STEAMBOAT ROCK AT ECHO PARK, THE CONFLUENCE OF THE GREEN AND YAMPA RIVERS. LEFT: BEST RIVER LUNCHES, EVER. INSET: RAFT SUPPORTED… ANY MORE QUESTIONS?
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ees and river permits are required for private boating trips on the Green and Yampa rivers within Dinosaur National Monument. In 2011, the National Park Service received 4,780 ap- plications for 300 high-use season launches. Your odds of winning this lottery are better than getting on the Grand Canyon, ranging from a three percent chance in June to 37 percent in late August. All it takes is filling out a one-page form and a 15-dollar non-refundable application fee due the first of February.
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his section of the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument is protected today because of the Antiquities Act of 1906,” said Bob Smythe, and he should know. Bob is a retired resource consultant and former presi- dential advisor from Maryland, along on the trip with his grandson. “The act allowed a president to set aside valuable public land without the bother of getting Congress’ approval.” Presi- dent Woodrow Wilson used this act in 1915 to establish Dinosaur National Monument to protect paleontologist Earl Douglass’ 350 tons of fossils. We have President Franklin Roosevelt to thank for enlarging the monument in 1938 to include the Green and Yampa river canyons.
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eep in Lodore Canyon, the coffee call was at seven a.m. The guides had been up inflating rafts and prepping breakfast. It was bright but we couldn’t see the sun. Without a compass, I couldn’t get my bearings. Russell said that deep in the canyon, we wouldn’t feel the sun on us until mid-morning. At breakfast, 24-year-old Charlie pulled out a smoking jacket and fuzzy bunny ears. This was his last trip of the summer guiding on the Green. As far has he knew, he was off to Whistler to help his brother develop a website for dirtbags. “It’s not corporate or anything, it’s about the things you and I’d want to know,” Charlie said. On the third day of our trip, with the desert sun high in the sky, I traded Charlie a bottle of Crown Royal Reserve whisky for a half-tube of Banana Boat SPF30. The desert, I realized, makes you do funny things.
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elf-supported kayaking trips are better than diet pills. There’s a 100 percent guarantee you’ll lose weight living on oatmeal, Cliff bars and salty noodle packages. Raft support with O.A.R.S., on the other hand, is better than eating at home. Even in my canoe there is little room for watermelons, steaks, shrimp and fresh eggs. The guides bring propane burners, griddles, folding tables and four galvanized wash buckets—yes the kitchen sink. They don’t bother repacking into smaller bags—food goes directly from the grocery cart into aluminum boxes and coolers built into the raft frames.
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