30 September 2017, Saturday
Green River, day 5 Back to Moab
It is our last day on the river and together as a group. We wake to a bit of blue sky overhead and dark clouds to the west. The sun on the red cliffs with the dark sky behind creates a beautiful effect.
Our last breakfast is blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon. As we finish breakfast we hear thunder to the west. We hurry our packing and just as we are ready to go (rain suits on) the skies open and we are drenched with cold rain as thunder resounds through the canyon. Heavy rains like this are rare here. Apparently John Wesley Powell experienced a thunderstorm just a few miles downstream from our current location, near where a side canyon enters the Green River. He named that canyon Hell Roaring Canyon. Meanwhile, as the rain pounds down, I am thinking of the story of Jonah and figure God is angry because I ate bacon on Yom Kippur. I suggest to O that perhaps, if the group throws me in the river, the rain will stop. Then another trip participant confesses that he must be the “problem” because he’s been on five desert river trips and 3 of the 5 have had rainstorms. I guess I’m off the hook!
We all remain in good spirits watching the storm. The reward for our drenching is that we are able to observe “pour offs,” spectacular waterfalls where the water shoots over the top of the canyon walls from the flat lands above and cascades down into the river. Eventually the rain passes, but we see more clouds gathering. Greg decides to wait out the next storm as well. We do not have far to paddle today.
The second storm rolls overhead creating more pour offs. As it passes, we bail our boats and are soon paddling downstream admiring the glistening canyon walls. The group elects to bypass a wet hike to more petroglyphs and we continue towards the take out where we will empty the boats and have lunch.
The morning’s paddle goes quickly. We arrive at the take out and, with a bunch of teamwork, soon have all the coolers, water jugs, paddles, PFD’s, portable pit (fondly known as the “groover,”) tables, chairs, etc. packed in the bright yellow outfitter’s van. Ten canoes are loaded on the trailer and three more are on top of the van.
Our last lunch, a yummy chicken salad with grapes, is served under a large cottonwood tree. After lunch, Nolan and Brooke, our other two guides, climb into the van and try to start the engine. There is lots of smoke and a loud rattling noise. One of the shuttle van drivers, just recently arrived down the canyon road, is a mechanic. He diagnoses a blown head gasket – again! We load all of our personal gear on the two Coyote shuttles. Nolan will return to Moab with us and call for a replacement van from Grand Junction. Brooke stays at the canyon bottom with all of the equipment. She has plenty of left over food and water. Nolan will also have to find someone to tow the defunct van up the steep, muddy, winding canyon access road. More rain showers are forecast for the evening and the road is impassable if there has been rain within 1-2 hours. We are all hoping for the best.
We Sierra Club members finally pile into the little shuttles and begin the climb up the canyon. I am glad I’m not driving. The road is narrow and muddy with some washouts along the way. There is a grand view from the road, but it’s a bit frightening as well, especially when we pass three cars, old and rusty and flattened, that have gone over the edge and been abandoned. Soon we have climbed almost 900 feet from the canyon floor. We travel a forest road and finally return to paved highway and Moab.
O and I head for the showers at the campground. By 7 pm we arrive at the Blu Pig for our last dinner with the group. It has been a wonderful trip with 25 great people, all interesting, well-read and friendly. At the end of dinner, O and I arrange to meet Gretchen and Jim for breakfast tomorrow to discuss ideas for the remainder of our Utah visit. They live in Cedar Mesa and are very familiar with scenic roads and hikes here.