August 23
I had purchased two tickets to Denver in February 2010 on
Southwest Airlines, and then canceled the trip. I needed to use the tickets
before they expired and figured it was a great excuse for Matthew and I to
spend some time together in the great western outdoors. My friend from North
Andover, Bill Shann, was a fly-fishing guide in the Salt Lake area, and we
arranged for him to teach us on the weekend of the 28th and 29th.
We added to the trip by finding a rafting expedition down the Green River that
would last four days and get us back to Salt Lake City on Friday night the 27th.
Our journey to Utah started at 4AM on Monday the 23rd. Katy
dropped Matthew and I off at Providence for a 6:30 flight to Chicago before our
connection to Salt Lake. Both flights on
Southwest went smoothly. We had
requested a Land Rover-type vehicle to store our gear (and eventually the
fly-fishing stuff), but all they had available was a Suburban (which we took).
It was a sweet-looking ride!
We drove around SLC to find the hotel that we would stay in
during our fly-fishing. It was the Red Lion on 600 South. We had lunch at a
Sports Bar and watched SportsCenter and the Little League World Series action. We
then drove around SLC and then decided to head up to the Great Salt Lake. We
walked out to the shoreline (about ½ mile) and took some pictures. It was a
very different landscape!
After visiting the Lake we started the long drive to Vernal,
Utah. Vernal is basically dinosaur-land, and borders the Dinosaur National
Monument. The drive out is gorgeous, especially the Strawberry Reservoir. At about 6:30 PM we pulled into Vernal, found
our B&B (which was really a renovated church, the Landmark Inn!). We grabbed some dinner at Sonic then flipped
back and forth between the Phils/Rox game and “Back to the Future”.
August 24
We had the free breakfast at the Landmark and then drove 10
minutes over to the Holiday Expeditions Rafting headquarters. We met our
guides, Pat, Jordan, and Kristen (who would soon be starting her sophomore year
at Wellesley College!), along with our co-rafters, Rob and Jennifer (North
Carolina), their daughter Ryan and son-in-law Todd (also from North Carolina),
and Joanne and Ralph (San Francisco area). Todd and Ryan were getting their
International Teaching Master’s Degrees from George Mason University. They had
recently returned from teaching Elementary School in Taiwan.
They gave each of us two waterproof bags: a big one for our
nighttime stuff (sleeping bags and air mattresses and clothes), and one for
stuff we wanted to get out while in the raft (cameras, sunblock, etc). We
loaded it all into a van and began our drive to the Gates of Lodore in
Colorado.
The Gates of Lodore is basically the Green River entrance to
Lodore Canyon. We stopped at our put-in spot and were given our life jackets.
Here are a couple of pictures we took before setting off.
The first thing I noticed on the river that it was HOT. We
were absolutely baking! I wondered if I’d be able to last four days if it was
going to be that hot. It didn’t help that there was no breeze. No wonder they
stressed suntan lotion and SPF chapstick! Actually sunburn and dehydration were
the two of the more common injuries that can happen on the river.
After floating for a while we stopped for lunch and got a
taste of the excellent meals we would be having! We had Caesar salad wraps with chicken, and
cold sodas. They also put out bread, peanut butter, jam, peanuts, raisins,
etc., which would show up at every lunch going forward.
As we rafted further down the river we stopped at Pat read a
story from John Wesley Powell’s original trip down to the river, and mentioned
how one boat capsized near a fork in the river called No Name Island. We
stopped just around the corner when we came to our campsite “Pot Creek #2”. Matthew and I set up our tent for the night,
while Jordan, Pat, and Kristen got dinner ready.
Matthew and I went on a short hike and climbed up to the top
of a plateau which afforded us a nice view of No Name Island. We saw some other
rafters start to float by (they eventually stopped and camped at Pot Creek #1).
After our hike we returned and sat in camping chairs and
were served crackers, cheese, and olives. Our guides served lasagna made in a
dutch oven, salad, and topped it off with cheesecake. Matthew and Jordan played
Gin Rummy, we hung around chatting with everyone and watch the moon start to
climb down the canyon wall. We hit the sack and fell asleep right away.
We didn’t see one cloud in the sky during the entire day!
