't count on it.

I know there isn't much vegetation, but was anything blooming? I'm hoping to get out there next week, and the pollen has been killing me this week (I get hay fever pretty bad).

Indian paint brush, and a few purple flowers. I remember sneezing a lot up there, but it wasn't horrid.

Also, which beach do you think was better for camping, at the mouth of Water Canyon, or down in Spanish bottom? My friend who is going with me next week has his mind set to spend one night of our trip down by the water, and I'm trying to figure out which beach we should camp at.

I have an even cooler spot for you (depending on what you like in a campsite). That grassy flat area at the confluence would be a wicked cool camp spot for a group less than 4 people. You have to approach it from the colorado river side to actually be able to climb up on it, but it could be really sweet. It's only about 20' square, but I remember saying to myself "next time we will camp here." It's the spot right above the red packraft you can barely see.

Spanish bottom was pretty crowded, but the people there were super nice. There are more potential site at Spanish Bottom than at water canyon, but since most people finish their journey there, it was a popular stopping point for lots of groups. We heard the mouth of water canyon would be busy too, but that wasn't our experience. I think we just lucked out.

There was a group of rangers and 10+ conservation core people camping on the needles side of spanish bottom. They should be gone by this Sunday, which would open up some more spots.

 

[DrNed]

Awesome! Sounds like a great time. Based on your comment I had to look up what the Green River Prermit says.

Sounds like one for the group is adequate. The permit says you need a washable, leak proof toilet system that is of adequate size for the number of people and length of trip.

http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/b...eation.Par.33219.File.dat/LabyrinthPermit.pdf

 

[steve]

the mouse-proof sacks were opsaks

http://www.loksak.com/products/opsak

 

[Yvonne]

soooo jealous of you guys!!! What an awesome trip!!!!
I have plans on exploring the Maze a bit more next year , but only as a backpakcing trip.
I'm not willing to carry 40+lb like you did on this trip.

 

[steve]

Sounds like one for the group is adequate.

I agree, but he didn't seem to like that idea for some reason. He said he would have to make a determination on a "case-by-case basis", depending on the group.

I think there's room for improvement with the packraft permit for canyonlands. For example, the "packraft permit" only applies to trips where you "travel less than 2 miles, or don't enter the water below the confluence." If you paddle below the confluence, you need a river permit.

I can't understand why a packraft permit is only good for travel under 2 miles or above the confluence. I'll bet 99% of canyonlands packrafters are going to be going through spanish bottom. Kind of confusing to me, especially when river permits require carrying unpractical things for a backpacking/packrafting trip:

• A metal fire pan that is at least 12 inches in diameter with a 2½-inch lip around the edge.
• A means to securely contain and remove human waste from the backcountry. Systems approved for river use are washable, reusable containers equipped with RV dump fittings, or commercial bag systems (e.g. Wag Bag, Restop II) that render human waste into a non-hazardous material. Bag systems must be stored in hard-sided containers or heavy-duty, waterproof bags labeled "Human Waste."
• One approved, serviceable type I, III, or V personal flotation device (PFD)2 for each trip participant.
• One spare PFD2 for every five people on the trip, or one per boat; whichever is fewer.
• A readily accessible spare means of propulsion capable of maneuvering the vessel (oar, paddle, motor, etc.) for each boat. Low capacity boats designed to carry two or fewer occupants (canoes and kayaks) may carry one spare paddle for every three boats. Commercially made hand paddles are approved for hard-hulled, whitewater kayaks.
• A serviceable, type IV throwable device (throw cushion) for every boat 16 feet or more in length. A commercially made throw bag with at least 40 feet of line is allowed in lieu of a type IV throwable device.
• Repair kit or kits adequate for repairing the number and types of boats on the trip. Hard-hulled boats may carry epoxy and duct tape or an equivalent means of repair.
• If boats with inflatable components are used on the trip, an air pump or pumps.
• A bailing device or bilge pump for boats that are not self-bailing.
• A first aid kit adequate for the number of trip participants and length of trip.

I'd love to see them open the packrafting permits to any trip using a packraft, regardless of whether you were above or below the confluence. Yes, the weight of carrying a metal fire pan, a spare paddle, and a bailing device isn't devastating, but considering you're already packing an extra 10 lbs of rafting stuff, it adds up quick. I think there's room for improvement here.

Due to the hassle of all the permits and regs, I don't plan on repeating this trip, though I am excited for future packraft trips.

 

[steve]

I'm not willing to carry 40+lb like you did on this trip.

I don't blame you. Without water, my starting weight (including boating stuff) was 24 lbs. With water, it got up to 30 lbs, which was still more than I wanted for this trip. But I'm just a big weenie and I can't handle heavy packs that well. It was amazing how much more tired I was (especially my feet) after the extra 10 lbs.

 

[Joey]

I have an even cooler spot for you (depending on what you like in a campsite). That grassy flat area at the confluence would be a wicked cool camp spot for a group less than 4 people. You have to approach it from the colorado river side to actually be able to climb up on it, but it could be really sweet. It's only about 20' square, but I remember saying to myself "next time we will camp here."

Thanks. Which side of the river exactly? I'm hiking into the maze-no pack raft, so I wont be able to get across the river to camp.

 

[steve]

Thanks. Which side of the river exactly? I'm hiking into the maze-no pack raft, so I wont be able to get across the river to camp.

Gotcha. That spot won't be an option for you then.

hm... are you planning on heading down Water Canyon regardless of where you camp? I would not want to have to hike back up water canyon.

 

[Joey]

hm... are you planning on heading down Water Canyon regardless of where you camp? I would not want to have to hike back up water canyon.

Yes. I don't really want to hike down to the river. But my friend, who has never been to Canyonlands before, has the idea in his head that he wants to camp on the river to experience it. Looking at what you guys went through to get down Water Canyon, I'm think Spanish Bottom would be better. Hopefully, he will see how far down it is, and change his mind.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[Joey]

It's the spot right above the red packraft you can barely see.

cool spot. Is that the Island in the sky side? That would be a pretty nice campsite.

 

[piper01]

Sounds like an a-MAZE-ing trip (pun intended)!

 

[Nick]

Holy epic awesomeness!

The people you meet in the backcountry seem to always be amazing and interesting to talk to. We had a couple drive up behind us and I'm pretty sure @steve is still drooling over their rig. Meet Henk and Marianne from the Netherlands.

Henk's rig is called the Blues Cruiser and he and his wife have driven it over some of the gnarliest roads and regions our planet has to offer. They have over 500,000 kilometers on it. Here's their website: http://www.henkmarianne.nl/ And their Blues Cruiser is a 1995 Toyota Land Cruiser 4.2 diesel pickup: http://www.henkmarianne.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=14
Their camper on the back expands and has solar panels on the roof.

Is that our very own @Henk from The Netherlands?

This narrow stretch had some scrapes and paint on the walls.

My Tundra will fit through that, right?

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

What a cool looking trip. So jealous to see you guys in shorts and tee shirts already while it snowed here today. I have a question about the pack rafts. Can you sleep in them? I have heard of people sleeping in inflatable canoes.

 

[Mike K]

I have a question about the pack rafts. Can you sleep in them? I have heard of people sleeping in inflatable canoes.

I know people flip them and sleep ON them. Here's our buddy on a trip. I think he slept ok on it. He sure was sawing logs!

 

[Tres Westbrook]

What an awesome trip and great photos. My wife and I are making our first trip to the area in May and canoeing from Mineral Bottom to Spanish Bottom over 6 days with several side trips along the way, including the Doll house at the end. Your report just makes me want to get out there today! But I guess I'll wait.

One question - what is the water level like? Is it high / low / average for this time of year? Is eastern Utah is experiencing the same drought problems as I read about further to the west?

 

[steve]

The water level was at 9000 when we did this trip. In May it'll be a few feet higher, which will make finding campsites a bit more difficult.