Rafting the Yampa River (5) 03-Jun-2022

Day 5: Jones Hole #1 Camp to Split Mountain

Today was our last day on the river. Always a bittersweet moment. The great desert rivers of the West are unique and compelling places – which has brought us back to them again and again for over 40 years. But any particular river adventure is finite (and cold beverages and hot showers beckon), so we (reluctantly) boarded the rafts for the journey to the take-out at Split Mountain.

From our camp at Jones Hole, we had a little more canyon to traverse before breaking out into the open at Island Park. This is like popping out of a tunnel onto an open plain. This abrupt transition is due, in part, to the Island Park Fault which sliced the canyon off at Red Wash. The day started out with mild temperatures under a dry, but opalescent, sky – which went full blue bird by the time we reached Island Park.

The expanse of flat water across Island Park ends at Rainbow Park. From here, a series of fun Class II-III rapids would quickly – this is one of the Green’s steepest sections – take us to our take-out at Split Mountain. But, first, we stopped for lunch. This was partly to eat and partly to let a mass of other rafts pass us. This section of the Green is open to single-day, non-commercial permits and these are well used. In addition, some commercial outfitters (including OARS) offer a one-day rafting adventure through the canyon. Better to give all these folks plenty of room to crash and bash through the rapids.

And then our 4-night, 5-day Yampa River adventures was over. 😥 We pulled in to the take-out amongst a scrum of other rafters and found our way to the beach. One last fire line to unload our gear and get it to the shuttle that would take us back to Vernal.

Then, after saying goodbye to all our great guides, we headed for town and some wild revelry (ah, not). Diane, Wayne, Bonnie, and Jim drove back to California the next morning. Our return flight was canceled (not enough pilots), so we didn’t get home until the early hours of Sunday morning. 😕 But that didn’t detract at all from what was, yet another, great rafting trip. 😁

We’ve now done multi-day trips on all of the major rivers in the U.S. with significant rapids, some more than once. So what’s next? At a minimum, we’d like to raft the Chilco / Fraser system in British Columbia. We had a plan to do so 2 years ago and then, well you all know what happened then… Maybe in 2023 the border will be fully open and we can have another go at it. Hope springs eternal, etc., etc. 🤩

BACK TO BLOG POSTS