Floating the lower Green River

The Green River offers many exciting possibilities for floating. One of the more popular floats is from the town of Green River, Utah down to the Mineral Bottom takeout- about 68 miles- or on to the confluence with the Colorado River- about 122 miles total. This is considered a flatwater float, being very calm and easily navigable by most craft. It is very popular with canoes. Mineral Bottom is considered the last takeout on the river- it is easily reachable by car. Many people use this as a put-in and float from there through the rest of Stillwater Canyon and on through Labyrinth Canyon below.

We used two guidebooks for the trip. Both are very popular and highly recommended. The first is Michael Kelsey's River Guide to Canyonlands National Park and Vicinity, which is available through Amazon.com. Anyone who has ever used Kelsey's guidebooks knows they are the most thoroughly researched and informative books available. If you are not familiar with his guides, you should be warned that Kelsey is super-human and what he manages to do in a day may take the average person 3 days. If you buy his books, read his warnings! The second guidebook is Belknap's Waterproof Canyonlands River Guide. The Belknap guide is more of a map book. It is in stripmap form and very convenient for navigating the river.

There are two options for putting in right in the town of Green River. The most common is to drive to the boat ramp at the Green River State Park. Just follow the signs down to the river. There is a small fee for putting-in at Green River State Park; this may be three dollars per person, or five dollars per vehicle, depending on who is manning the entry booth. The phone number for Green River State Park is (435) 564-3633. A ranger may check you in at the dock depending on the time of year. So be prepared to show all your required equipment including fire pan, aid kit, toilet and permit. The other option is to put in just above the river bridge on the west side of the river right near the museum. You can also put-in downstream on private land at Ruby Ranch. The fee there is said to be about five dollars per car, but may have changed. They can be reached at (435) 650-3193 to confirm current fees. The put-in at Mineral Bottom is free of charge. It seems to be a safe place to leave a second vehicle for taking out- in August, 2007 there was a Park Service volunteer camping at the site full time.

Permitting for this section of the Green River is done through the National Park Service. Currently there is a flat fee of twenty dollars for the trip for up to 40 people. Forms can be downloaded online at the National Park Service website. The National Park Service website covers all the details for floating the Green River. Be sure to read the regulations, requirements and other information at their web site so you come prepared. A map showing the lower half of the float, including the Mineral Bottom takeout is also available the NPS website.

You can talk to the very helpful and knowledgeable staff at the NPS at Canyonlands by calling (435) 259-4351. Be sure to take advantage of all the information they offer on their website, including information on float times and distances, regulations, river flows, temperatures and interesting details about the river, the park, plants, animals and archaeology.

After passing Mineral Bottom and heading for the confluence you must be picked up by boat and shuttled back upstream to Moab, Utah unless you are prepared and permitted for the float down Cataract Canyon. Jet boat shuttles can be arranged through Tag-A-Long Expeditions in Moab at (435) 259-8946. You can also visit the Tag-A-Long website for more details. Tex’s Riverways in Moab also offers jet boat shuttles. They can be reached at (435) 259-5101. You can visit Tex’s Riverways website for more details about what they offer.

A brief description of our experience on this section of river in early August of 2007 goes like this: We put-in our inflatable kayaks at Green River State Park in the town of Green River at about 11 a.m. Ten days later we were at the confluence waiting for our Tag-A-Long jet boat shuttle. Ten days on the river in early August was not nearly enough time. Fourteen days would have made for a more leisurely trip. In early August the river was very slow. We averaged about 2 miles an hour, mostly just by floating along, but that included an hour or so of active paddling each day to speed things up.

The weather was comfortably hot for desert rats, but it was described as “Africa hot” by a northerner who made his way to the southwest for the trip. The clouds rolled in on many afternoons, with rain, just short showers here and there, on about 5 days. One night brought a downpour of about 5 hours. The next day the river was no longer green, but red.

We packed along ten gallons of water per person, which was plenty for about 7 days. After that we settled river water in a collapsible 3-gallon bucket overnight, then filtered it off. If you have the room in your boat, consider packing 11/2 to 2 gallons per day. If not, settling out the silt and filtering is not a big deal on the Green River at this time of year.

Mosquitoes were not really an issue; they were out briefly on a couple of nights. There were gnats on a night or two, but they were easily put off by a light spray of bug juice.
Besides these pests, there were no unwelcome visits, except for a very large Midget Faded rattler (Crotalus viridis concolor) as we waited just below the confluence for our jetboat shuttle (for more on rattlesnakes, click here). After being disturbed from his sunning, he made his way off into the willows. Its all part of the adventure.

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